Product types — choose a channel category once, not once per product

Publishing a product to a marketplace means telling that marketplace which of its categories the product belongs in — and every channel has its own category tree, with its own names, at its own depth. Done product by product, that is one decision per product per channel, repeated forever, and repeated again for every product you add next month. From today you can answer it once instead. Product types are a small tree you build yourself — "Baby clothing › Accessories › Hats & beanies" — and each type maps to one category per channel. Fifteen beanies become one decision. The sixteenth beanie, added next month, inherits the answer.

✨ What this means for you:

• One decision per type, not per product. Map a type to a channel category once and every product carrying that type publishes into it — including products you haven't created yet.
• Every channel keeps its own answer. The same product type can land in a different category on each marketplace, because each one has its own map.
• Exceptions stay exceptions. A single product that belongs somewhere else can be pinned to its own category on one channel without disturbing the rest of its type.
• You can see where an answer came from. Every resolved category is labelled — from the map, pinned by hand, or not set yet.
• Adopt it a corner at a time. Type one brand, map one channel, and leave the rest of the catalog exactly as it is. Untyped products keep publishing the way they always have.

Build the tree that fits your catalog

Product types live under Settings → Products → Product Types. You build the tree, so it can be as coarse or as fine as your catalog needs — up to three levels deep. Parents are groups that hold other types; the types at the bottom are the ones products actually carry.

Types can be renamed, moved, merged into one another, and archived as your catalog changes. If you have a large untyped catalog, SKU.io can propose a type for each product from its name and brand — you review every suggestion, and nothing is written until you apply.

Map each type to a channel category, once

The map lives under Publish → Categories. Pick a channel, and you get one row per product type, with the category that type publishes into on that channel.

Needs a category is your to-do list: types that have products but no category yet on this channel. Suggestions are offered beside each row to speed up the first pass — treat them as starting points rather than answers, since they are matched on wording rather than judgement. Nothing reaches the channel until you save.

See where each category came from

On any product, the Channel categories card shows every channel it can publish to, the category it will use, and where that answer came from. A product that needs to sit somewhere unusual on one marketplace can be pinned there, and the card still shows what the map would otherwise have said — so an exception never becomes a mystery six months later.

When a category resolves, the listing template set as that category's default comes with it, so the rest of the listing starts from the right place too.

Where to find it

• Build and manage the tree: Settings → Products → Product Types
• Map types to categories: Publish → Categories, then choose a channel
• See or override one product's categories: open the product, then its Listings tab
• Put types on products in bulk: the Product type column and filter on Products (turn them on in Columns), bulk edit, or a spreadsheet import

Full guide: Product types & channel categories — twelve pages covering the tree, the map, overrides, imports, bulk publishing and how a category is chosen, with walkthrough videos on the map and the AI proposals.