Add products
You can sell physical goods, digital files, services, or products supplied by someone else. Drop-shipping works too, if you want a shop without holding stock yourself.
Your shop arrives with sample products. Delete them before adding your own, using the Delete icon next to each one. They are there to show you the layout, not to be edited.
Adding one
Go to CMS › Products and click Add New Product at the bottom.
The basic details
Name — the title of your product.
Description — what it is and why someone would want it. You can use paragraphs, bullet points, links, images and collapsible blocks. A YouTube or Vimeo video can be embedded too: click the Insert Video icon in the description editor and paste the address.
SKU — Stock Keeping Unit, a code identifying the product in your own business. Use the manufacturer’s code or invent your own. Keep each one unique if you want to track stock. It can be left empty.
Weight — the real weight including packaging, used to calculate postage. Leave empty for digital files and services. Tick Requires shipping or pickup only if the product physically moves.
Product availability — turn a product off and visitors cannot see it. Leave it off until you are ready to sell.
Stock control — how many you have, and low-stock warnings. You also choose what happens when you run out: hide the product, keep showing it, or accept pre-orders.
Pricing
The price excludes delivery. Depending on your tax settings you will see either “All prices include taxes” or “All prices do not include taxes” beneath it.
Click Manage pricing options for three more:
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Compare to price | The old price. Shows the product as reduced, with the saving |
| Bulk discount | Cheaper per item above a quantity. Applied as soon as the basket changes |
| Pay what you want | Customer names their own price. You can set a minimum and suggest amounts |
A real example of bulk discount. A jar costs £50. Buy five and they are £45 each. The discount applies the moment the fifth goes in the basket.
Photographs
Image quality affects sales more than almost anything else on the page. Show the product from several angles — front, side, underneath, close up.
Two rules worth keeping:
- Same size and style across every product. A shop where images vary looks unfinished.
- At least 1000px wide. Bigger is better.
The first image is the main one. It appears as the thumbnail in listings and opens the product page. To change it, drag a different image into first place. Drag the others to reorder them — customers see them in the order you set.
Alternative text describes an image for search engines and for people using screen readers, and shows if an image fails to load. The product name is used by default; write your own if something better fits.
Depending on your plan you may also be able to add product variations, each with its own image, and product videos using the Add Video option.
Categories
If you have set up categories under CMS › Shop › Products › Categories, you can put each product in one or more of them.
Under Categories on the product, click Manage Categories, tick the ones that apply, and click Apply.
Categories are what make category pages work, so it is worth doing as you go rather than later.
Next
Products with choices — sizes, colours, extras — need product options.
Moving a whole catalogue from another platform? See Import a product catalogue.