Products are the foundation of your store. In CartOS, each product can have multiple images, detailed descriptions, variants for different options like size or color, and inventory tracking. Here's how to add and configure products.
Creating a new product
Go to Products in your admin dashboard and click Add Product. You'll see the product editor where you can enter all the details about your item.
Basic product information
Title
Enter a clear, descriptive name for your product. This is what customers see when browsing your store and in search results. Keep it concise but informative—include key details like brand, model, or distinguishing features.
Description
Write a compelling description that tells customers what they need to know about the product. The description editor supports rich text formatting—use headings, bullet points, and bold text to make it scannable. You can also switch to HTML mode for more control.
Good descriptions cover what the product is, what it's made of, how it's used, and why the customer should buy it. Include dimensions, materials, care instructions, and any other relevant specifications.
Media
Upload images and videos of your product. Click Add Media to upload files from your computer, or drag and drop directly into the media area. CartOS supports JPEG, PNG, GIF, and WebP images, as well as MP4 videos.
Add multiple images to show the product from different angles, in use, or with close-up details. Drag images to reorder them—the first image becomes the primary image shown in collections and search results. For best results, use high-quality square images at least 1024x1024 pixels.
Pricing
Price
Enter the selling price for your product. This is the amount customers pay at checkout.
Compare at price
If your product is on sale, enter the original price here. The compare at price displays crossed out next to the current price, showing customers the discount. Leave this blank if the product isn't on sale.
Cost per item
Optionally enter your cost for the item. This isn't shown to customers but helps you track profit margins in reports. CartOS uses this to calculate profit when you view sales analytics.
Inventory
SKU
Enter a Stock Keeping Unit if you use them. SKUs are internal identifiers that help you track products in your inventory system. They're optional but useful for stores with many products.
Barcode
Enter the product's barcode (UPC, EAN, ISBN, etc.) if it has one. Barcodes are used for scanning in CartOS POS and for product feeds to marketplaces like Google Shopping.
Track quantity
Enable this to track inventory levels for the product. When enabled, you can set a quantity and CartOS will decrement it as orders are placed. When stock reaches zero, the product shows as sold out. See Managing Inventory for more details.
Variants
Variants let you offer a single product in multiple options—like different sizes, colors, or materials. Each variant can have its own price, SKU, inventory level, and image.
Adding options
To create variants, scroll to the Variants section and click Add Options. Enter an option name (like "Size" or "Color") and then add the values for that option (like "Small, Medium, Large" or "Red, Blue, Green").
You can add up to three option types per product. For example, a t-shirt might have Size (S, M, L, XL) and Color (Black, White, Navy), creating variants for every combination: Small Black, Small White, Small Navy, Medium Black, and so on.
Managing variant details
Once you've added options, CartOS generates variants for every combination. Each variant appears in a table where you can edit individual details:
- Price – Set different prices per variant if some options cost more
- SKU – Assign unique SKUs to each variant for inventory tracking
- Quantity – Set inventory levels per variant
- Image – Assign a specific image that displays when this variant is selected
If all variants share the same price, you can leave variant prices blank and they'll inherit the main product price.
Variant images
To show a specific image when a customer selects a variant, click on the variant row and choose an image from your uploaded media. This is especially useful for color variants where you want to show the product in that specific color.
Organization
Product type
Assign a product type to categorize your product (like "T-Shirt" or "Candle"). Product types help with organization and can be used in your theme to display type-specific information.
Vendor
If you sell products from multiple brands or suppliers, enter the vendor name. This is useful for filtering products and can be displayed on product pages.
Collections
Add the product to one or more collections. Collections are groups of products that appear together on your store—like "Summer Sale" or "Best Sellers." You can also set up automated collections that include products based on rules.
Tags
Add tags to help organize and filter products. Tags are flexible labels you define—use them however makes sense for your store. Customers can sometimes filter by tags depending on your theme, and you can use tags to create automated collections.
Search engine listing
Expand the Search Engine Listing section to customize how your product appears in Google and other search engines. By default, CartOS uses your product title and description, but you can override these with SEO-specific versions.
Enter a page title (up to 60 characters) and meta description (up to 160 characters) optimized for search. You can also edit the URL handle if you want a cleaner or more keyword-rich URL.
Product status
Use the Status dropdown to control visibility:
- Active – Product is visible on your store and available for purchase
- Draft – Product is saved but not visible to customers; use this while you're still working on it
- Archived – Product is hidden from your store but preserved in your admin for records
Saving your product
Click Save to create the product. If the status is set to Active, it will immediately appear on your store. You can come back and edit any product details at any time from the Products list.