Optimizing your category structure is a useful way to improve the experience of your eCom store. Deleting categories may be a necessary part of this process. 

Before deleting a category, it's important to understand the following:

• Instead of deleting a category, it is possible to hide a category so it doesn't appear on your website by adjusting it's Visibility. For more information click here.
• You can only delete a category if it has no subcategories. To delete a category with subcategories, move or delete the subcategories first. For more information on moving categories, click here. 
• The association the category has to the products it is assigned to will be lost once it's deleted, so it is recommended you review which products are assigned to the category before deleting it.
• Deleting a category will also permanently delete the settings inside a category, including any images, content or SEO content you may have customized in the past.
• Further reading is recommended if your eCom store is connected to a Retail point of sale. See below for more information.

Review the products assigned to a category by:

1. In your eCom Back Office, click Products > Categories.
2. Click on the title of a category to open it's options.
3. Scroll down to PRODUCTS.
4. Click Manage products to see a complete list.

Deleting categories

There are two ways to delete a category in Lightspeed eCom, from outside the category options on the category overview page and from inside the category options at the bottom of the page.

Delete a category from the category overview page:

1. In your eCom Back Office, click Products > Categories.
2. Check the box beside a category without any subcategories.
3. Click # item(s) selected.
4. Click Delete Selected Categories.

Delete a category from the options page inside a category:

1. In your eCom Back Office, click Products > Categories.
2. Select a category without any subcategories. Click it's title to open the category's options.
3. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Delete category.

eCom accounts connected to a Retail point of sale

If you have a point of sale (POS) connected to your eCom store, deleting categories in eCom will not delete the categories in your POS. However, deleting categories in your POS will delete categories in eCom. In order to keep a consistent category structure between your POS and your eCom store, it is recommended you delete your categories from your POS first. For more information, click here.