Products and Categories
Use Products and Product Categories to build the items people can browse and buy in your club's online store.
How these two resources work together
- Product Categories helps organize the storefront.
- Products holds the actual items for sale.
- Each product can belong to multiple categories.
- Website product sections and category pages rely on active products and active categories.
Product Categories
Use Product Categories when you want to group products for browsing.
The current category resource includes:
- Name
- Slug
- Active
Helpful details:
- Categories are sortable in the admin list.
- Only active categories are used on the storefront category pages.
- Categories are also used in the E-Commerce Section when you want a page to show one category or all products.
Products
Use Products when you want to create or edit an item that can appear on the website.
The current product resource includes:
- Name
- Slug
- Image
- Product Categories
- Active
- Description
- Product Options
Helpful details:
- Product images are cropped to a
4:3ratio. - You can upload a new image or choose existing media for the product.
- Complete the crop before saving the product record.
- Products are sortable in the admin list.
- The product list includes a category filter.
- Only active products are shown publicly.
Product options control price and inventory
Every product must have at least one product option.
This matters because:
- price is stored on the option, not on the top-level product
- inventory behavior is stored on the option
- multiple sizes, colors, or variations should be set up as separate options
Each option includes:
- Name
- Price
- Free
- Inventory Count
- Inventory Method
- Active
Inventory methods
The current product option setup supports these inventory methods:
- Inventory is unlimited - always allow sales and ignore inventory count
- Stop selling when inventory is empty - prevent sales when the option runs out
- Continue selling even when inventory is empty - allow sales to continue even when inventory is depleted
Helpful detail:
- If Free is turned on, the option ignores any price entered.
What shoppers see on the website
On product listing cards, Clubistry shows:
- the product name
- the product image
- the first available option price
- an (out of stock) note when the first available option is disabled
- an (options available) note when the product has multiple options
- a View Item button
On the product detail page, shoppers can:
- view the product description
- open category links for active categories assigned to the product
- choose an option when more than one option exists
- see disabled options marked as out of stock
- choose a quantity and add the item to the cart
Active status matters in more than one place
Review active flags carefully because storefront visibility depends on them.
- An inactive product does not appear publicly.
- An inactive category is not used for public category browsing.
- An inactive option cannot be added to the cart.
- A product can still exist in the admin area even when it is not currently visible on the website.
Product duplication
The current product resource supports replication.
Helpful detail:
- When a product is replicated, the copy keeps the current product's categories and option setup so you can reuse a similar product structure.
Practical setup tips
- Create categories first if you already know how you want the store organized.
- Keep product names and slugs clear so product links stay readable.
- Use options for real variations instead of putting multiple versions into one description.
- Check the option-level price and inventory method on every variation before publishing.
- Keep images visually consistent so product grids look cleaner.
- Upload a separate copy when another part of the site needs a different crop of the same image.
Related topics
- E-Commerce Overview - Learn how store activation, Stripe, and notifications work together.
- Orders - Manage submitted store purchases after checkout.
- Page Content Sections - E-Commerce Section - Show products on website pages.
- Media Library - Upload, reuse, and crop product images.
- Set Up Clubistry Payments - Complete the initial Stripe setup before launching the public store.