Organising the categories of a Salla store
Categories are the map of a store, and a confusing map loses people before they see a single product. Salla store categories are simple to create in the dashboard, which is exactly why they need a plan first.
Who are the categories for?
For the buyer, not for the warehouse. Owners often copy the way their supplier or their stock sheet groups products, with internal names and codes. A buyer thinks differently: by what the thing is for, who it is for or when it is used. Before you create anything, list how a customer would ask for your products in a shop. Those words, in that order of importance, are your categories.
How many main categories are too many?
When the list no longer fits comfortably in the menu on a phone, it is too long. There is no fixed number, but there is a clear test: can a new visitor read every main category at a glance and know which one holds what they want? If two names could both contain the same product, merge them or rename them. A short, clear list beats a complete one.
When does a subcategory help?
When a main category has grown so large that scrolling through it is tiring, and when the products inside split naturally into groups a buyer would recognise. It does not help when it adds a level just for tidiness. Every level is another tap before a product appears. For a small catalogue, one level is usually enough, and filters, where your theme offers them, can do the finer sorting.
Can one product sit in two categories?
It can make sense, when a buyer could reasonably look for it in both places. A gift set belongs with gifts and with its own product type. Check how your store handles assigning a product to more than one category, and use it sparingly. If half the catalogue appears everywhere, the categories stop meaning anything, and the buyer feels they are seeing the same shelf again and again.
What about a category with very few products?
A category that opens to show one or two items looks like a shop with empty shelves. Either fold it into a neighbour until it has enough to stand alone, or keep it out of the main menu for now. The same goes for categories created for products that have not arrived. Publish a category when it has something to show, not when you plan to fill it.
In what order should they appear?
In the order of what you most want to sell, not alphabetically and not in the order you created them. The first positions in the menu get the most attention, so give them to the categories that matter most to the business. Names should be short and plain, in the words your buyers use. Clever names cost a moment of thought, and a menu is the wrong place to make people think.
How I handle it
Before any visual work, the structure of the store is part of the design I draw in Figma, and you approve it before the build starts. Once the store is handed over, you manage products and their categories from the dashboard yourself. I build stores on Salla, Shopify and WooCommerce, and the first step is the same on all of them. Tell me what you sell and how many products you start with, and I will reply within 24 hours.
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