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Last update: January 29, 2025

Catalog Configuration

In this guide, we are going to configure catalog as follows:

Create categories and subcategories

Categories are containers for subcategories or products. In our example, we are going to create the following catalog structure:

Catalog Category Subcategory Products
Dental demo Anesthetics Anesthetic accessories 1 product
Anesthesia reversal 1 product
Anesthetic cartridges 4 products
Burs and diamonds Carbide burs 8 products
Diamond burs 16 products
Diamond disks 2 products
Crown and bridge materials Crown instruments 4 products
Polycarbonate crowns 1 product
Stainless steel crowns 4 products
Instruments Amalgam carriers 4 products
Carvers 2 products
Barnhart curettes 4 products

In the Platform, add a category to the master catalog as follows:

  1. Select the newly created catalog.
  2. In the next Categories and items blade, click Add in the toolbar.
  3. In the New category item blade, select Category.
  4. Enter the category name. The code is generated automatically.
  5. Click Create.

    New Category

Your new category appears in the Categories list. Repeat these steps to add more categories.

To add a subcategory:

  1. Select the newly created category.
  2. In the next Categories and items blade, click Add in the toolbar.
  3. In the New category item blade, select Category.
  4. Enter the subcategory name. The code is generated automatically.
  5. Click Create.

Your new subcategory appears in the list of subcategories inside the category. Repeat these steps to add more subcategories.

Add products

Note

There is an alternative way to quickly populate your catalog with products, prices, inventory, etc. using a csv file. You can learn more about this method in the guide. However, for first-time users who want to familiarize themselves with Virto Commerce products, the manual method of structuring and filling the catalog with products described below is sufficient.

To fill catalog with products:

  1. Click on your catalog, select category and subcategory you want to add your product to.
  2. Click Add in the toolbar.
  3. In the next blade, select Physical product.
  4. In the next blade, enter product name, (optionally) add image and description.
  5. Click Create.

The product has been added to the selected category and subcategory of the catalog. Repeat these steps to add more products.

Add prices

First, you need to create a price list:

  1. Go to PricingPrice lists.
  2. In the next blade, click Add in the toolbar.
  3. In the next blade, fill in the fields as follows:

    Create price list

  4. Click Create.

To add prices to each product:

  1. Go to Catalog → Your catalog.
  2. Click on a product from your catalog (in our example, Alpen FG surgical carbide burs).
  3. In the next blade, click on the Price widget.
  4. In the next blade, select your price list as a source price list, then click Add new price.
  5. Enter list price, sale price (optionally), and minimum quantity (optionally).
  6. Click Save in the toolbar.

Adding prices

Repeat these steps to add more prices.

Now, we need to add a price list assignment:

  1. Go to PricingPrice list assignment.
  2. In the next blade, click Add in the toolbar.
  3. In the next blade, fill in the fields as follows:

    Price list assignment

  4. Click Save in the toolbar.

The prices have been configured.

Add fulfillment centers

By adding a fulfillment center you will be able to specify product quantities in stock:

  1. Click Inventory in the main menu.
  2. In the next blade, click Add in the toolbar.
  3. In the next blade, fill in the required fields. For trial purposes, you can only add fulfillment center name.
  4. Click Save in the toolbar.

The fulfillment center has been added to the list. Repeat these steps to add more fulfillment centers.

Specify quantities in stock

Now you need to add product stock in the fulfillment center.

  1. Click on a product from your catalog (in our example, Alpen FG surgical carbide burs).
  2. In the next blade, click on the Fulfillment centers widget.
  3. In the next blade, you will see the list of all the available fulfillment centers. Click on a fulfillment center from the list.
  4. In the next blade, fill in the necessary information. For the purpose of this guide, you can add only quantity in stock.
  5. Click Save in the toolbar.

Add FFC

The specified stock appears next to the fulfillment center.

Add semantic URL for your catalog

  1. Open Catalog.
  2. In the next blade, click on the three dots next to the name of your catalog.
  3. Select Manage from the popup menu.
  4. In the next blade, click on the SEO widget.
  5. In the next blade, click Add in the toolbar.
  6. In the next blade, fill in the fields as follows:

    Add slug URL

  7. Click OK

The URL has been added for your catalog.

View results on frontend

After completing the above steps, you have a simplified version of a fully functional store. To view the result on the frontend:

  1. Review search index.
  2. Refresh your store web page. In our example, https://dentalstoredemo.govirto.com/.

Now, your store catalog is filled with products and organized into categories and subcategories, as shown in the table above.

The Catalog button is now collapsible, displaying all categories and subcategories:

Categories

Click on any category or subcategory to view the products within:

Catalog

Note

By default, catalog menu is automatically generated based on the existing categories. You can create your own catalog menu using this guide.

