Looking for some advice on category structure

[neit]

Hi

I am looking to add a number of categories to Magento but they are likely to run into 50,000 or more.

Setup as

Manufacturer--------------------Model-----------------------Model specifics ----------------- Position Part

Audi               --------------------   A4   ----------------------- 1.8 FSI 89-95    ----------------- Front Brake Discs

                       --------------------           -----------------------                             ----------------- Rear Brake Discs

                       --------------------           -----------------------                             ----------------- Front Brake Pads

                       --------------------           -----------------------                             ----------------- Front Brake Pads

so the category tree would be:

Audi ->A4 ->1.8 FSI 89-95 -> Front Brake Discs, Rear Brake Discs, Front Brake Pads, Front Brake Pads

So I end up with thousands of categories called front brake discs for each model of car etc...

I am looking to reduce the number of categories by using some other alternative method to add the position part

categories. I was thinking of adding a new attribute to the products but a product could be a front discs on one model and

rear disc on another model and won't filter as required.

Anyone have any ideas on a better way to do this?

Any help would be appreciated.

Regards

neit

[levashov]

You can make attributes for additional filtering and use them in layered navigation, so uses can select for example

- Front Brake Discs or Rear Brake Discs

- Manufacturer (Audi, BMW etc)

- Model

It may require performance tricks is the structure complex and you have many products though

[Azhar_Accenture]

Hey Neit,

The easiest way to do so is create categories as you need filters i believe, however if you are going to create more than 1000 categories your magento performance will be affected and you need to make sure that you enable Flat Category option from Admin.

[neit]

Hi

Thanks for the replies

I will have about 4000 products spread across 50,000 categories possibly more.

Regarding layered navigation I am not sure that would work

if I have a part  which fits the front on one model of car and rear on the other, i would have to add an attribute

value of front and rear but if these is then filter would it not display the incorrect parts

example

PN12345 fits

a) audi a4 98-2000 front

b) bmw e90 96-2001 rear

I would need to create an attribute position that can have multiple values: front and rear.

If I was using layered navigation and selected category Audi A4 98-2000 where I would have assigned the part too, if I used layered navigation and filtered by position:rear would it not display part PN12345 even though it does not fit the rear on that car, but still have an attribute value of rear?

I have flat categories enabled and it does help, I was hoping for a method with better performance and less time consuming when adding new models, rather than just add new categories as I have been doing.

Thanks for the help.

Regards

neit