In short: Categories group similar products together, so you can organise your catalogue, report at category level and apply pricing rules to a whole category at once.
Understanding Categories
Categories are the backbone of your product structure in Zeal. They group similar products together so they can be managed, displayed and reported on more effectively, and help both your users and internal teams understand what a product is, where it belongs and how it should be handled.
Categories help you:
Organise products logically: grouping products into categories such as Apparel, Electronics or Health & Wellness makes large catalogues easier to manage.
Improve navigation and discoverability: users can quickly find relevant products and see how items are related.
Support reporting and analytics: Zeal can aggregate data, track performance and generate insights at category level, not only per product.
Apply Auto-Moderation rules at scale: pricing rules can be applied to entire categories instead of individual products.
1. The Categories screen
Use this screen to see how your products are grouped and to control how each category is named and priced. When you open Categories, you'll see a table with the following columns.
Category tree (first column)
Categories are shown as a hierarchical list.
Parent categories can be expanded to show their subcategories.
Green check icons show which categories are enabled.
This structure keeps things clear as your catalogue grows.
Display Name (second column)
The customer-facing name of the category.
Shown in product listings and selection menus.
Should be clear, descriptive and consistent.
Note: You can customise display names to match your own naming conventions. If a theme or category is missing, the category tree can be updated and category names edited to suit.
Reporting Name (third column)
Used internally for analytics and reporting.
Can match the display name, or be adjusted to consolidate several categories under one reporting label.
Price controls (optional)
Minimum Price: sets a pricing floor for all products in the category.
Alert Price: a price threshold that flags listings for review when the price is unusually low.
Mean Price: the brand's standard selling price, set as the usual rate for offering the product.
Learn more: Product Line & Products · Price Filter · Auto-Moderation
2. Add a category
Use this when your catalogue covers products that don't yet have a category.
Click the plus (+) icon in the top-right corner of the Categories screen.
Select the category or categories you want to add.
Confirm your selection.
The new categories appear in the category tree and can be configured straight away.
Learn more: Product Line & Products · Brands Configuration
Quick reference
If you want to know… | Look at… |
What categories are used for | Understanding Categories |
Which name customers see and which is used in reports | Display Name and Reporting Name in section 1 |
How to flag unusually cheap listings in a category | Price controls in section 1 |
How to add a missing category | 2. Add a category |
How products are set up |