Kivora Operations Team · Reviewed by KVRA
Product catalogue checklist for a South African online store
Updated 2026-07-16 · 3 min read
Quick answer
A customer-ready catalogue makes each product easy to identify, compare, buy, and fulfil. Every product needs a clear name, useful description, correct category, current price in rand, accurate availability, consistent images, understandable variants, and delivery information that matches the real operating process.
Catalogue quality affects more than the product page. The same information can appear in search results, social posts, advertising, order lines, packing work, customer messages, and reports. Small inconsistencies spread quickly when the source product record is weak.
Review products from the customer's point of view and the fulfilment team's point of view. A page is not ready if it helps someone buy but leaves the team unsure what must be supplied.
Make the product easy to identify
Use a product name that a customer and staff member can understand without seeing the image. Keep naming consistent across sizes, flavours, materials, or pack quantities. Avoid internal codes as the main public name, but retain a stable SKU or reference where the operation needs one.
- Use one clear product type, distinguishing feature, and pack or size where relevant.
- Keep spelling, capitalisation, units, and brand naming consistent.
- Remove duplicate listings or explain the difference between similar products.
- Assign a stable internal reference when staff need to pick or reconcile the item.
Write for a buying decision, not for filler
The description should answer the questions a reasonable customer needs before buying. Explain what the product is, the relevant quantity or dimensions, what is included, how it is used, and any important care, storage, compatibility, or fulfilment detail.
Do not add unsupported performance, health, environmental, origin, or comparison claims. If a claim matters to the sale, keep the evidence behind it and use wording the evidence supports.
- Lead with a short, concrete summary.
- Add specifications that change fit, use, delivery, or value.
- Separate verified product facts from promotional language.
- Remove copied supplier text that is irrelevant or cannot be checked.
Keep categories, variants, prices, and stock consistent
Categories should help a customer browse and help the business report or manage products. Use a small, stable category set before creating many overlapping labels. Variants should represent choices such as size or colour, not separate unrelated products.
Show the price customers are expected to pay in South African rand and make any delivery charge or calculation clear before final commitment. Availability must follow the real stock or capacity process rather than a guess left unchanged.
- Place each product in the most useful primary category.
- Use variant labels that match the choice visible in images and fulfilment records.
- Check that the displayed price, checkout price, and order line agree.
- Define what in stock, made to order, pre-order, and unavailable mean operationally.
- Retire or redirect obsolete product pages instead of leaving misleading stock signals.
Use images that explain the product
The main image should identify the product clearly on a phone. Additional images can show scale, packaging, important details, colour, texture, or what is included. Keep backgrounds, crop, and aspect ratio reasonably consistent so category pages are easy to scan.
Use images the business owns or is authorised to use. Add useful alternative text that identifies the product rather than repeating keywords.
- Check the first image at mobile size.
- Remove watermarks, supplier contact details, or unrelated promotional text.
- Show the correct image for each meaningful variant where possible.
- Compress images enough for practical loading without hiding product detail.
Run a final publish check
Before publishing, open the product page as a customer. Check the page title, product name, description, price, availability, variant choices, images, delivery information, and action button. Then place a controlled test order when the checkout or fulfilment path changed.
A clean catalogue is maintained, not completed once. Give every product record an owner and review important changes before they spread into campaigns or orders.
How this guide was prepared
Prepared from the product-data and publishing checks Kivora implements and maintains. It is operational guidance, not a claim about customer performance or legal advice.