After connecting your app to your AliExpress seller account, the next step involves mapping the product category listed on your Shopify store with AliExpress. This process will improve the visibility of your product catalog for potential buyers on AliExpress.

Why is this category template creation necessary?

AliExpress has specific requirements for product attributes that must be provided for every item listed on their platform. Unlike Shopify, which doesn’t have these same requirements, you’ll need a way to specify these attributes for your products. This is where category templates comes into play. When you create a template within the app, you define these attributes. All the products assigned to that template will inherit the same attributes when listed on AliExpress. In essence, templating saves you the trouble of manually assigning these mandatory attributes to each product.

With this context in mind, let’s go through the steps required to create a category template:

1. Begin by selecting your desired AliExpress product category from the dropdown menu.
2. Once you’ve chosen the product category, proceed to map the required and recommended attributes within the product attributes section.
3. If you are listing a variant product, you’ll also need to set variation attributes, such as color and size.