Product groups and subgroups: organizing your catalog

Product groups and subgroups: organizing your catalog

When a business opens, the inventory fits in the memory of whoever runs it: you know what there is, where it is and how much each thing costs. But when the catalog grows to hundreds or thousands of products, finding an item becomes slow, and knowing which product line earns the most turns into a mystery. The solution is not memorizing codes but classifying: organizing the inventory into logical categories so products can be found quickly and analyzed better. In Kardex Tauro, that organization is built in the Groups and Subgroups window, the module that manages the catalog's classification structure.

Why classify your catalog

Merchandise cataloging is the process of organizing the products of an inventory into logical categories based on common characteristics. It is a fundamental practice of modern inventory management, implemented by companies of all sizes and industries, and its effects show up every day:

• Similar products are grouped together, so they can be located without reviewing item by item.
• Searching is easier: you query by category instead of scrolling through endless lists.
• Segmented analysis becomes possible, because each line of the business can be measured separately.
• Day-to-day commercial and operational management improves.

A two-level hierarchy

Kardex Tauro implements a two-level classification structure. The first level is the group: the main category that represents a line of business or a broad product family, usually matching a department, section or area of the company. The second level is the subgroup: the specific subdivision within each group, which adds detail and precision. For example, the Electronics group can hold the Cell phones, Laptops, Audio and Video subgroups, and the Groceries group the Grains, Canned goods and Beverages subgroups.

This hierarchy mirrors the physical or commercial organization of the business and lets you navigate the inventory intuitively, without depending on memorized codes. In international inventory terminology it matches the concept of SKU family: each SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) is an individual product with its own unique code, the subgroup is the specific category that SKU belongs to, and the group is the broad family that gathers several subgroups. Recognized standards such as UNSPSC, eCl@ss or GS1 GPC use four-level schemes (segment, family, class and commodity or brick); Kardex Tauro simplifies that idea to two levels —group and subgroup— to keep it practical for businesses of any size.

The combination of both levels, with sample codes, looks like this for each type of business:

Designing the scheme: choosing a classification criterion

Before creating the first group, it is worth deciding which criterion you will classify by, because that criterion defines whether the structure becomes genuinely useful or ends up as just another list. There is no single right answer: the best criterion is the one your team understands without long explanations, mirrors the way the business is organized, and answers the questions you ask the system, such as how much each line sold or which section performs better. Catalog management relies mainly on three criteria:

The criteria are not mutually exclusive: many businesses combine groups by product type with a subgroup by brand inside an important family. As a practical recommendation, choose the criterion that a new employee could explain in two sentences; if the scheme needs a manual to be understood, it is probably too complicated.

A complete example: from category to product

To see how the two levels chain together with real products, an illustrative example helps: a tech store that sells devices and accessories. First you create the groups and subgroups with their codes in the Groups and Subgroups window, and then each product is assigned to its subgroup from its own record. The result reads like this:

Notice the pattern: the same Electronics group appears in several rows, because each subgroup belongs to a single group, and in this example the product code is born from the subgroup code (CEL001 is recognized at a glance as a cell phone). That derivation is optional —many companies prefer plain sequential numbers— but what always pays off is consistency: one coding style across the whole catalog makes lists easy to scan and makes the bulk load from the spreadsheet predictable.

When to use subgroups and when the group is enough

The two levels exist because some businesses need the detail and others do not. Deciding how deep to go is a matter of balance. As a general catalog-management recommendation, keep this in mind:

• Use subgroups when the group holds many products that behave differently (cell phones and laptops sell and restock at different paces), when the business already separates those families physically in the warehouse or the store, or when you want per-line reports to drive purchasing decisions.
• The group alone is enough when the catalog is small, when all of its products behave the same way and are analyzed together, or when the volume does not justify one more level of detail.
• Avoid creating subgroups in advance just in case: a structure with dozens of empty categories is harder to maintain than a small scheme that grows with the business.

The window that manages the classification

The Groups and Subgroups window is the module where that structure is administered: it lets you create, edit and delete the hierarchical categories that organize the products. It has two independent but related tabs:

• Groups tab: manages the main first-level categories. Its list shows the group code, which is its unique identifier, and the group name, the category description.
• Subgroups tab: manages the specific subdivisions within each group. Its list also shows a unique code and a name for every subgroup.

