Guidelines for organizing categories in your online store

Here is a short fragments form the article I wrote about organizing categories in an online store. Just wanted to share it with everyone here.
Hope it would be helpful.
The full article is here: https://sellbeing.com/blog/guidelines-for-organizing-your-categories/

Create user-friendly category hierarchy
Well thought category hierarchy is very important for seamless product catalog navigation. Users may get lost and feel overwhelmed when presented with too many choices in the navigation menu.
Keep in mind that most users began to feel overwhelmed when they are presented with more than 10 category or sub-category options to choose from.
However the total number of sub-categories displayed at once can be more than 10, if you place them within different parent categories. This way users can scan the parent categories for anything of interest, and then when finding the right scope, look further at the sub-categories within it.

Have an accessories sub-categories
Users often expect to find accessories in a dedicated “Accessories” sub-category below the main product categories, instead of in its own top-level “Accessories” category. The similar way people behave in a real live. E.g. in a physical store, it would be more logical to look for computer accessories somewhere near the computers. So it’s a good idea to have an “Accessories” sub-category within relevant top-level category.

Use descriptive category naming
Visitors of your site will mostly rely on category names when judging the type and diversity of your products. If category naming includes any industry jargon, brand or site-specific words, users will likely overlook categories they need. So keep that in mind when naming your categories, especially in the top and second levels.

Consider having “New Arrival” category
Many users who had past experience with your site or brand will most likely look for a “What’s new” category in your catalog. That’s why having “What’s new” category would be a great way to support repeated visitors and helping them identify easily which new products available in your store since their last visit.

Have the same sub-category within several main categories
Sometimes users expect to find certain sub-categories within multiple different parent categories. A good example would be a furniture store where a visitor might look for a coffee table within both “Tables” category and an “Accessories” sub-category of a “Sofas” main category. So to make a user navigation hassle-free it would be nice to have the same sub-categories within several parent categories.

 

Some good advice here, thanks!

Iseult