Navigation categories help structure and organize products to enhance the user experience and optimize catalog search. They are essential for product presentation and information accessibility.

Hierarchy

A navigation category has a hierarchical order. This means that products are organized in a multi-level structure, from the most general to the most specific.

Root  
│  
├── Frozen  
│   ├── Fish  
│   ├── Pizza  
│   └── Vegetables  
│  
├── Fresh  
│   ├── Fish  
│   ├── Meat  
│   └── Butter  
│  
└── Beverage  
    ├── Soda  
    ├── Juice  
    └── Syrup

Contextualization

Navigation categories are contextualized to the store-view.

Each store-view has its own navigation category tree. This means that products can belong to multiple navigation categories depending on the store-view used.

Navigation Category Associations

A navigation category cannot be directly assigned to a product. It must be linked to a Classification category or an Assortment to establish that connection.

There are two types of navigation categories :

Standard category (linked to classification categories)
Custom category (linked to assortments)

❗️
A navigation category cannot be both standard and custom and once it is created, its type cannot be changed.

Classification Category

A navigation category can be linked to one or more classification categories.
In this case, the navigation category will automatically include all products belonging to the linked classification category or categories.

This allows the navigation structure to be driven directly by the product classification, without requiring manual selection.

The ability to link classification categories to a navigation category is only available for Standard navigation categories.

Assortment

A navigation category can be linked to an assortment to define its content.
When an assortment is linked, the category displays only the items included in that assortment.

This mechanism is typically used to:

Create curated or temporary categories.
Restrict visibility to a specific subset of products or variants.
Build marketing or business-driven navigation paths.

Linking an assortment to a navigation category is only available for Custom categories.

📘
Important
Classification categories operate at the product level. When a product is included, all of its variants are automatically included as well.
Assortments, on the other hand, can operate at the variant level,
allowing specific variants of a product to be individually included or excluded.

Creating a Navigation Category

Navigation categories can be created in two ways:

Via DataHub via the job of import (SFTP)

❗️
Each new import of navigation categories will overwrite the previous tree.

❗️
It is not possible to associate a custom navigation category with an assortment via DataHub.

Via the Navigation Categories page in the Back Office

To create a navigation category (standard or custom):

Connect to DJUST Back Office.
Navigate to the Catalog -> Navigation categories tab.
Click on Add category.

Information

Name (mandatory): A clear and unique name to identify the assortment.
External ID (mandatory): A unique identifier without spaces or accents for API integration.

If a custom navigation needs to be created, enable the Custom toggle.

❗️
Once activated, the option to add a Classification category will no longer be available.

If a standard navigation needs to be created, do not enable the Custom toggle. You can then link the navigation to a Classification category.

Custom Fields

Custom fields specific to navigation categories can be created to provide additional information for each category.

To create a navigation category custom field :

Connect to DJUST Back Office.
Navigate to the Settings -> Catalog and offer management section
Select the Navigation category custom fields option.

Once your custom fields are created (and active), they will automatically appear on the details page of every navigation category.

Updating a Navigation Category

Navigation categories can be updated in two ways:

Via DataHub via the job of import (SFTP)

❗️
Each new import of navigation categories will overwrite the previous tree.

❗️
It is not possible to update a custom navigation category with an assortment via DataHub.

Via the Navigation Categories page in the Back Office

From the back office you can :

Update the navigation category name
Add or remove classification categories (for standard navigations)
Add or remove assortiments (for custom navigations)
Update custom filed information
Update the status of the navigation category
- Active (visible in the front office)
- Inactive (not visible in the front office)
Update the position of navigation categories using the available drag-and-drop feature in the navigation list
Delete a navigation category

🔗Useful Links:

About Classification categories : Classification categories
About Assortments : Assortments