Category Mapping

Category mapping translates raw supplier category strings (e.g. "LAPTOPS & NOTEBOOKS") into your canonical category tree (e.g. Computers > Laptops).

Your canonical category tree

The canonical category tree is your internal taxonomy — independent of any supplier. Categories can be nested:

Electronics
├── Computers
│   ├── Laptops
│   └── Desktops
├── Phones & Tablets
│   ├── Smartphones
│   └── Tablets
└── Audio
    ├── Headphones
    └── Speakers

To manage categories, go to Data Mapping → Categories → Manage catalogue categories.

Each category has a:

• Label: display name (e.g. “Laptops”)
• Code: unique slug (e.g. computers-laptops) — immutable after first use

The code is sent to export destinations as the category identifier.

Category sets

Different export destinations often use different category IDs. Shopify uses handles, Magento uses integer IDs, WooCommerce uses slugs.

A category set maps your canonical categories to a specific destination’s category identifiers:

Canonical category	Shopify handle	Magento ID	WooCommerce slug
Computers > Laptops	laptops	47	laptops

Create category sets under Data Mapping → Category Sets. When creating an export profile, you select which category set to use.

Mapping supplier categories

After a feed import, CatalogRelay shows all unique category strings from the supplier. Go to Data Mapping → Categories → Supplier mappings.

For each raw supplier category string:

1. Click Map
2. Select the target canonical category
3. Click Save

Global vs. supplier-specific mappings

Like attribute mappings, category mappings can be:

• Global: applies to any supplier that sends that exact category string
• Supplier-specific: overrides the global mapping for a specific supplier

Priority

If a product has multiple categories in the feed (e.g. Electronics, Computers, Laptops), the mapping with the highest priority wins. Set priority on each mapping to control which category is used when there’s a conflict.

Unmapped categories

Products with unmapped categories are still imported but marked with an unmapped category warning. They will be exported without a category assigned, which may cause issues depending on the destination’s requirements.

Run Data Mapping → Categories → Unmapped to see a list of categories that need mapping.