The core information about your products, such as prices, brands, stock availability and so on, is automatically uploaded to Cloud MT from the Cloud POS Back Office. When you are ready to activate these products on your Ecommerce site, you'll need to add some additional information for your customers, such as images and descriptions. This can be done from the product setup pages in Cloud MT.

In Cloud MT, first find the product you wish to activate. There are three main ways to do this:

• On the Cloud MT Dashboard, scan or type the Item Lookup Code or Alias into the ‘Quick Start’ field
• On the Cloud MT Dashboard, click ‘View All Items’ and then search for your item in the grid
• Navigate to Item Search in the Cloud MT menu (under ‘Quick Links’) and then search for your item in the grid

If you are searching in the item grid, click Edit next to the Code to open the required product.

You will now be taken to the product setup page. 

The ‘Item Essentials’ and ‘Find & Filter Options’ sections contain the key settings for activating a product on your Ecommerce site. Beyond this are many additional options and features that will not be needed for every product. This How To article provides a guide to all these settings, but it is the ‘Item Essentials’ and ‘Find & Filter Options’ that should be your focus when activating products online.

1) Set up your Item Essentials

The first section on the product setup page is Item Essentials.

Remember AutoSIM

If you're using AutoSIM, and the item is available from an AutoSIM Supplier, you do not need to complete the Item Essentials section yourself. It will be completed by AutoSIM on the next scheduled product update (which takes place every 24 hours).

If you would like to activate an AutoSIM product and you do not want to wait for the next scheduled activation time, you can click the ‘Attempt to Fetch Full Data from AutoSIM’ button on the right hand side of the product edit page:

 

Active - Selecting this will make the product display on your Ecommerce site. Deselecting this box will remove the product from your Ecommerce site.

Scheduled Activation - Use this setting if you would like to schedule the product to become active at a date and time in the future. This is most useful for upcoming brand/season launches. The date and time is localised for your browser timezone. 

Please note that if you manually activate a product in the meantime, using the ‘Active' checkbox, or the product is activated by AutoSIM, this will make the product live on your Ecommerce site and the scheduled activation date will be cleared. 

If you archive a product (see below), this will also clear the scheduled activation date.

Archived - When you archive a product, it will be hidden from all item searches in Cloud MT (apart from the Archived Items list). You may wish to archive older items so that they do not ‘clutter’ your item database. Please refer to this full guide on archiving items for more information. 

Use AutoSIM Data - If the product is available in the AutoSIM database, this box will be checked, to indicate that the information in Item Essentials has been automatically populated from the AutoSIM listing. You can read more about the information provided by AutoSIM here.

If the product is not available in the AutoSIM database, this option will not be selectable, and you will see a message explaining that ‘AutoSIM is not available for this item’, as in the screenshot above.

Name - This is the customer-facing name for the product that will be seen on Product Detail Pages and on Find & Filter pages on your Ecommerce site. We strongly recommend following this naming format, as it optimises your products for online searches and keeps product names consistent across your site.

Brand + Style Name + Season* + Gender** + Material*** + Product Type in Colour

*/**/*** Optional: Use if considered pertinent to the product in question.

For example: -

Giant Defy Advanced 2 2020 Men's Carbon Road Bike in Black

Note: Colour can be interchanged depending on the type of product i.e. flavour.

SEO Page Title - The text you enter here will appear in the page tab in the customer's web browser. You can leave this blank if you are happy to use the Name as the SEO Page Title (as is often the case), as this will happen automatically. There is no need to copy the Name into the SEO Page Title field.

Short Description - this is a short summary of the product. Google shows the Short Description in search results (most of the time) when the customer's search phrase is within it, so it is important to include the keywords here. The Short Description also appears at the end of the image selection on the Product Detail Page on your Ecommerce site.

Description - This information describes the product in more detail and will show on the Product Detail Page on your Ecommerce site. It often consists of a paragraph (or more) of text and may also include a bullet point list of key product features.

Top Tip

If you copy and paste text directly from an online source, such as the brand's website, it not only copies the text, but also the invisible formatting in the background.

If you wish to take information directly from another website, we would recommend copying the text into Notepad first, and then copying it from there into Cloud MT. Alternatively, you can use Format > Clear Formatting within the Description text editor in Cloud MT.

 

Images - Here you can upload images for your product. You can upload a maximum of 13 images. We recommend at least 1 image per product. To reorder the images, drag and drop the thumbnails left and right. To remove an image, right-click.

WebSIM

Even if an item is not available in the AutoSIM database, we may hold some information from the supplier on file, which you can import for your product. This database is called ‘WebSIM’.

You will find these options on the right hand side of the product edit page, in the ‘SIM Tools’ section.

Click ‘Fetch Images from WebSIM’ to pull in any images that Citrus-Lime hold for the product.
Click ‘Fetch Data from WebSIM’ to pull in a Description for the product, if available.

 

Prelaunch - If the item isn't available yet, but you wish to display it on your website in the meantime, you can use the Prelaunch setting. Select the box, and choose the date when you expect the product will be available to purchase. 

