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Build Process - Store Setup [ 2 ]

Build Process - Store Setup [ 2 ]

The design portion of a GoCentral OLS build is pretty straight forward, and the green GoCentral Hub button links cover all the components along with our scope. This page covers the GCOLS products and services setup. After the front-end and store are good to go, "Build Process - Back-end [ 3 ]" will cover the level of setup needed for our value added offerings to fulfill the requirements of a complete build.
Click through the links on the "GoCentral Hub" button to see the GC OLS resources and build process in sequence.

Products Setup
Options & Inventory
Bookings Setup

Products Setup

Products Front-end

In order for the products to show up in their respective sections in the front-end design, you will need to add them in the store first. If no products have been added before the design portion of the build process, you will see an empty row in place of the products module that says "Your store is empty, let's add some products". If you click on the "add products" button below this text, you will be redirected to the store back in the GoCentral dashboard to add the products on the back-end.

View the detailed rundown of the front-end layout options for products:

Products Back-end

  • Start by entering a Product name
  • Click Add Image, browse to a product image, and click Open
  • You must enter a Price, then fill in the remaining fields as needed
  • Click Save when you're done or click Save and Add Another to keep adding products

Note: Images must be formatted as .jpg, .jpeg, .gif or .png files. They cannot be more than 10MB each. (You can upload images that are up to 5000 by 5000 pixels. But they will not be displayed larger than 1920 by 1080 pixels.) Images of at least 600 pixels in one dimension will enlarge when your customer's cursor hovers over them.

Field name Explanation
Tax CategoryIf the product's taxable, leave the menu set to Standard. Otherwise, change it to Non-taxable.
SKUEnter a unique SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) number to track your inventory and manage related invoices. You can use any numbering scheme you like.
VisibilityUncheck if you want to hide seasonal items or when you plan to roll out multiple products simultaneously at a later time.
CategoriesYou can make it easier for customers to find items by creating categories, such as clothing, housewares, toys. For more on creating subcatories, see Add product categories.
Tab name Explanation
DescriptionAdd info about product, such as how it's made or used.
Inventory & OptionsUse this tab to track available supplies and offer customers product choices, such size and color.
ShippingSet up the customer's shipping options. (See More Info below for how to change the shipping method.)
Search EnginesUse to have your product display a specific title and description when it appears in search results.

Set Up Featured Products

Add featured products so customers can quickly see your top products. These can be your best-sellers, or items/services that you want to draw attention to. 

  • You have to add products to your store first before setting up featured products
  • The "featured products" section layout will show the first 6 products added to the store in the order in which they were added to the store.
  • To manually select which products are featured, and the order in which you want them to display, go to the "featured products" section from the "products" tab in the GC OLS dashboard
  • Scroll through your list of products, and select the ones you want to feature. These will be automatically updated to the edit version of your site
  • You can rearrange your featured products by clicking and dragging them into the order you want. This will change their organization on the home page of your site

Note: You can only add up to 12 featured products.

Add Product Categories

  • From the "Products" tab in the GC OLS dashboard, click "Categories".
  • On the Categories page, click Add category > Enter a Category name, plus an optional Title and Description.
  • After creating categories, you can easily change or delete them as needed. You can also rearrange categories and make a category a subcategory.
  • Rearrange the categories by clicking and dragging to change the order.
  • Click and drag a category below another to make it a subcategory.
  • Front-end layout options: Sections - Products & Services [ 3 ] > Product Categories > Featured Categories Section

Resources

Products Sections
Add Products
Featured Products
Product Categories

Options & Inventory

Product Options

You can add options such as size and color, or enable customers to request custom messages. You can also add customer services like gift wrapping. Options can be displayed as a list of choices or by having customers use a text box.

  • Create a list of choices for a product.
  • Create a text box for message options such as engraving or a gift card.
  • Create a customer service add-on for a product.

Add a List of Choices

Online Store limits you to no more than a total of 100 option choices (known as "option values") for all products storewide. There’s no limit on how many options you create. But you can't create more than 100 option values, such as Red, Yellow, Blue, and Green. Reference GC OLS Platform Scope to see options limits and what's included for New Build tickets.

