Adding one Subcategory to different Parent categories?

[cscstore]

Hello, Square Community!
We wanted to ask if it's possible to add the same Subcategory to different Parent Categories?

We are a retail clothing store, and we're currently reorganizing the way our inventory is structured on the Square Dashboard.

Since we have different styles and brands, we wanted to see if it's possible to create a Parent Category for our Styles and for our Brands, and have common subcategories be shared between the different Parent categories.

Example:

• Parent Category 1 = "Brand of Clothing"
  
  • Subcategory 1.1 = "Brand" Women's Pants
    
    
• Parent Category 2 = Women's Clothing
  • Subcategory 2.1 = Women's Pants
    
    • Subcategory 2.2 = "Brand" Women's Pants
      
      

I'm currently trying to get this to work, and I'm not sure if it's possible or if I'm missing something.
Any information or workarounds would be appreciated.
Thanks!

[Candlestore]

@cscstore ;

Yes this is possible.

Below is an Image of my Items - Categories hiearchy.  

Parent is Pocono Candles - Pillars - Then the sizes Categories of each.

Pocono Candles ---- Parent   Sizes we Make

          Pillar Candles ---- has Parent of Pocono Candles

              2x3  --- has Parent of Pillars Candles

              2x6 ---- has Parent of Pillars Candles

              etc

                   I could Have Scented 2x6 ---- Which would have Parent of 2x6 but we only make Scented Candles usually

                   I could have Unscented 2x6 --- Which could also have parent of 2x6

Then the Item would just list the Category of Unscented 2x6 to be place in the correct category child which would be in the correct Parent categories.

[cscstore]

Hey @Candlestore!
Appreciate the reply.

This is what I'm understanding from the feedback you provided:
Your Category Hierarchy:

• Parent #1 = Pocono Candles
  • Sub 1.1 = Pillars 
    • Sub 1.2 = Sizes
      • Sub 1.3 = Unscented Corresponding Size
        
        • Item = List the Category of Unscented

Here is the category hierarchy you provided, but with our items:

• Parent #1 = "Brand" of Clothing
  • Sub 1.1 = "Brand" Women's Pants
    • Sub 1.2 = Sizes
      • Sub 1.3 = Style/Cut of Women's Pants
        
        • Item = List the Category of Women's Pants

This is something we're looking to pursue for our own inventory. The only thing we're still confused on is sharing the same Subcategories between 2 different Parent Categories.

We wanted to see if there was a way for us to simply place an existing Subcategory from one Parent Category, and copy/share to another category. The main reason is that some of the brands we carry have different SKUs that fit under different categories. It would be easier for us as far as reporting to view each brand as a whole, as well as for our future Square Online Website. The categories would be used to navigate our merchandise.

• Ex: Brand 1 carries both Men's and Women's clothing. We would like to organize everything for Brand 1 into a Brand 1 category, and then have Brand 1's Men's clothing appear in the Men's Parent Category, and Brand 1's Women's clothing appear in the Women's Parent Category
• 
• This is the layout we have in mind for our Categories. It is preferred this way because we think it would be best for our future online customers to navigate our future website.
• Blue = Portion we would like to share between different categories
• Yellow = Optional categories
• So if a customer were to click on Brand 1, everything related to Brand 1 would pop up (Men, women's, etc)
•  

It seems like the only way to have an item appear under 2 different Parent Categories, and their corresponding subcategories is to manually create each subcategory under the relevant hierarchy (create a Brand 1 under both Men's and Women's).

Let us know what you think.
We know it's a bit complicated, but we're open to any suggestions.
Appreciate your time! 😄

[Candlestore · Accepted solution]

@cscstore ;

Brand 1 -

1. Mens Brand 1 Items
   1. Item XYZ
   2. Item ABC
2. Womens Brand 1 Items
   1. Item EFG
   2. Item RST

Brand 2- 

1. Mens Brand 2 Items
   1. Item LMN
   2. Item OPQ
2. Womens Brand 2 Items
   1. item HIJ
   2. Item UVW

In this example Your Parent Categories would:

1.     Brand 1
2.     Brand 2

Your Sub categories would be:

1. Mens Brand 1
2. Wemons Brand 1
3. Mens Brand 2
4. Womens Brand 2

Your actual Items would be:

1. Item XYZ
2. Item ABC
3. Item EFG
4. Item RST
5. Item LMN
6. Item OPQ
7. item HIJ
8. Item UVW

When creating Item XYZ for example under Category Choose Reporting Parent as Brand 1, and Category as Mens Brand 1.  

You could also Create a Sub category as All Brand 1 items.

So your chart would be like :

Brand 1

1. Mens Brand 1
2. Women Brand 1
3. All Items of Brand 1

Then when you select Categories you could Select All Items of Brand 1 to get both on one screen.  You just need your Item setup with Multiple Categories chosen like the images below:

1: Edit Item under categories Select the categories you want This item to be displayed under.

       This image shows that this item displays in 3 Categories :

1. 4x6          (Size)
2. Pillar Candles      (Type)
3. Poconon Candles       (Brand)

So if I filter based on any of these categories this certain Item would show up. But for reports it only shows up as a 4x6 candles was sold. Which it is a 4x6 Lilac Scented candle.  Here my Parent is Pocono Candle - Sub Category - Pillars - and Sub Sub is 4x6.  Which is easier to see in the image in my previous reply.  Even tho Pocono Candle is the Parent Category I chose 4x6 as the Reporting Category for this item.  This shows even with a Parent category you can choose a Sub category for your reports.  If you click the Edit button in your Items Desktop on a computer webpage you can put a Blue Checkmark in all categories you want an Item to appear in.  So I could add a Category of Puple and select that and this item of a 4x6 Lilac would show there also when filtered by Purple for example.

The below image shows I selected Pocono Candles and Pillar Candles as 2 categories (screen goes on to show I also selected 4x6 under Pillars as the Reporting Category.  This is indicated by the circled ! in the last image.)

By me having my Reporting category as 4x6, I can see how many 4x6 pillars I sell.   I may not know which brand sells the most but I can see if it is worth having 4x6 Pillars in general. 

[cscstore]

Very in-depth and informative @Candlestore 
We really appreciate this information!

The Brands as a the Patent Category is something we were thinking about, so we'll talk it over on our end and see if this hierarchy, or the Men's/Women's/Etc. hierarchy works best for us.

Thanks again for your time! 🙌