Families vs categories in PIM: what is the difference

What this episode covers

The ninth episode settles a distinction that trips up most people starting with a PIM system. Families and categories sound similar and both group products, but they do two entirely different jobs. Karolina explains it using a mineral water producer as the example.

Key takeaways

• A family is a template: it defines which attributes must be filled in for products in that assortment group.
• A category organises products in a tree that the customer sees, or that supports internal processes.
• A product belongs to exactly one family, but it can belong to many categories at once.
• Families guard quality: without the required attributes a product does not reach completeness and is not approved.
• You can have several category trees, for example one for e-commerce and one for the split used inside the company.

A family is a data template

In PIM systems a family acts as a template for a product. It decides which information, meaning which attributes, must be filled in for products in that assortment group. As a result, data within the group is consistent and complete.

Take a mineral water producer with two kinds of product: sparkling water and flavoured water. Each gets its own family, and the attribute sets partly overlap and partly do not.

The sparkling water family may carry carbonation level (low, medium, high), bottle capacity, packaging type and water origin, for example mountain or lowland spring.

The flavoured water family gets flavour (lemon, strawberry, raspberry), sugar content, information about sweeteners, plus capacity and packaging type.

The point of that split is practical: the flavour attribute never appears on the sparkling water template, because it does not apply to that group. Nobody stares at an empty field wondering whether they forgot something.

A category is a structure

Categories do something else entirely: they organise products in a logical tree that the customer sees, or that supports business processes.

In a shop it might look like this: a top category of beverages, water below it, and then sparkling water and flavoured water. Categories order navigation, but also data exports to sales channels and reporting.

Four rules worth remembering

One product belongs to one family. It can have only one attribute template to complete.

One product can belong to many categories. Lemon flavoured water in a half-litre bottle can sit in flavoured water, in promotions and in new arrivals at the same time.

Families control data quality. The system can require every product in the flavoured water family to have a flavour and a sugar content. Without them the product is not approved and does not reach the required completeness. This is the mechanism that turns good intentions into a hard rule.

Categories drive exports. They arrange products into the right sections of shops and marketplaces. A system can hold several category trees: one matching the e-commerce structure, another matching the way the company thinks internally.

In one sentence

Families say what information a product should have, and enforce consistency and quality. Categories say where a product sits, and make search, navigation and export easier.

If you are modelling a catalogue and are unsure about the split, book a free consultation. More on the PIM systems page.