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Joined: 9/12/2011
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Location: Atlanta-ish
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Now that there is Grouping, what is the best way to organize a store?
I have many different designs. I would always break those down into individual categories and then I have a couple of sub-categories that have sub-categories.
All of that seems to be out of the window now and I'd like to see how stores are best organized instead.
Can you point me to your Zazzle page where the Grouping *works for you* and gives you proper view-ability?
Thanks for any help.
T
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Joined: 4/22/2012
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Yeah I would like to know that too! I wonder if it's best to group by design...?
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Joined: 1/7/2010
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It's nice to see a positive thread on the subject of grouping!
Like most Zazzlers, my initial knee-jerk reactions to the new grouping system were something like "How dare Zazzle mess up my carefully organized store", and "Half my products have disappeared and the other half are in the wrong group", etc. Now that the first shock has worn off, I'm beginning to see Grouping as a step in the right direction towards a cleaner, simpler way of store organization.
First of all, what we're seeing at the moment is only the start of the process. Remember the re-indexing that happened a while ago, and how long it took for the program to run its course? The same sort of thing is happening now and it may take a month or two for it to settle down and put all the products in their proper places, so it's probably better not to panic and start reorganizing just yet. We've got a bit of breathing space, so we can use it to plan for our new-look stores.
Up to now, I too have been organizing my stores by design, with categories and sub-categories, but that seems rather redundant under the new grouping system. It's convenient from a storekeeper's perspective to have a single large store with separate departments, but it means more clicks for the buyer who has to drill down through the layers before they find what they're looking for. I'm now considering the merits of splitting my main store into several smaller themed ones and trying to cut down on categories. It's going to take a major re-think, but it might be worthwhile in the end.
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Joined: 10/19/2008
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I think Im going to need a major do over on my store too. But I also dont know what to do for the best as Im used to organizing by product type/subject/subcatagory
eg tshirts/sports/surfing or perhaps just posters/animals
This may or may not be contributing to my 'frozen' catagory pages and they are certainly all mixed up and not in custom sort.
But im also 'frozen' as I dont know which way is best to go to reorganize my store to help zazzle achieve their goals but also mine too of maximizing viewings on my store.
Anyone who can point to a good example of a mega store arrangement using the new groupings system I would be really grateful to see it to use as a template for my own perhaps.
Zazzle peeps if you have one you think fits the bill perhaps you could let us know?
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Joined: 7/9/2011
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It may not be perfect, but I spent a couple of days reorganizing my main store and I'm fairly happy with it now. Here's the link if you want to check it out. Anderson Designs
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Joined: 3/23/2007
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Location: Brookings
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Also good to see a thread where people are trying to get into the solution instead of staying in the problem. I have done nothing to change anything but happy with my stores as I had designed them by product all all these years. Not a lot of bling of coding just categories and product. So if there is anything anyone can gain by them please feel free to ask me anything or get ideas.
Good luck to everyone keep the good thoughts coming..
Tink
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Joined: 3/28/2011
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I'm going to keep organising by design. The groups add extra clicks in some categories, but overall it still makes the most sense for my store to do it that way. Customers can still narrow down by product type using Zazzle's existing navigational options.
But in any case, I wouldn't make any major changes until Zazzle have finished tweaking the grouping feature.
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Joined: 1/29/2010
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Well, I've got my store organized by design. Cupcakes > Lemon, Cupcakes > Blueberry, and so on.
I'm guessing this about all but eliminates the need for the subcategory. I could now just put everything that's a cupcake under "Cupcakes" and then the grouping will automatically make the subcategory.
But I'm not changing anything just yet! I don't think anyone should quite yet...
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Joined: 9/12/2011
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Visions of Sugar wrote:I'm guessing this about all but eliminates the need for the subcategory. I could now just put everything that's a cupcake under "Cupcakes" and then the grouping will automatically make the subcategory.
But I'm not changing anything just yet! I don't think anyone should quite yet... Great observation Visions of Sugar. It seems like all of my sub-categories need to go. But I'll wait too. Thanks for the insight. Terry
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This is what I'm thinking:
Once we regain control of how our featured products show in our shops, I'm thinking of designating three products (I have selected 3 per column) of each design as featured products. The featured products will run on for many pages.
I'll keep top-level categories and delete sub-categories.
Plus, I'll add an explanatory photo as one SK did (sorry, can't remember name) about XX styles, XX products. This is a good time to ask: How does one make an image show up on the home page?
In the meantime, I have a long explanation of how to browse the shops and how to see all the products that are in the shops.
Marian
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Joined: 8/6/2011
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Oh, wow, now this is a helpful thread to find. Thanks BettiePage for starting this one. Thanks to Anderson_Designs and to silbran for your page layout/design ideas. I have more work to do to develop a "schema" for all this now as I develop my store. Thank you.
