Products are the merchandise that is for sale in your store. All products need to be listed under a category or subcategory. nopCommerce has no limit in numbers of products in your store. All products will have its own Product Page.
However, keep in mind that products are not things that are directly orderable, Product Variants (SKUs) are. A simple example will make this clear. Consider the product “Creative Sound Card”. Customer cannot order “Creative Sound Card” directly, they have to order OEM or Retail version of “Creative Sound Card”. So in our case, the Product is “Creative Sound Card”, and there would be two variants for this product: “OEM” and “Retail”, each with potentially different prices.
The products are controlled via admin area. Go to Catalog, then Products, then Manage Products. Click on a product name to edit/manage/delete it. Click Add new button to add new one. Product info, product variants, category mappings, manufacturer mappings, related products, discount mappings, product pictures, attribitues and specifications are managed here.
Adding products differs from Editing products. When you click Add new button you start to add one product and one product variant. Later you can add another product variants. When you edit the product you start to edit only the product without product variants. To edit product variants of existing product go to Product Variants (SKUs) tab of the product.
Product info
The next options and values are applied to products (not product variants).
- Product name. The product name as it will appear in the front-end.
- Short description. The product’s short description.
- Full description. The product’s full description.
- Admin comment. Admin comment. Visible only in the back-end.
- Product type. The product’s type. Visible only in the back-end now.
- Template. The product’s template. This controls the look of the product page, including the objects on the page and the structure of the page. You can customize the design of each product individually by this option.
- Published. This controls whether the product is published. By selecting this box, the product will appear in your store and customers will be able to purchase the product. If the product you are adding isn’t ready to be made live yet or if you are currently not selling the item because it is out of stock, make sure that the Published checkbox is not selected.
- Allow customer reviews. This controls whether the product reviews are allowed.
- Allow customer ratings. This controls whether the product ratings are allowed.
The next options and values are applied to product variants (not products).
- SKU. A Stock Keeping Unit, or SKU is a unique identifier for each distinct product and service that can be ordered from a supplier. Usage of the SKU system is rooted in data management, enabling the merchant to systematically track their inventory, such as in warehouses and retail outlets.
- Manufacturer part number. The product’s manufacturer part number.
- Downloadable product. This controls whether the product is downloadable.
- Download file. Select an file by clicking the Browse... button and locating the file on your computer if this product variant is downloadable.
- Shipping enabled. This controls whether the product is ship enabled. If the product is shippable, select this checkbox.
- Free shipping. This controls whether the shipping for this product is free.
- Tax exempt. This controls whether the product variant (SKU) is tax exempt.
- Tax category. This is the product variant tax category to which this product will be associated. This determines which tax rule will be used for this product, and consequently the tax rate that will be charged to your customers.
- Manage Stock. Check to enable system stock management. When enabled, stock quantities are automatically adjusted when a customer makes a purchase. You can also set low stock activity actions and receive notifications.
- Stock quantity. The product variant’s stock quantity.
- Minimum Stock quantity. The product variant’s minimum stock quantity.
- Low stock activity. The product variant’s low stock activity (nothing, disable buy button, unpublish).
- Notify admin for quantity below. When the current stock quantity falls below this quantity, the storekeeper (admin) will receive a notification.
- Minimum cart quantity. Set the minimum quantity allowed in a customers shopping cart e.g. set to 3 to only allow customers to purchase 3 or more of this product.
- Maximum cart quantity. Set the maximum quantity allowed in a customers shopping cart e.g. set to 5 to only allow customers to purchase 5 of this product.
- Warehouse. This is the product variant warehouse in which this product variant is located.
- Disable buy button. This controls whether the buy ("add to cart") button is disabled.
- Requires text option. This controls whether to require text options on product variant (e.g. require initials for monogrammed products, require text name for product customization, etc).
- Price. The price of your item as it will display in the front-end. The cost that you enter here will be displayed on all pricing pages.
- Old price. The old price of your item.
- Availbale start date. The start of the product availability. Can be empty.
- Availbale end date. The end of the product availability. Can be empty.
- Weight. The weight of your item.
- Length. The length of your item.
- Width. The width of your item.
- Height. The height of your item.
SEO
SEO-related meta information is controlled from here.
- Meta keywords. This will show in the tag of the product’s HTML source.
- Meta description. This will show in the tag of the product’s HTML source.
- Meta title. The title will display in the browser’s title bar when category is being viewed.
- Search engine friendly page name. Set a search engine friendly page name e.g. 'The Best Product' to make your page name '##-the-best-product.aspx' (## represents the product ID). The default is the name of the product.
Product Variants (SKUs)
Product Variants (SKUs) are controlled from here. This tab is visible only after the product is created.
Category mappings
Products are the actual items that are for sale. Every product needs to be attached to either a category or subcategory. The products can be added to the categories while the product is being created, or anytime thereafter. You can add the product to the categories by checking and unchecking products. Display order controls the order in which the product display on the front end, regardless of the order in this grid.
Manufacturer mappings
The products can be added to the manufacturers while the product is being created, or anytime thereafter. You can add the product to the manufacturers by checking and unchecking products. Display order controls the order in which the product display on the front end, regardless of the order in this grid.
Related products
"Related products" is a feature that enables you to link related products together. When customers go to a product’s page that has cross-selling set up, links to the related products will be available. The links will be shown as suggested accessories. By doing this, you are basically suggesting to the customer related products that they might not have otherwise looked at. You can add related products by checking and unchecking products. Display order controls the order in which the products display on the front end, regardless of the order in this grid.
Discounts
Discounts can be applied to the product variant only. Discounts can be applied to the product variant while the product variant is being created, or anytime thereafter. The discounts that are listed here are discounts that were created from the Discount page. If you want the product to have one of the discounts applied, simply select the name of the discount.
Pictures
Products can be added to the product after the product is created. The first picture is default.
Product specification
Product specification can be added to the product after the product is created.
Product attributes
Some products may have additional properties that customers must choose before placing orders. For example, cloth may have different size (X, M, L), or color (red, white, black). All attributes must be defined before adding inventory. Product attributes (e.g. color, size) can be applied to the product variant only. You can add product attributes after the product variant is created. Display order controls the order in which the products display on the front end, regardless of the order in this grid.
Tier prices
"The more you buy, the more you save" feature. The idea behind this pricing strategy is simple—if a customer purchases a large volume of a product, the product is offered at a lower price |