This will display an information message on the Product Detail Page on your Ecommerce site:

Instead of adding the product to their basket, customers can click a ‘Notify’ button and submit their email address, in order to receive an automated notification email once the product is available to purchase:

If stock is received in the Cloud POS Back Office, the pre-launch setting will be automatically removed from the item.

There is a Wizard available in Cloud MT to apply the Prelaunch setting in bulk.

It is worth noting the differences between Prelaunch and Scheduled Activation:

• If an item is set for Scheduled Activation, it is not visible anywhere on your Ecommerce site until that date and time is reached.
• If an item is set for Prelaunch, the product is visible and searchable on your Ecommerce site, but it is not available for purchase.

Primary Category - this is not visible to your customer on your Ecommerce site, and it is not used for navigating around your site. It is an internal categorisation that can be useful when applying product settings in bulk, such as when using a Wizard or creating a Coupon. For example, you could choose to make every product in the Primary Category ‘Road Bikes’ available for Click & Collect only, or create a coupon that only applies to products in the ‘Horse Rugs’ category.

There is a Wizard available in Cloud MT to apply the Primary Category in bulk.

To edit your list of Primary Categories, you can navigate to Site Management > Category List in the Cloud MT menu, and expand the ‘Store’ drop-down. 

Google Category - this setting categorises your product for Google Shopping results. It is not displayed on your own Ecommerce site. If you cannot find an appropriate Google Category in the list, you can add more from Item Management > Google Categories in Cloud MT.

Country of Origin - this setting is uploaded automatically from the Cloud POS Back Office.

2) Set the Find & Filter Options

Your customers will use these options to navigate your website and locate the products which are of interest to them.

Each option you see here is called a ‘Facet’. In other words, your product has a Department Facet, an Activity Facet, a Colour Facet and so on.

Facets are also used to build your Facet Navigation (your site navigation menu), control Banner links and support a number of promotional features on the site, such as Star Buys and Coupons.

It is vital that they are set correctly. You can watch a training webinar about Find & Filter Options on our YouTube channel, here:

Brand and Season are uploaded automatically from the Cloud POS Back Office and cannot be edited in Cloud MT.

To change the settings on your product, click View and Edit All Assigned Find & Filter Options and Collections:

This will open an additional window where you can set the appropriate Facets:

Within some Department and Item Group Facets, you will find an additional set of drop-down fields appear. These are called Browse Filters, and they allow you to provide an additional level of product categorisation to your customers. They also allow you to build more specific Banners, Facet Navigation entries and promotional offers on your Ecommerce site.

Click Close Panel & Continue to save your changes.

If you prefer, you can set the Find & Filter Options across mutliple items from one screen using Item Organisation > Find & Filter Quick Apply.

Your list of Departments, Item Groups and so forth is controlled from Item Organisation > Find & Filter Setup in Cloud MT. If you are planning to make changes to this structure, please ensure you have consulted this guide first: Cloud MT // A Beginner's Guide to Find & Filter Setup 

3) Create a Colour Group

Where items are available in different colours, you can set up Colour Groups. This has two main advantages:

• When a customer is viewing the Product Detail Page for an item in a Colour Group, the site will show them thumbnail images of the other colours available. They can click on these thumbnail links to quickly navigate to the other colours they may be interested in.
• It speeds up product setup for you - when you add items into the Colour Group, most of the Item Essentials are copied across automatically. 

There is more information on managing Colour Groups here.

4) Additional Item Info

This section allows you to add additional information about the product, if you wish, and to control a number of settings related to how the product will behave on your Ecommerce site (for example, its stock and delivery behaviour).

It is divided into four areas:

• Primary Image
• Extra Item Details
• Item & Stock Handling
• Special Conditions 

Primary Image

This will display once at least one image has been uploaded for the item. The first (or only) image is the Primary Image. This is the image that will display on Find & Filter pages on your site. You should ensure that it gives a full view of the product, i.e. it is not a zoomed view of small details or features. To change the Primary Image, reorder the thumbnails in the Images section of Item Essentials.

Extra Item Details

Technical Specification - The Technical Specification displays as a collapsible/expandable table on the Product Detail page, where a customer can view a detailed breakdown of the product specifics. This is not needed for all products — it is most commonly utilised for high value items, such as bikes. If the product is available in the AutoSIM database, this will be completed automatically. 

Size Information - The most efficient way to deploy size guides onto your Product Detail Pages is to add them into the Brand information. They will then be automatically added to all products from that brand. However, if you would like to add size information to an individual item, you can do so here.

Video - This allows you to upload video content for your product, which will be displayed after the product image(s). Video is a great way to engage customers. Copy an embed link from YouTube, or another video sharing platform, and paste the link into the field. A guide on creating embed links is included for you.

Buyers Guide - If you would like to produce a Buyer's Guide for this product specifically, you can add it here. A Buyer's Guide helps your customer to understand which product from a particular range would be most suitable for them. For example, it might help them to understand which winter riding gear would be best for them. A Buyer's Guide is displayed on the Product Detail Page, typically below the Description.

