Add new products to your catalog manually through the admin panel. This guide covers the essential fields and steps to create your first products in Pulse Commerce.
Before creating a product, choose the appropriate product type for your business needs. Each product can only be one type:
Available Product Types
- Inventory Item: Standard product tracked in your warehouse inventory
- Drop Ship Item: Product shipped directly from your vendor to the customer
- Special Order Item: Product ordered from vendor only when customer places an order
- Assembly Item: Product built from component parts you also sell separately
- Bundle / Kit: Multiple products sold together as a package
- Matrix Product Group: Parent product with variants (sizes, colors, etc.)
- Matrix Child SKU: Individual variant within a matrix product group
- Regular Product Group: Collection of related products displayed together
1Click Products in the top navigation bar
2Under Product Catalog Manager, click Add New Product
The Product Editor opens with the Simple tab selected, showing all essential fields needed to create a basic product.
Only three fields are truly required to create a product. All other fields will use default values if left unchanged.
Required Fields
| Field | Description |
| SKU* | Unique identifier for this product (must be unique across your catalog) |
| Product Name* | Display name for the product |
| Category* | At least one category must be selected (products can belong to multiple categories) |
Note: The Bulk Product Import has additional required fields, which is why you should create some products manually before using the bulk import.
Important Optional Fields (Use Defaults If Not Changed)
| Field | Default Value |
| Product Type | Inventory Item |
| Inventory Commit Option | Available Qty |
| Back Order Option | Allow backorder without any message |
| Costing Method | Fixed Cost |
| Display Format | Format 1 |
| Min. Qty | Default is 1 |
Pricing and Inventory
- Cost: Your cost for the product (used for margin calculations)
- Our Price: Selling price for customers
- Qty Available: Current inventory quantity
- Min. Qty: Minimum order quantity for this product (default is 1)
Shipping Configuration
- Dimensions and Weight: Required if using real-time shipping rates from carriers
- Weight Unit: Default is LBS
- Surcharge: Additional shipping fee for this product
- Exempt: Exclude this product from shipping calculations (for digital/virtual products or backend-only items)
- Zip Code: Apply surcharge only to specific zip codes
1Click Add New at the bottom of the form to save your product
2After saving, return to Products → Product Catalog Manager
3Search for the SKU you just created
4Click Edit to access the full Product Editor with additional tabs such as:
- Simple: Basic product information (fields you just completed)
- Advanced: Product options, attributes, and custom fields
- Vendors: Assign vendors and set vendor costs
- Inventory: Warehouse locations, stock levels, and reorder points
- Data Feeds: Product feed configurations
- Components: Configure assembly products and bundles (learn more)
- Sellers: Marketplace seller assignments
- History: View all changes made to the product
Create Sample Products First
Before importing large product catalogs, create product categories and 3-5 products manually through the UI. Then export these products to use as your import template. This ensures you have a complete baseline with all required values and proper formatting.
Start Simple, Expand Later
You can create a basic product with just SKU, Product Name, and Category, then return later to add detailed information like vendors, inventory settings, and product options. The product will be immediately available for order processing.
Use Consistent Naming Conventions
Establish SKU naming patterns early (e.g., BRAND-CATEGORY-SIZE) to make products easier to find and manage as your catalog grows. Consistent naming also simplifies import/export operations.
Is there a limit to the number of products I can sell with Pulse Commerce?
No, there is no known technical limit to your product catalog size. Pulse Commerce software is fully capable of handling high traffic sites and thousands of products. Review the Pulse Commerce Subscription Plans to determine which plan best meets your needs based on order volume and features. Note: Use the bulk product import/export to add or update products in bulk.
What should I do if I get an error when trying to delete a product?
If you cannot delete a product, check these items in order:
1Verify all warehouse quantities are 0 (Product Editor → Inventory tab)
2Check for references in these reports:
- Pending Receipts
- Pending Fulfillments
- Inventory Adjustments
- Incomplete Orders
- Inventory Transfers
3Check if the SKU or product name was previously changed - search for old names
4Lastly, go to Products > Reallocate Item Commitments and search the SKU to see if there are any item commitments for this item.
Once you locate the blocking record, resolve it and the product should be deletable.
How do I customize my product page URLs for my website?
Set up a Search Engine Friendly Product File Name for each product to create clean, linkable URLs:
1Go to Products → Product Catalog Manager → Edit → Click the Intelligent SEO tab
2Enter a search-friendly filename (e.g., "Blue-Cotton-T-Shirt")
3Click Update
Your product URL will be: https://yourdomain.com/Blue-Cotton-T-Shirt.asp
What are the best practices for product image sizes?
For optimal performance and customer experience, provide three image sizes for each product:
| Image Type | Dimensions (pixels) | File Size (KB) | Use Case |
| Thumbnail | 50-150 | 2-15 | Product list pages, cart previews |
| Medium | 200-400 | 40-100 | Product detail pages |
| Large | 450+ | 100+ | Zoom functionality, high-detail viewing |
Alternative: If you only have large images, enable "Use Large Image as Medium and Thumbnail" checkbox on the simple tab.
Note: Under Settings → General Settings you can adjust the "Width of the Resized Medium Image (Pixels)" and "Width of the Resized Product Thumbnail in Shopping Cart (Pixels)." The system will auto-resize dimensions (but not reduce actual file size). For best performance, manually create optimized thumbnail and medium images. There are many great free tools on the internet that allow you to create great thumbnails and medium resolution images from high resolution images very quickly, easily and efficiently.