Each tab has three action buttons at the bottom: the create button (Create group on the first tab, Create subgroup on the second) opens the registration window; the Edit button changes the code or name of the selected record, and the Delete button removes it from the system.

Creating, editing and deleting categories

Creating a group is straightforward. With the Groups tab active, click Create group and a small window opens with two fields: Group code, a unique identifier such as ELE, GRO or LIQ, and Group name, the category description, such as Electronics, Groceries or Liquor. After completing both fields and confirming with OK or Save, the new group appears in the list immediately. The system validates that the code is unique, that no field is left empty and that no invalid special characters are used.

Subgroups are created the same way from the Subgroups tab: Create subgroup button, a unique code such as CEL, LAP or TAB, and a specific name such as Cell phones, Laptops or Tablets, with equivalent validations. Editing also works the same on both tabs: you select the record, press Edit, and the window opens with the current data so you can correct the code or the name.

When editing, it helps to know what happens to products that are already classified: they keep their classification. If you change the code, products stay associated, but under the new code; if you change the name, the change is reflected immediately in every report.

Deleting also asks for confirmation, and here the program applies important restrictions: you cannot delete a group that has products assigned —the system blocks the operation and shows how many products use that group—, nor a group that still contains subgroups, nor a subgroup with products assigned. The right way to remove a category in use is to identify its products and reassign them to another category from the editing window of each product; once the group or subgroup is empty, the deletion goes through.

Where each product gets its classification

A detail that confuses people at first: the Groups and Subgroups window is exclusively for administering the structure. Assigning a group and a subgroup to each specific product is not done here, but in the General tab of the product creation or editing window. First you define the category scheme, and then every new product is placed inside it.

That order also matters when importing inventory from a spreadsheet: if you are going to import, make sure the categories of both levels are already created in this window before running the import, or type their names exactly as you want them created. That way, the bulk load leaves every product in its category from day one.

Common mistakes when building the structure

The stumbling blocks you hit when setting up groups and subgroups repeat themselves in every business. Knowing them in advance saves corrections later:

• Codes without a criterion: identifiers such as A1 or X23 say nothing and get forgotten; over time nobody knows which category they stand for. Short codes that remind you of the name, such as ELE or GRO, take care of themselves.
• Inconsistent names: calling one category Canned goods and an equivalent one Preserves splits the products of a single line into two places and fragments the sales reports.
• Duplicate categories: creating a group or subgroup that already exists under another name fills the option list and confuses everyone when assigning products. Checking the list before creating prevents the duplicate.
• Ignoring the system's validations: the code must be unique, both fields are mandatory and invalid special characters are not allowed; if the window rejects the record, it is because of one of those rules.
• Trying to delete a category that is in use: the system blocks the deletion of a group with assigned products and tells you how many products use it; it also refuses to delete a group that still contains subgroups or a subgroup with assigned products. The right path is to reassign the products first and delete afterwards.
• Leaving classification for the end: building the structure when there are already hundreds of products forces you to review the catalog one by one. It is cheaper to define groups and subgroups before loading the inventory.

Good practices for classifying

• Use short, consistent codes (ELE for Electronics; CEL, LAP and TAB for its subgroups) and review them before creating them, because the code cannot be repeated.
• Keep names short and uniform, in your team's language, and avoid synonyms for the same category.
• Do not duplicate categories: check the list before creating a group or subgroup that already exists under another name.
• Think twice before deleting: a category with products or subgroups assigned will not be removed until everything has been reassigned, so keeping the structure tidy avoids blocks when cleaning up the catalog.
• Keep one uniform style across all codes: similar length, consistent capitalization and no spaces, so the lists can be read at a glance.
• Start with a few well-thought-out categories and let the scheme grow with the business; fixing a poorly designed full scheme costs more than expanding a small one.

Benefits of classifying your inventory

Once the structure exists, the advantages show up in daily operations and in decision making:

Classifying your catalog is one of those tasks you do once and it pays off every day: a well-defined structure turns a chaotic inventory into a catalog that is easy to search, understand and analyze.