Workarounds to stay below limit
Most store owners never exceed the 100 option value limit. Here are two ways to accomplish that — while still providing customers an easier way to find the choices they want.

Action Description
Create general option valuesUse general, rather than super specific, option choices. For example, do not include the dimensions for every Small, Medium, and Large choice you create. With hundreds of products with different dimensions, you'll quickly hit the 100 limit. Instead tuck those details into the product description, such as these pillow dimensions.
Create separate types of optionsCreate separate types of options for a product. For example, you could use "Fabric" and "Multi-Packs" as pillow options, which give customers more choices and do not count against the 100 option values limit.

Add a Custom Message Text Box

You can create an add-on to a product so customers can include a custom message for the product's recipient or add a monogram or engraving.

  • On the product page, click the Inventory & Options tab, and in the Add-ons section click "Create Add-on".
  • Type in a Name for the add-on (such as Engraving).
  • In the Type list, select "Buyer enters custom text".
  • Add guidance instructions if needed and enter a number in the Character Limit text box (maximum of 255).

Create a Customer Service Add-on

You can add customer service options for a product, such as gift wrapping.

  • On the product page, click the Inventory & Options tab, and in the Add-ons section click "Create Add-on".
  • Type a Name for the service, such as Gift Wrapping or Delivery.
  • In the Type list, select "Buyer selects from a list".
  • Add a choice for the service in the Choice box. To add more choices, click CREATE ADD-ON CHOICE. For example, if you're adding a Gift Wrapping service, the first choice could be "Paper," and the second could be "Metallic Paper".

Managing Inventory

Inventory tracking is a best practice to avoid overselling and is required to list on marketplaces. Click the product's Inventory & Options tab, and set the Inventory menu to Track inventory. (By default, the If quantity reaches zero menu is set to Allow backorder.) If the product has variation options, the inventory stock amount can be controlled within each variant separately. 

Note: Choosing Allow backorder enables a customer to place an order even if the inventory is down to 0. Choosing Do not allow to order triggers an alert on the storefront when the product inventory drops below 3, and prevents the customer from buying the product when inventory reaches 0.

Pro Tip: If the customer did not provide inventory, disable inventory tracking, OR enable it with the default quantity of "1" but disable "Allow Backorders" so that the customer doesn't end up selling a product they may not have in stock. 

Resources

Full Platform Scope
Option Value Limit

Bookings Setup

Services & Bookings Front-end

In order for the bookable services to show up in their respective sections in the front-end design, you will need to add them in the store first. If no services or bookable products have been added before the design portion of the build process, you will see an empty row in place of the "online appointments" module that says "More services are coming soon".

If you click on the "manage appointments" button, you will be redirected to the store back in the GoCentral dashboard to add them on the back-end.

  • Click Appointments in the Add Section panel and a Section added confirmation briefly appears.
  • Now click the Online Appointments panel to begin customizing its settings.
  • Enter a new Title if you don't want to use the default Online Appointments.

View the detailed rundown of the front-end layout options for bookable services:

Services & Bookings Back-end

Click Manage Appointments to open the Appointments Scheduling window and then click Start Setup.

Bookable Hours

  • Set your Time Zone, uncheck days when your services are not available, set opening and closing times for the other days, and click Next.

Adding Services

  • Use the Services window to create a service with its price, duration, optional description, and location. When you're done, click Save.
  • Click Add Service and repeat this step to create all the services you offer. When you're done, click Next.

Note: If you leave a service set to $0.00, the customer won't be charged — even if you've specified upfront payment.

Notifications, location & Payments

  • Fill in the Notifications and Address fields.
  • The Notifications fields enable you to receive an alert when you have new appointments. The Address fields enable your customer to find your location. When you're done, click Next.
  • Use the Payment Settings window to select how you want to be paid. Click Next.

In the All set, publish your site window, click Preview and Publish Your Site if you're ready for customers to start booking appointments. Or click Sync Your Calendar if you want to see customer appointments in your personal calendar.

Note: From now on, you can change appointment-related settings by clicking Open in the new Appointments panel. Then choose Availability, Business Info, Appointment Payments, or Calendar Sync in the Settings menu.

Resources

Appointments Sections
Online Appointments
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