Item Groups give you flexibility to organise your catalog and create a better browsing experience for your customers. Key use cases are:
Configure subcategories within your item catalog
Create groups of items for targeted promotions
Assign images to categories
Assign badges to items for loyalty and rebate use-cases
Note: Item groups are available for all users, but subcategories automatically created from your ERP are only available to eCommerce Enterprise users. Talk to your CS rep for more detail.
How to Create Item Groups
1. Navigate to the Catalog tab in Pepper Management Centre. Then click the Item Groups icon (the four-block grid icon on the left-hand side).
2. Click Create New to start a new group, and enter a name for your item group.
3. Once your item group is created, you can:
Add items directly to the group
Add in previously made groups to create subgroups (subcategories) to organize items even further
To do this, click the arrow icon next to a group or individual icon.
Note: To add a group as a subgroup of another group, it must be created first. Once it exists, return to the parent group, search for the sub group under "All Items", and click the arrow icon to move it from All Items to [parent group name] Items.
4. You’ve now successfully created item groups and subgroups to better organize your catalog and make it easier for customers to browse and discover products.
Using badges to highlight items
Badges give distributors a way to highlight items across the entire app experience. Common uses include loyalty programs, rebate items, and product attributes like Local, Organic, or Staff Pick, but they can be applied to any set of items for any reason.
Badged items can be filtered for within search and the badges will highlight those items across the entire app experience.
How Badges Display
Badge display adapts depending on where a customer is browsing:
List view — up to 5 badges on mobile or 8 on desktop, shown as icons. If there are more, a +N indicator shows the overflow count.
List view example (mobile)
List view example (web)
Card view — up to 2 badges displayed
Catalog card view example
Item detail page — all badges shown with full labels
Item detail page example (mobile)
How Badges Work
Each badge is tied to an Item Group: All badges are item groups, but not all item groups are badges.
Parent group badges: Items inherit badges from the group they belong to, including from parent groups.
1 badge per item group: To associate multiple badges with the same set of items, use parent/child group nesting rather than trying to apply multiple badges to a single group.
Badge display order: Alphabetical by default.
How to Add a Badge to an Item Group:
Step 1: In PMC, navigate to Item Groups through the Catalog tab. Click on an existing item group, or add a new one by clicking Create New.
Step 2: On the item group's detail page, click the pencil edit icon.
Step 3: In the Item Group Settings window, select the 'Include badge for items in this group' box. Then, add these details:
Upload a 1080 x 1080 px image
Add a badge name
Click Save.
Importing categories from an ERP system
If your catalog uses ERP-managed subcategories, Pepper can automatically import your categories and subcategories directly from your ERP system (like NECS, NetSuite, or SAP).
For example, if your ERP has a parent category like Snacks with subcategories such as Chips, Nuts, and Popcorn, Pepper will automatically create matching Item Groups and subgroups in PMC.
This integration keeps your item groups up to date, so your catalog always stays consistent with your ERP, without any manual setup or maintenance.