Configure properties

For enhanced product filtering and search, let's configure properties within our catalog. They allow customers to filter and search for products based on specific attributes. In the Frontend Application, they are displayed as filtering facets. In this guide, we are going to create the following properties displayed as facets:

Facets

Properties can be set for:

  • Catalog. The properties apply universally across multiple categories or to all products in the catalog.
  • Category. The properties apply to attributes specific to products within a particular category.
  • Product. The properties are unique to individual items and not used frequently for filtering (e.g., a specific product model).
  • Variation. The properties apply to different versions of a product, like color, or pack size.

In our example, we are going to add the following properties:

Level Property Type Properties
Catalog Catalog Properties -
Category Properties -
Product Properties Brand, Material, Size
Variation Properties -
Anesthetics category Category Properties -
Product Properties Brand (inherited), Material (inherited), Size (inherited), Date of preparation, Physical state
Product Variation Properties -
Burs and diamonds category Category Properties Shape
Product Properties -
Variation Properties -
Crown and bridge materials category Category Properties -
Product Properties Length
Variation Properties -
Products Product Properties Brand (inherited), Material (inherited), Size (inherited), Date of preparation (inherited), Physical state (inherited)
Variation Properties -

Configure properties for catalog

Let's add a Brand property at the catalog level:

  1. Click Catalog in the main menu.
  2. In the next blade, click on the three dots to the left of the required catalog and select Manage from the dropdown list.
  3. In the next blade, click on the Properties widget.
  4. In the next blade, click Add property in the toolbar.
  5. In the next blade, select Product property.

    Add product property

  6. In the next blade, enter property name, switch the Dictionary option to on, and select Short text value type:

    Manage product property

  7. Click Save in the toolbar.

  8. Click Dictionary, then click Add in the next blade toolbar to add brand options:

    Manage dictionary

    Click Save in the toolbar to add the dictionary entry to the list. Continue to add options as required:

    Dictionary items

The property appears in the list. On the frontend, the Brand facets becomes collapsible and the properties are displayed as follows:

Brand on frontend

Continue to add properties and their values according to the table above.

Catalog properties

Value type selection

When adding product properties, you can select the following value types from the dropdown list:

Value type Description Example
Short text Single-line text, ideal for short descriptive values. Brand: Alpen, Premier
Long text Multi-line text, suitable for longer descriptions or notes. Product description: “High-quality stainless steel instruments…”
Decimal number Numerical value with decimals, used for precise measurements. Length: 100 mm
Date time Date and time entry, useful for events or production dates. Date of production: 2024-11-01 10:00
Boolean True/false value, suitable for binary attributes. Requires assembly: false
Integer Whole number, ideal for quantities or counts. Pack size: 10
Geo Point Geographical coordinates (latitude and longitude) for location-based data. Store location: 40.7128° N, 74.0060° W

Configure properties for category

Let's add a Date of preparation property to the Anesthetics category:

  1. Click Catalog in the main menu.
  2. In the next blade, select the required catalog.
  3. In the next blade, click on the three dots to the left of the required category and select Manage from the dropdown list.
  4. In the next blade, click on the Properties widget.
  5. In the next blade, click Add property in the toolbar.
  6. In the next blade, select Category property.

    Add category property

  7. In the next blade, enter property name and select Date time value type from the dropdown list:

    Manage category property

  8. Click Save in the toolbar.

The property appears in the list. Continue to add properties according to the table above.

Add properties to products

Now, we will add properties to the products:

  1. In your catalog, select the product you want to add properties to (OraVerse in our example).
  2. In the product details blade, click on the Properties widget.
  3. In the next blade, you fill in the properties you have added in the previous steps. From the dropdown lists, select the product's brand and its physical state. Enter date of preparation by clicking Calendar:

    Adding properties to products

  4. Click OK to save the changes.

The properties have been added to your product. Continue to add properties and their values to your products manually or use the instruction below to bulk add properties to products.

Bulk add properties to products

To add similar properties and property to a group of products:

  1. Click Catalog in the main menu.
  2. Select your catalog from the list of catalogs (Dental Demo in our example).
  3. In the next blade, select the required category.
  4. In the next blade, check (or bulk select) the products you want to add similar properties to.
  5. Click Bulk actions in the toolbar.
  6. In the next blade, click Edit properties.
  7. In the next blade, click Select properties
  8. In the next blade, add all or some previously added product properties.
  9. Click OK to add the properties to the group of products.

    Bulk add properties

  10. In the next blade, specify values for the selected properties, then click OK.

    Add property values

  11. Click Execute in the previous blade.

The properties have been added to the selected products.

Configure facets

To set the visibility of facets:

  1. Go to StoresYour store (Dental Demo Store)Aggregation properties widget.
  2. In the next blade, click on the properties in the left column (available properties) to move them to the right column (properties visible on the frontend):

    Facets visibility

  3. Click Save in the toolbar to save the changes.

The selected facets are now displayed in the Frontend Application.

View results on frontend

  1. In the main menu, click Stores.
  2. In the next blade, click on the required store (Dental Demo Store in our case).
  3. In the next blade, click Open in browser in the top toolbar.

The properties are displayed as facets:

Facets

The product properties are also displayed in the product cards:

Product properties