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Step 1: Open the Item List
In order to create items at all, you must open the “Items” list. To do so, enter “Items” in the search to navigate to the Items list.
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Step 2: Create a New Master Item
If you have already created a master item and only want to create a webshop item for an existing master item, this step can of course be skipped.To create a new master item in Microsoft 365 Business Central, simply click “New” in the top ribbon of the item list.You may then be prompted to select an item template. In our case, we select the item template for b2c items. However, these templates may have different names in your setup.On the item card of the master item, you can now maintain the master data of the item as usual.In our example, we only maintain “Titleist TSR 3 Fairwaywood” as the description and the sales price of €349.This basically completes the creation of the master item. Of course, various other functions relevant to the webshop can be configured or linked there, such as shipping classes and the settings for our Microsoft Dynamics ERP app Shipping Costs.
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Step 3: Create a Webshop Item
By clicking “Webshop” directly in the ribbon of the master item card, the webshop item is created directly.Alternatively, a webshop item for an existing master item can be created directly from the item list by selecting the desired master item and clicking the “Start” fasttab in the “Start” ribbon.Both paths result in the empty webshop item card now being open.
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Step 4: Webshop Selection
Once on the webshop item card, you should first select the webshop and the webshop language for which the webshop item is to be created under the “Webshop Selection” section.To do so, simply click the “Webshop” drop-down menu first and select the desired webshop. Then select the desired language from the “Language” drop-down.By default, the standard webshop from the webshop setup and the default language of this webshop are selected there.We explain the webshop setup to you here. In addition, we show you here how to set the default language for the webshop.In our example, we selected the “B2C-DEMO” webshop and the “DEU” language. This is the German demo of our b2c shop “CRONUS GOLF”.
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Step 5: Define General Data
The general item data can be found in the “General” section.The “Description” and “Item No.” fields are already filled with data from the master item.For the item to be displayed in the webshop at all, it must first be set to active by enabling the “Active” checkbox.In our example, we set the item to active and adjust the description – that is, the display name – of the webshop item. We then select a suitable short description. In our current demo layout, this is displayed directly below the item name in the webshop, as shown in the screenshots below.By clicking “Show more” on the section heading, additional fields of the “General” section can be displayed.The following important settings are located there:- Item validity: with the “Valid from” and “Valid to” fields, the validity of the webshop item can be limited to a specific period. By clicking the fields, you can conveniently select a date in the calendar that opens. The webshop item is then only active from or until the selected date and is no longer displayed in the webshop before or after that.
- Gift wrapping: with the “Gift wrapping possible” checkbox, you can select whether the item can be sent as a gift. However, gift wrappings must be active as webshop items and be marked with the “Is gift wrapping” checkbox. A detailed guide on gift wrappings can be found here.
- Greeting cards: with the “Is greeting card” checkbox, the webshop item can be marked as a greeting card. A guide on how to create a greeting card that can be customized by customers can be found here.
- Main category name: The main category of the webshop item is displayed here. If a webshop item is in multiple categories, the main category can also be selected there. More on this in the next step.
- Customizability: With this drop-down, you can configure the extent to which the webshop item is customizable. More on this here.
- Item availability: This drop-down allows you to make a selection. With the “Yes” or “No” options, the webshop item is always or never available, regardless of the inventory. With the “By inventory” option, the webshop item is only available if it is in stock. In addition, the “Standard” option can be selected, in which case the availability is taken from the webshop.
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Step 6: Assign the Webshop Item to a Webshop Category
In order for your created webshop item to also be displayed in the webshop categories, the item must be assigned to them.The webshop categories must first be created at the webshop language. We show you how this works here.To now assign the item to a webshop category, simply click “Categories” in the ribbon of the webshop item card. This opens the “Webshop Item Categories” list.When you click an empty row in the “Category name” column there, another menu opens in which the desired category can be selected. The webshop category selected there is then directly assigned to the webshop item.In our example, we assign the categories “Fairways” and “New Arrivals” to the item and close the “Webshop Item Categories” list again to return to the webshop item card.
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Step 7: Create a Description
Now it is time to create descriptions for the webshop item.This is done on the webshop item card under the “Descriptions” section, which must first be expanded by clicking the heading.There you can see a table with various columns:- Description: In the “Description” column, a description for the created description can be maintained. Depending on the configuration, this is also displayed in the webshop, which is why a meaningful description should be chosen.
- Content: This column shows whether content – that is, the actual description text – has been maintained for the description. By clicking the “No” or “Yes” displayed there, the content can be created or edited.
- Webshop text module: By clicking the respective cell of the “Webshop text module” column, a webshop text module can be assigned to the description instead of content, which then serves as the description text. This is useful for recurring descriptions on the item, such as legal notices for a subscription or a size table. If a webshop text module is assigned, no content may be maintained on the description. We show you how to create webshop text modules here.
- All languages: With the checkbox in this column, the description can be activated for all webshop languages. This means that the description created here in the German b2c demo shop is also automatically displayed in the English b2c demo shop as soon as a webshop item for the same master item is also created for the English b2c demo shop.
- Display: With this drop-down, you can determine where the created description is displayed on the webshop item. “Bottom” causes the description to be displayed below the item, which is well suited for long item descriptions. If “Top” is selected for the display, the description is displayed in the item’s so-called buy box. The “Lightbox” display causes a link or a button to be created below the item name in the webshop, which is labeled with the text from the “Description” column. When this button is clicked, the description with content opens in a so-called lightbox.
