---
title: "What's the difference between product categories and e-commerce parameters?"
slug: "whats-the-difference-between-product-categories-and-e-commerce-parameters"
updated: 2024-05-08T13:24:31Z
published: 2024-05-08T13:24:31Z
canonical: "docs.mapp.com/whats-the-difference-between-product-categories-and-e-commerce-parameters"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.mapp.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# What's the difference between product categories and e-commerce parameters?

## Product categories

Using product categories, additional information on products, and orders can be stored in Mapp Intelligence.

Categories, as product categories, should be used for static information.

A typical use case of product categories is the classification of products into different product areas:

![](https://cdn.document360.io/554b9b98-6720-4d8b-9919-c7b203d72648/Images/Documentation/b677cba2-0803-4029-93c9-0585e11f3add.png)

Each product is assigned to exactly one element of a product category. For example, each product with the number *065ee2c025* belongs to *men* in the product category *Product Hierarchy 1*, but not to women or another element of this product category. Product categories should be chosen in a way that the assignment of a product to a category (usually) does not change (i.e., a product that is assigned to the category *jeans* will not be assigned to *shirts* later). Therefore, this is static information.

## E-commerce parameters

A parameter, as the e-commerce parameter, should be used for dynamic information. For example, you could track the different colors of a product using an e-commerce parameter: ![](https://cdn.document360.io/554b9b98-6720-4d8b-9919-c7b203d72648/Images/Documentation/13445d1d-2dc9-45d9-9919-284606565eff.png)

In the example, there are three colors - black, blue, and red. Depending on the color chosen by the user, the corresponding parameter value has to be passed to Mapp Intelligence. To only show colors for a specific product, you should filter on this product or alternatively add the dimension "products". You also could add other metrics as in the analysis for product categories above. In general, e-commerce-parameters must be used to measure custom [website goals](/v1/docs/how-to-define-website-goals).

Further information on categories and parameters can be found in the training chapter [Setup Options for the Tracking of Elements](/v1/docs/implementation-3-setup-options-for-the-tracking-of-elements).