Products vs Categories (Examples)

To begin with, there seems to be a lot of confusion in the E-Commerce world in regards to the definitions of Categories and Products.

Categories group similar products together. They give order to a webstore shopping experience and help make it easier for a shopper to find what he or she is looking for.

An example of a category is “Casual Wear”. Or “Seats”.

These categories can also have sub-categories, for instance:

Casual Wear > Gloves

Seats > Seat Covers

Products get listed or “mapped” to Categories.

Products are precise things that you can buy. They have a part number or SKU associated with them and are unique. Products have attributes such as size, color, and option. When you have multiple products that are nearly identical but contain different attributes, these are called Product Groups. Sometimes there are multiple products in a product group and sometimes there is one product in a product group.

An example of a Product Group is the Arai Signet-X Shockwave Helmet

An example of a Product is the Arai Signet-X Shockwave Helmet, Color: Black Frost, Size: XL, MPN: 68531117213