The catalogue is the engineering core of e-commerce
Most "we need to migrate platforms" conversations start with catalogue limitations.The product / variant / SKU triangle
- Product — the abstract item the customer browses ("T-shirt with logo")
- Variant — a specific purchasable variation ("T-shirt, Medium, Black")
- SKU — the inventory-managed identifier
The mistake we see most: treating each variant as a standalone product. The catalogue bloats; merchandising fragments; reviews don't aggregate.
Attribute modelling
- Variant axes — size, colour, configuration. Limit to 2-3 axes
- Product attributes — facts about the product (material, weight, country of origin)
- Custom fields — anything specific to the business
The discipline: the same attribute name means the same thing across products.
Categorisation
- Hierarchical — Categories → Subcategories. Familiar but rigid
- Tag-based — products belong to multiple tags. More flexible
- Hybrid — primary category for navigation, tags for cross-cutting
The right answer is hybrid for most e-commerce.
Search-driven catalogue
- Full-text search across name, description, attributes
- Faceted filters — by category, price range, attribute values
- Synonyms and typo tolerance
- Boost rules — newer products, high-stock, on-sale
Inventory management
- Per-SKU stock counts
- Multi-location inventory (warehouses, dropship suppliers)
- Stock states (available, reserved, fulfilling, backorder)
- Low-stock thresholds and reorder triggers
- Lead times for restock
Pricing models
- Base price + variant differential
- Quantity discounts / volume tiers
- Customer-specific pricing (B2B, member tiers)
- Time-based promotions
- Geographic / currency-specific pricing
Bundles and configurations
- Bundle — a product that includes multiple SKUs
- Configurable — customer chooses options that determine final SKU
- Subscription — recurring purchase
Internationalisation
- Per-locale product names, descriptions, images
- Per-locale pricing
- Tax handling per region
- Per-locale compliance
- Currency conversion (real vs displayed)
The "we'll add languages later" plan rarely works.
Catalogue ops
- PIM — for catalogues larger than ~1 000 SKUs (Akeneo, Pimcore, Plytix)
- Bulk operations — CSV import / export, API-based bulk update
- Workflow / approvals
- Audit trail
One pattern we'd warn about
Letting the platform's variant model dictate the business's catalogue model.One pattern that always pays off
Catalogue data export discipline. Quarterly export to a portable format.What's your catalogue size?
