Getting started with the Shop by Brand add-on

To start adding and managing brands in your X-Cart store, ensure the Shop by Brand add-on is enabled.

In X-Cart, brand management is based on the product attributes system.

To work with brands, the store must have a designated global product attribute used specifically for brand management. Brand names are stored as values of this attribute.

In a default X-Cart installation, this role is typically assigned to one of the following global attributes:

However, a different global attribute can be configured if necessary.

In X-Cart Auto stores, the attribute reserved for brand management is typically Brand.

You can specify which global attribute should be used for brand management in the Shop by Brand add-on settings.

Attributes, including global attributes, can be viewed and managed via the Classes & Attributes page in your X-Cart store's Admin area (Catalog > Classes & Attributes).

Global attributes are located on the "All Attributes" tab, outside of attribute groups.

For example, in our demo store the global attribute designated for brand management is Brand. We can find this attribute on the Classes & Attributes page:

Brand management in X-Cart is performed via the Brands page in the store’s Admin area.

The Brands page displays a list of so-called in-store brands — brands that already exist in the X-Cart store and can be managed, enabled for the storefront, and shown to customers.

Brand names can appear in the list of in-store brands in several ways:

For example, suppose your store uses the global attribute Brand for brand management and you import products from a CSV file. If the column Brand (field:global) in the CSV file contains a value, X-Cart treats that value as the product’s brand name. During import, the corresponding brand name is automatically added to the list of brands on the store’s Brands page.

The same principle applies to product imports performed through auto integrations. If the global attribute designated for brand management is Brand, the brand information received from a catalog provider or warehouse distributor during import is written to the Brand field of product details, and the corresponding brand name is automatically added to the store’s list of brands on the Brands page.

Although auto integrations include a separate preliminary brand import stage, that stage only retrieves information about brands available on the supplier side. These brands are not immediately added to the store catalog and do not become in-store brands yet.

A supplier brand becomes an actual in-store brand only after at least one product of that brand has been successfully imported into the store. At that point, the brand name is added to the list on the Brands page, allowing the brand to be enabled on the storefront and displayed to customers.