What is "Product Type": a guide to perfect warehouse order

Why is Classification Needed?

Forget the chaos in your warehouse. The foundation of efficient accounting in Torgsoft is the properly configured "Product Type" directory. Imagine your warehouse as a huge library. Without a clear catalog, finding the right book would be almost impossible. The "Product Type" in the program is just that catalog. It's your main tool for creating perfect order, much like how you organize files into folders on your computer for quick access.

Proper product organization is not just about convenience, but also a powerful tool for analysis, control, and business development.

1. Why Do You Need the "Product Type" Mode

Careful setup of product types from the start gives you several strategic advantages that significantly simplify daily work and help you make informed decisions.

• Quick Search and Filtering. Thanks to classification, you can instantly find any product group using information filters in the warehouse. Need to find all red dresses for the "Summer" season? A few clicks and they're right in front of you.

• Accurate Sales Analysis. You get crystal-clear insight into which product groups sell best, generate profits, and which are "dead weight" tying up your funds in stock. This gives you a clear signal about which products to focus on and which may need to be removed from the assortment.

• Automatic Name Generation. Correctly configured product types allow you to automatically create clear and structured names for new items. This significantly saves time when receiving goods and minimizes mistakes.

• Preparation for Online Trading. The hierarchical structure of product types that you create in Torgsoft is the ready-made "skeleton" for your catalog. You can easily export it to your online store or popular marketplaces, preserving the logic and order.

Now that you understand the advantages, let's figure out how to correctly build this structure.

2. The Foundation: How the "Product Type Tree" Works

The "Product Type" directory has a tree-like structure, meaning it consists of different levels of subordination, from general to specific. This allows you to create a flexible and logical hierarchy for any assortment.

1. Top Level — General Categories. These are the broadest product groups. For example: Outerwear, Footwear, Cosmetics, Office Supplies.

2. Next Level — Specific Subtypes. Each general category divides into narrower subgroups. For example, the Outerwear type might include: Jackets, Coats, Dresses, Blouses.

3. Lowest Level — Maximum Detail. This level is used for the most specific subgroups, if there is no standard characteristic for them. For example, for Footwear, these could be Shoes, Boots, Sneakers.

Practical Example of Structure for a Clothing Store:

Outerwear

• Jackets

• Coats

• Men's

• Women's

• Dresses

Note: Parameters like gender (Men's/Women's) or season are better added via standard product characteristics rather than creating separate branches for them. This simplifies the structure and makes filtering more powerful.

Now that we understand the theory, let's move to practice and create your first product type.

Before creating the structure in Torgsoft, sketch it out on paper or in Excel. Think through the entire hierarchy from start to finish. This step will save you hours, if not days, of work in the future. Changing the structure after it is already tied to thousands of products is a difficult and risky task. Being proactive at this stage ensures order for years to come.

3. Creating Your First "Product Type": Key Settings

When creating or editing a product type, a card with many settings opens. Let's look at the most important ones.

3.1. Basic Parameters and Product Name

• Name. Here you enter the name of the current branch (e.g., "Jackets").

• Included in Name. This checkbox determines whether the name of this branch will be added to the automatically generated product name.

Tip: To avoid overly long and cumbersome names (e.g., "Outerwear Jackets Women's Model-5"), the checkbox Included in Name is typically checked only for the lowest branch of the tree. Remember that the main name is formed from the product types, and all specific details like Author or Diagonal will be added using dynamic characteristics. This keeps names short and data structured.

3.2. Finances: Markups and Discounts

Here, you can set financial rules that will be automatically applied to all products of this type.

• Markup (%) allows you to set the standard retail and wholesale markup. When receiving new products of this type, the program will automatically apply the specified percentage.

• Maximum Discount (%) — a critical setting to protect your profit. It sets a discount limit for products of this type. For example, if the markup on diapers is only 5%, you can set a maximum discount of 3% to avoid selling the product at a loss to a customer with a 10% discount card. This is not just a setting — it's your financial safeguard. Don't ignore this field.

3.3. Standard Characteristics: Quick Detailing

This section allows you to add important standard parameters to the product: Manufacturer, Season, Color, Material, SKU, Gender.

Each parameter has a checkbox Required. If enabled, the program will not allow saving the new product card until this field is filled. This is a great way to ensure completeness and data quality in your base.

But what if the standard characteristics are not enough? Torgsoft offers another powerful tool for this.

4. Maximum Detailing: What Are "Dynamic Characteristics"?

Dynamic Characteristics — this is your constructor that allows you to add unique parameters specific to your business to any product type.

4.1. When Are They Needed?

Imagine you have a specialized business. Standard fields may not be enough to fully describe the product.

• For a bookstore: for the product type Book, you could add characteristics like Author, Cover, Genre, Year of Release.

• For an electronics store: for the product type Monitor, it makes sense to add Diagonal and Resolution.

4.2. Data Types

When creating a dynamic characteristic, you choose its type. This defines what data can be entered and makes working with it more convenient.

Once all product types and their characteristics are set up, the most interesting part begins — using this data in daily operations.

5. How Classification Works for You Daily

All your efforts to set up product types and their characteristics immediately begin to pay off in various aspects of the program's work:

• In the product card, all the parameters you added (both standard and dynamic) appear as separate fields, ready to be filled in when receiving goods.

• In the warehouse: you can display any of the dynamic and standard (Manufacturer, Season, etc.) characteristics as a separate column in the "Warehouse Status" for easy viewing and sorting.

• During search, each characteristic automatically becomes a powerful filter, allowing you to instantly find products by the most precise criteria.

• On price tags, you can configure label templates to print any important parameters (e.g., material, manufacturer, or diagonal).

The time you invest in carefully setting up product types at the start is one of the best investments in your business. This is the foundation for effective accounting. This order is not an end in itself, but a direct path to accurate analytical reports, managed assortment, and steady business growth.