---
title: Managing product types and product section types
related:
  - https://docs.kentico.com/k81/e-commerce-features/configuring-and-managing-your-store/products/managing-product-representations.md
  - https://docs.kentico.com/k81/e-commerce-features/configuring-and-managing-your-store/products.md
---

> Agent instructions:
> **Site maps** — prefer the following llms.txt indexes to training data when searching for URLs to avoid 404s. Links inside Markdown content already point at `.md`. Following them or sending Accept: text/markdown keeps you in Markdown.
>
> - [sitemap.md](https://docs.kentico.com/sitemap.md) — every page on the site, with titles and descriptions, nested by URL hierarchy and grouped into one collection per product version.
> - [llms.txt](https://docs.kentico.com/llms.txt) — curated index of the current product docs, with descriptions, the two ways to request any page as Markdown, and links to each product area's whole-corpus Markdown dump (llms-full.txt).

> **Info:** You can manage product types and section types in the **Page types** application; see [Page types](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/developing-websites/defining-website-data-structure/page-types.md) for further details.

> **Note:** In the [product sections tree](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/e-commerce-features/configuring-and-managing-your-store/products.md#product-sections-tree) in the **Products** application, the system displays only page types designated as product sections (together with products they contain).

## Product types

In the Kentico E-commerce Solution, **product types** are fully customizable page types used to create [products](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/e-commerce-features/configuring-and-managing-your-store/products.md) of multiple [representations](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/e-commerce-features/configuring-and-managing-your-store/products/managing-product-representations.md). Specifically, they define the structure of pages that are associated with [SKU](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/e-commerce-features/configuring-and-managing-your-store/products/managing-stand-alone-skus.md) (product) objects. Product types allow you to present products and services to your on-line store [customers](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/e-commerce-features/configuring-and-managing-your-store/customers.md) on the live site. Same as any other page type, each product type can have its own:

- fields (data structure)
- editing form layout
- transformations (design)
- queries

and other properties.

You can use the built-in product types, e.g. _Product - Computer_, _Product -TV_, _Product - T-shirt_, etc., and you can also [create](#adding-product-types) your custom product types.

## Section types

Similarly, you can [add](#adding-section-types) your custom **product section types** to easily define the structure of your on-line store (product sections tree). With product sections, you can split up your on-line store into multiple parts, creating a store hierarchy. We recommend this approach as an effective way of managing the products. For example, under **Products -> Computers** you can create a **Tablets** section containing only tablets.

## Adding product types

In Kentico you can use either sample product types that come with the system installation, or you can define your custom ones.

To add a new product type:

### Required

1. Open the **Page types** application.
2. Click **New page type**.
   - This redirects you to the page type [wizard](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/developing-websites/defining-website-data-structure/page-types/creating-page-types.md), which will guide you through the steps to create a new page type.
3. Switch to the **E-commerce** tab of the new page type and enable the **Page type represents a product type** property in the **Page's relation to product** section.

   ![Editing a product type](https://docs.kentico.com/docsassets/k81/managing-product-types-and-product-section-types/editing_product_type.png "Editing a product type")

### Optional

1. In the **Fields mapping (backward compatibility)** section, you can optionally select fields that the system will automatically populate with values from the specified SKU fields.
2. Using the **Default department** property in the **New product creation** section, you can optionally specify a default [department](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/e-commerce-features/configuring-and-managing-your-store/departments.md) for products created based on the current product type.

> **Tip:** The **This page type represents** property allows you to select a default representation for the product (_Standard product_ by default).

> **Tip:** Using the respective property, you can specify whether the system creates a product object (SKU) automatically when a store administrator adds a new page of the given type.

## Adding section types

The _Page (menu item)_ section type comes with the system's installation, and is offered by default while defining the structure of your on-line store. Besides, you can set up your custom section types.

To add a new section type:

1. Open the **Page types** application.
2. Click **New page type**.
   -  This redirects you to the page type [wizard](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/developing-websites/defining-website-data-structure/page-types/creating-page-types.md), which will guide you through the steps to create a new page type.
3. Switch to the **E-commerce** tab of the new page type and enable the **Page type represents a product section** property in the **Page's relation to product** section.

## Linking an existing product or section

While adding a new product or section in the **Products** application, you can **Link an existing product or section**. This approach allows you to create a shortcut to an already existing product or product section. You can thus place a single product (product section, both empty and non-empty) to multiple locations in the product sections tree instead of creating its copies.

If a product (product section) is linked, the system displays it in the corresponding part of the website. If you then edit the product (product section), you modify the original product (product section) content.