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I still organize by design. I still create subcategories. I just turned off display of the categories. Opening a new store when the designs in any one topic area get too large seems to be the preferred direction.
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From what I can gather most of our sales don't come from people browsing our individual stores so I think our stores should look good but be simple and we should spend most of our time on other things.
Especially right now because we don't yet know how it will all wash out.
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Joined: 4/6/2010
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Location: Oak Harbor
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Visions of Sugar wrote:From what I can gather most of our sales don't come from people browsing our individual stores so I think our stores should look good but be simple and we should spend most of our time on other things.
Especially right now because we don't yet know how it will all wash out. I agree - now is the time to be pouring out quality product for the buying season.
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I still don't understand this new "grouping" but I'm kinda glad now that I'm so lazy about my store setup. 
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One of my stores is not affected at all by the new grouping - all my designs are there seperatly, and just how I left it, I dont know for sure but I think its because things are arranged by product type, eg mouse pads, iphone cases, etc - there are no missing products at all Also I have not used any words in my titles that are the same as other product ranges of mine.............for example - In my unaffected shop I have product lines called doves and heart, and doves on heart - these are similar product lines, just different colors, and these show seperatly in my store (they are not lumped together by zazzles grouping.) In a store of mine that IS affected, I have noticed that all products with the same two words next to each other in the title ARE lumped together by the grouping - for example anything with the words 'christmas' with 'tree' next to it are put together in the groupings. I have loads of missing products, so I have done a mass edit on the titles, I select each product range in one go, and edit the titles so that each product range (design) has a different title, with no two words together that are together on similar stuff I am hoping this post makes sense as I found that quite hard to explain, and I hope editing the titles will solve the problem with groupings, but I can't tell just yet as it takes a few days for changes to show EDIT: I HAVE SOLVED THE GROUPINGS PROBLEM IN MY STORE! Yay!!! I just checked and the editing of the titles worked, all my products are showing seperatly and all missing designs are back in my store - to summerise, sort your products by product type, and dont use the same two words together on other products - Yay! I have been confused all day trying to figure this out! EIDTED AGAIN....  Now the products have gone again - not sure if I solved it or not now
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Joined: 9/10/2011
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Location: Christchurch
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Marian Cates wrote:This is what I'm thinking:
................
Plus, I'll add an explanatory photo as one SK did (sorry, can't remember name) about XX styles, XX products. This is a good time to ask: How does one make an image show up on the home page?
...................
Marian I can't remember the name of the chap who suggested it (sorry - he deserves a big pat on the back for it, from me for starters!) but I have put it in a few categories where I most affected. It was something a little like the following, although I have changed it to suit my store a little.: "*Please note* :~ There are in fact more than 1000 products in this shop. Some category will say that there are only a few items on sale, but that is misleading - there are usually MANY more. If you would like to see everything on offer in each category, then please look under one of the examples and you'll see a link that says "see on ** products". Press that link and the whole view will be opened up. Thanks for reading." The following code you can put in the store settings, in the description box. Change the XXXXX to the number of products or just leave it out altogether. <b> *Please note* :~ There are in fact more than XXXXXXX products in this shop. Some category will say that there are only a few items on sale, but that is misleading - there are usually <u>MANY</u> more. If you would like to see everything on offer in each category, then please look under one of the examples and you'll see a link that says "see on XX products". Press that link and the whole view will be opened up. Thanks for reading. </b><br>Hope this helps.
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Visions of Sugar wrote:Well, I've got my store organized by design. Cupcakes > Lemon, Cupcakes > Blueberry, and so on.
I'm guessing this about all but eliminates the need for the subcategory. I could now just put everything that's a cupcake under "Cupcakes" and then the grouping will automatically make the subcategory.
But I'm not changing anything just yet! I don't think anyone should quite yet... Yes to the above... me too! I have always categorized my shops by Design as well, and it helps me keep things straight in my own head, so I plan to stay on that course. Obviously once all this gets settled I could change my mind, but for now it just helps me keep my shop organized in my mind
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Joined: 9/12/2011
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Location: Atlanta-ish
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Thanks "organs" - your idea of a note is good. I think I'm going to put a note in every category. Couldn't help but be snarky about it. http://www.zazzle.com/bettiepage/gifts?cg=196705703372296768Note: Zazzle has changed how to find things. There are many more products other than what are pictured below. Click that little "See on..." link to see more. Screwy - ain't it?T
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Joined: 7/5/2012
Posts: 11
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Shoot! I came to the forum hoping for a way to change the Grouping setting. I'm a Zazzle newbie so I didn't realize this is a new, unchangeable thing. I've gotten feedback from a couple people not finding products in my store. I explained that they had find the link that takes them to a page that shows the design on all items. But, I wonder how many people just moved on thinking there weren't more?
The idea of putting an explanatory note is a good one but I already have a note on my main store screen for something else. Adding too much will make it look messy, I think.
*sigh*
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