Product Templates
A Different Layout for the Products That Need One
Most products sell well on one layout. Some deserve their own: a gift box that leads with its personalisation, a hero product with a long story, a festive collection with a banner on top. Alternative templates give those pages their own set of sections without touching the rest.
- In every plan
- Free for 14 days
Kosha is a demo store on Mercayo. Its products, orders and customers are sample data.
In short
What It Does
Every kind of page in the page editor has a default template: the layout all pages of that kind use. Product pages, collection pages and category pages can also have alternative templates, each with a name of your choosing, such as gift-box or long-story.
An alternative template is a full layout of its own. It holds any sections that kind of page can hold, in any order, with their own settings, and it is drafted, previewed, published and kept in history like any other layout.
You then decide which pages use it. In the Editor, Pages That Use This Template lists your products (or collections, or categories) with a search by name; USE THIS TEMPLATE gives one the alternative and USE THE DEFAULT puts it back. Everything else stays on the default.
The store picks the right template as part of the same request that loads the page, so a product with its own template is as fast as any other. Deleting a template sends its pages back to the default.
Some ways stores use them:
- A gift template for products people buy as gifts: the description card and your store promises right under ADD TO BAG, then product stories, questions and reviews.
- A long-story template for a signature product: photos, then product stories and highlights, questions and answers, and more from the collection.
- A campaign template for a festive collection: a banner with a countdown and a short story above the products, used for three weeks and then switched back.
- A short template for low-price accessories: title, price, options, ADD TO BAG and frequently bought together, nothing more.
Content pages such as About or a size guide already get a layout of their own each, made on the Pages screen; see content pages and the blog.
For your store
Why It Matters
A single product page layout is a compromise. The section order that sells a ₹299 phone grip (price, options, ADD TO BAG, done) is not the order that sells a ₹4,999 personalised gift, where the shopper wants the story, the making and the questions answered before they commit.
Without alternative templates you either make every page long or every page short. With them, the handful of products that carry your margins, your festive campaigns or your launches get a page built for how they sell, while the rest of the catalogue keeps the layout that works for it.
It also keeps campaigns tidy. A Diwali collection can open with a banner and a story for three weeks, then go back to the default with one click, without editing the collection itself.
Step by step
How It Works
Open the Kind of Page
Open Online Store → Editor and choose Product Page, Collection Page or Category Page in the page picker. A second picker beside it shows the template you are on: Default Template to start with.
Make a New Template
In the template picker, choose New Template…. Give it a Template Name of letters, numbers and dashes, like gift-box, and press CREATE. The new template starts as a copy of what the page shows now and opens in the editor. A store can have up to 10 alternative templates for each kind of page.
Lay It Out
Add, move, hide and set sections as on any page. Use Preview with to see it with the product, collection or category you have in mind. The sections a page needs (on a product page: the title and price, the options and ADD TO BAG) are there and locked, so an alternative template can never lose the buy button.
Publish the Template
Press PUBLISH when it is ready. A page given an alternative that has never been published keeps showing your default template, so you can assign pages first and publish when you are sure.
Choose the Pages That Use It
While the alternative template is open, press Pages That Use This Template (in the editor's menu on a phone). Search by name, then press USE THIS TEMPLATE beside each product (or collection, or category) that should use it; it then shows "Uses this template". USE THE DEFAULT puts one back. Each change reaches shoppers at once.
Retire It When the Campaign Ends
Use the default again on the pages you chose, or press DELETE TEMPLATE: "The layout and its history are deleted. Pages that use it show the default template again."
Your shoppers
What Your Shoppers See
Shoppers see the product, collection or category in the layout you chose for it, at the same address as always. Nothing about the address, the price or the checkout changes: a product on an alternative template is added to the bag and bought exactly like any other.
Settings
Settings You Control
All are under Settings → Online Store → Page Builder.
Mercayo
Mercayo's Controls
The number of alternative templates a store may have for each kind of page is a Mercayo setting (10, which is also the most); Mercayo's team can lower it for a store, with a written reason that is logged. Mercayo can also switch off the page builder or single section types for a store, which applies to alternative templates as well. Mercayo never assigns templates to your products.
Limits today
Good to Know Before You Start
- Pages are chosen one by one; there are no rules such as "every product in this collection uses this template".
- Templates set which sections a page shows and in what order; where the photos and details sit is the store-wide product page layout chosen in Section Styles.
- The template picker also appears for blog articles, but every article on the store uses the default article template today.
- A store can have up to 10 alternative templates for each kind of page.
Questions
About Product Templates
Does a product on an alternative template keep its address?
Yes. The address, the product's data, its price, stock and reviews stay the same. Only the sections around them change.
What does a new template start from?
A copy of what the page shows now, so you change only what you need rather than starting from nothing.
Can an alternative template remove ADD TO BAG?
No. The sections a product page needs (the title and price, the options and ADD TO BAG) are part of every product template and cannot be removed or hidden.
Can I use one template for a whole collection's products at once?
Not as a rule today. Choose the products one by one in Pages That Use This Template; the search by name makes it quick for a handful of products.
Who can make and assign templates?
Anyone with the right to edit layouts can make a template and choose the pages that use it; publishing the template needs the right to publish layouts. Owners and admins have both. See staff and roles.
What happens if I delete a template that pages use?
The template and its history are deleted and every page that used it shows the default template again, at once.
Related
Related Features
- Page EditorArrange the sections of every page in a visual editor with a live preview, private drafts, share links and 30 published versions to go back to.
- Store LooksPick a layout for the header, menus, search, product cards, lists, footer, product page, bag, checkout and order page, and mix them freely.
- Product PagesPhotos that zoom, options that never guess, delivery dates by PIN code, a buy bar that follows and rows of related products, on every product.
- PersonalisationAsk shoppers for a name to engrave, a photo, a choice, a date or a tick box, each with its own price, carried through to the order, slip and invoice.
- Product Stories and DetailsPicture-and-text stories with pull quotes, highlights, specifications, what's in the box and care, written once per product and laid out for you.
More in Design and Page Editor: Page Editor · Home Page Sections · Theme Editor · Store Looks · Menus and Mega Menu · Announcement Bar · Loading and Motion
Try It on Your Own Store
Every feature is in every plan, free for 14 days.