However…

Shared Buyers Guide - You can also create Shared Buyers Guides, which you can then apply to multiple products. To create a new Shared Buyers Guide, navigate to Item Management > Buyers Guides in the Cloud MT menu. Once you have created one or more Shared Buyers Guides, you can apply them to products either using this drop-down menu or via a Wizard.

Range Viewer - This allows you to display other products from the same range on the Product Detail Page for the current item. These will be displayed towards the bottom of the Product Detail Page, above any Related Items (see below). The title of the section will be ‘Also in the range’. 

Use the ‘Existing’ option if you would like to add the product to an existing range. 
Use the ‘New’ option if you are creating a new range for the first time. Simply name your new range, and click Save Changes at the bottom of the page. You can then add other products to the range by visiting their product edit pages and choosing it from the ‘Existing’ list.

Related Items - This allows you to display other products that the customer may be interested in purchasing. There is a full guide on how Related Items work here.

Item & Stock Handling

Item Attributes & Stock - This section shows how many attributes are within the item, and provides a link through to view the stock quantities. In other words, if this is a matrix item, clicking ‘View Item Attributes and Stock’ will reveal the child items and their associated stock locations, quantities and lead times. This includes the stock available from any of your linked SIM Suppliers. If the item is not a matrix item, you will only see one attribute within this window.

Delivery Charges Applicable - This should almost always be enabled for a product. If you deselect this option, it will always be eligible for free shipping, regardless of the customer's delivery location, and none of the rules in the Courier Integration Module will be respected. Examples of products that may be deselected for delivery charges include Gift Vouchers / Gift Certificates and experience packages.
There is a Wizard available in Cloud MT to apply this setting in bulk. 

Click & Collect Only (Block Mail Order) - If this is selected, the item will only be available for purchase via Click & Collect. No shipping options will be available. There is a Wizard available in Cloud MT to apply this setting in bulk. 

Block Pick-up Services (e.g. DPD Pick-up) - If this is selected, the item cannot be shipped using third-party collection services such as DPD Ship-to-Shop. There is a Wizard available in Cloud MT to apply this setting in bulk. 

Delivery Delay - Adding a Delivery Delay will extend the estimated despatch date shown to the customer. It will be added on top of any existing lead times for stock locations (including SIM Suppliers). You can add a Delivery Delay if your team need more time to prepare a particular product for despatch.

For example, if you offer a next day delivery option, have a bike in stock in your primary store, and the customer orders before your shipping cut-off time, then the platform would offer next day delivery as an option in the checkout. To give your team time to build and quality check the bike before despatch, you might add a Delivery Delay of 2 (working days), to provide a more accurate despatch estimate to the customer.

There is a Wizard available in Cloud MT to apply this setting in bulk. 

Stock is Tracked - This links the stock level of the item in the Cloud POS Back Office to the stock availability shown online, so will almost always need to be set to 'Yes', otherwise it will be possible to sell more of the item than you have in stock. Examples of products that may be deselected for stock tracking include Gift Vouchers / Gift Certificates and experience packages.
There is a Wizard available in Cloud MT to apply this setting in bulk. 

Backorder & Backorder Delay - This option allows the product to be purchased with a lead time, if you do not have it in local or warehouse / supplier stock.

Back in Stock Notifications - When a product is out of stock on your Ecommerce site, customers can click a ‘Notify’ button and enter their email address to be automatically contacted when the product is available again. Click ‘Back in Stock Notifications’ in Cloud MT to either a) create a notification for a customer, for example a customer who is in store with you and would like to receive a notification, or b) view any notifications that have already been submitted for this product. There is also a Back in Stock Report in Cloud MT where you can view and manage notification requests across all products.

Block SIM Stock - Selecting this option will make a product unavailable for purchase if all local stock has been sold, even if your linked SIM suppliers still have stock available. 

Item Weight & Dimensions - This information is not consumer-facing, but you can add the Length, Width and Heigh of the item, if useful to you and your team. The ‘Weight’ shown here is synced from th Cloud POS Back Office ‘Packed Weight’ field, and is used for shipping calculations.

Special Conditions

Manage eBay - If you are using the eBay integration, you can prepare the item for eBay listing using this section.

Manage Amazon - If you are using the Amazon integration, you can prepare the item for Amazon listing using this section.

Marketplace Only - Select this option if you are only selling the item on Amazon and/or eBay, and do not wish to display it on your own Ecommerce site. 

Excluded from Another Site - If you are running more than one website from the same Cloud POS account (for example, a B2B site and a B2C site), you can use this section to exclude the item from one or more of the websites. An example might be where you want to have all your products available on the B2B website, but only selected merchandise available on the B2C site.

Uses an Alternative Page Layout - At present, this setting is not editable. All pages should be set to use Detail Fast.

Find & Filter Priority Item - Setting this will push this product to the top of Find & Filter Pages, after which the normal sort order will apply. 

Block Coupons - Selecting this will prevent coupons from being used to pay or part-pay for the product.

Block Finance - Selecting this will make the product unavailable for purchase on finance.