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A product type is a template for products that share similar characteristics. A T-Shirt type carries the option types every shirt needs, the categories they belong in, the data fields associated with them, and the delivery profile they ship on. Create a product using that type, and all of these will be pre-configured. Using product types doesn’t just save time. It gives every product of a similar nature the same starting point. Left to themselves, one person might add a Size option and another adds Sizing, one fills in the fabric composition and another forgets, and six months later the catalog cannot be filtered or reported on properly because no two products agree on what they carry. A type settles those decisions once, so the twentieth product starts out matching the first, without anybody having to remember or check how the first was set up. That matters most when the catalog is large, or when more than one person adds to it. A product is free to differ from its type afterwards, so a type sets the standard rather than enforcing it. The exception is a custom field marked required, which is checked every time a product of that type is saved. To manage product types, navigate to Settings → Product types, under the Shipping & delivery group. The Product types list, showing each type and how many products carry it

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How to Create a Product Type

Click Add product type. The New product type panel
  • Name - What the type is called, such as T-Shirt.
  • Option types - Added to products created with this type. Used to create variants.
  • Categories - Added to products created with this type.
  • Delivery profile - Stamped onto products created with this type, and what decides the delivery options offered at checkout. Choose Store default profile, or a specific delivery profile for goods that ship differently.

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Custom fields

At the foot of the panel you can attach custom fields to the template, so that every product of this type carries them. Each field you attach can be marked required, which means a product of this type cannot be saved until somebody fills it in. That is the difference between hoping a field gets filled and knowing it has been. Drag the fields into the order you want. That order is the order they appear on the product form, so group them in a way that makes sense rather than leaving them in the order you happened to add them.
Only custom fields that already exist can be attached here. Create them first in Custom Fields, making sure to set Applies to to Products.
Click Create product type.
Most of what a type carries is a starting point rather than a rule. Option types, categories and the delivery profile are copied onto a product as it is created, and the product is free to differ afterwards. Required custom fields are the exception: those are enforced every time the product is saved.

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How to Edit a Product Type

Open the row menu and choose Edit to change the name, the option types, the categories, the delivery profile, or the custom fields.

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What reaches products that already exist

Editing a type does not rewrite the products already using it. What changes, and for whom, depends on what you edited:
  • Option types and categories shape products created from now on. Products that already carry the type keep what they have.
  • The delivery profile is stamped on at creation, so changing it never moves products that already carry the type.
  • Custom fields show on every product of that type immediately, including ones that already exist.
Marking a custom field required applies to every product of that type, not only new ones. An existing product missing that value cannot be saved again until somebody fills it in, so add a required field before the catalog is large, or expect to backfill data.

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Applying changes to existing products

When you do want a change to reach products that already carry the type, use Apply to existing products. The button shows how many products it will affect. This adds the type’s missing option types and categories to those products. Nothing is removed, so a product that has drifted from the template keeps whatever it gained along the way.
This is additive only. It cannot be used to strip option types or categories from products that should no longer have them.

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How to Delete a Product Type

Open the row menu and choose Delete.
A type still used by products cannot be deleted. Move those products onto another type first, or the delete is refused.

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Further Reading