Managing Products: Adding Items to Your Store

PolyCMS features a robust e-commerce engine designed to handle everything from simple digital downloads to complex physical products with multiple variations.

This guide will walk you through the process of adding products to your catalog and managing your inventory.

Adding a New Product

To get started, navigate to E-Commerce > Products and click the Add New button.

The Product Editor is divided into several sections. Let's break them down:

1. Basic Information

• Product Name: The title of your product as it will appear to customers.

• Short Description: A brief summary that usually appears right next to the product image on the frontend. Keep it concise and persuasive.

• Description: The main content area where you can provide in-depth details, specifications, and images using the Block Editor.

2. Pricing & Inventory

Scroll down to the Product Data section. This is the core of your e-commerce setup.

• Regular Price: The standard price of your item.

• Sale Price: If you are running a promotion, enter the discounted price here. The system will automatically calculate and display the discount percentage on the frontend.

• SKU (Stock Keeping Unit): A unique identifier for your product. Essential for inventory management.

• Manage Stock: Check this box if you want PolyCMS to automatically track how many items you have left.

• Stock Quantity: How many units you currently have available. * Low Stock Threshold: The system will notify you when inventory drops below this number.

• Stock Status: If you aren't tracking exact quantities, you can simply set this to "In Stock", "Out of Stock", or "On Backorder".

3. Media & Images

High-quality images are crucial for selling online.

• Upload your main Product Image (this is the primary image shown in the catalog).

• Add additional images to the Product Gallery to show different angles or features.

4. Organization (Sidebar)

Use the right sidebar to categorize your products so customers can easily find them:

• Product Categories: Group similar items (e.g., "Men's Clothing", "Electronics").

• Product Brands: If you sell items from various manufacturers, assign the correct brand here. Customers often like to filter stores by brand.

• Product Tags: Specific keywords related to the product (e.g., summer collection, waterproof).

Product Attributes and Variations

Not all products are simple. If you sell a t-shirt, it probably comes in different sizes (Small, Medium, Large) and colors (Red, Blue). In PolyCMS, these are handled using Attributes and Variants.

• First, you create Attributes (like "Size" and "Color") globally in E-Commerce > Attributes.

• Then, on the product edit screen, you assign these attributes to the product.

• Finally, the system can generate Variants (e.g., a "Small Red T-shirt"). Each variant can have its own unique price, SKU, and stock quantity!

Publishing Your Product

Once you have filled in all the necessary details, review your SEO settings at the bottom of the page (Meta Title and Description), and then click Publish in the top right corner.

Your product is now live and available for purchase in your store! Next, you should learn how to manage the sales that come in by reading the Managing Orders guide.