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Step 8: Add Images
Adding images to the webshop item is done on the webshop item card under the “Images” section, which must first be expanded by clicking the heading.A table with the following columns opens there:- Description: Here you can simply enter the description of the image. However, the description should be meaningful, as it is stored as the so-called alt text of the image and is thus important for SEO and the accessibility of your webshop.
- File: This column shows whether a file – that is, an image – has already been uploaded. When you click the “No” or “Yes”, you can upload a new image or replace the existing one.
- All languages: With the checkbox in this column, the image can be activated for all webshop languages. Unlike descriptions, for images it is generally advisable to enable this checkbox so that the images do not have to be maintained for each language.
- Default item image: This checkbox can only be enabled on one of the images and then marks that image as the default image of the webshop item. This means that this image is displayed in the item overviews and is the first image displayed when the item is opened.
- Belongs to customization: Only enable this if the image belongs to a customization. We explain exactly what this means here.
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Step 9: Add Webshop Item Attributes
Now you should also add attributes to the webshop item.Webshop item attributes can be displayed directly on the item in your webshop. In addition, these attributes can be used to set up filters for the webshop categories. We show you here how to create webshop attributes. Furthermore, we show you here how to create the webshop attribute filters.To maintain the attributes on the item, display the additional options in the top ribbon of the webshop item card by clicking the button of the same name.Then click the newly displayed menu item “Related”, which displays additional menus. In the menu for webshop data, you will find the “Item attributes” option, which must now be clicked.This opens the “Webshop Item Attribute Link” table.In this table, you can now click the first free cell in the “Item attribute code” column, which opens a drop-down in which one of the created attributes can be selected. By clicking the desired attribute, the item attribute code and the item attribute description are automatically filled for the selected attribute.After that, only the corresponding value for the attribute needs to be filled. The options here depend on how the respective attribute is configured. After you have entered the value of the attribute, a message may appear stating “Your change could update related records, which may take a while. Do you want to continue?”. You can simply confirm this message with “Yes”.In our example, we first select the “Brand” attribute and enter “Titleist” as the value.In addition, we maintain the following attributes with the respective values as just described:- Color: Black
- Loft (loft in degrees): 15
- Length (length in cm): 110
- Lie (lie angle in degrees): 56.5
- Flex: Regular (R)
- Material: Titanium
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Step 10: Link Cross-Sellers
Next, you should also assign cross-sellers to the item.Cross-sellers are items that are offered in addition to a viewed or purchased item – usually because they are thematically or functionally related.On our webshop items, cross-sellers can be added to the item in the following types:- Matching items: Products that go well with the current item and complement it meaningfully.
- Alternative items: Similar products that can be considered as a replacement or variant.
- Alternative items (with selection): These are alternative items that have a preview with an item image on the main item. The classic example of this would be color variants. We show you exactly how this works here.
- Accessories: Complementary products that extend the main item or improve its use.
- Spare parts: Individual parts intended for the replacement or repair of the item.
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Step 11: Update the Webshop Item
Now you should also maintain the metadata of the webshop item.This metadata is additional information that is not directly visible on the item page but helps search engines to better understand the content and display it correctly in the search results.This can be maintained directly on the webshop item card under the “Search” section.The following fields are located there, in which the respective metadata can be maintained as text:- Website title: The title displayed in the browser tab and in the Google search results – it should concisely describe the content of the page.
- Search terms: Relevant words or phrases under which the item should be found in the internal search or external search engines.
- Meta keywords: (outdated, but sometimes still used) Keywords that classify the content thematically – today usually without influence on the Google ranking.
- Meta description: A short summary of the item that is displayed in the search results and is intended to encourage users to click.
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Optional: Add Videos to the Webshop Item
Optionally, you can maintain different types of videos on the webshop item under the “Videos” and “YouTube Videos” sections.Normal videos are effectively maintained like images, with the difference that a video must be uploaded as a file.For YouTube videos, only a description and the YouTube video ID need to be maintained.The YouTube video ID is a short code that uniquely identifies each video. You will find it in the URL of the video after the “v=” – for example, in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ, “dQw4w9WgXcQ” is the video ID.
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Optional: Add Documents
Under the “Documents” section, you can upload documents to the webshop item that visitors to the webshop can download. These documents are displayed on the item.Thus, for example, manuals, product data sheets, or the mandatory information for food products can be easily made available to visitors as a PDF. Software drivers for the items would also be conceivable, since various file formats are captured by the document function (.pdf, .doc, .docx, .txt, .xls, .xlsx, .csv, .rtf, .zip, .rar).To maintain a document, a description must be assigned as usual, and a file must be uploaded by clicking the “No” in the “File” column.In our example, we maintain a product data sheet as a PDF.
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Step 12: Update the Webshop Item
Last but not least, the webshop item still needs to be updated so that the changes and the newly maintained data are also visible in the webshop.To do so, simply click the “Update Webshop Item” button in the top ribbon of the webshop item card. After a short wait, the update is confirmed with a message, which can be closed by clicking “OK”.We have thus already created a beautiful webshop item.
Related Topics
Setting Up Webshop Categories
Build the category tree for the webshop.
Setting Up Item Categories
Structure item categories and attributes.
Setting Up Item Permissions
Control item visibility per customer.