How to build an online catalog you can update yourself

Rogelio runs an auto parts store in Uruapan, and his day disappears into his phone, answering the same question with a different name each time: “do you have the alternator belt for a 2010 Tsuru?”, “do you carry brake pads for an Aveo?”, “how much for a fuel pump?” Between manning the counter and walking to the shelf, each answer costs him two or three minutes. That’s around forty messages a day. Do the math: more than an hour a day just saying yes, no, or how much.

An online catalog exists for exactly that: so the customer can search, see whether you have it, and see the price — without you having to answer.

What is an online catalog, and how is it different from a photo album?

An online catalog is the list of what you sell — with prices, stock, and a way to search — published on your own site. The difference from a Facebook album is that a catalog can be filtered: the customer types “Tsuru” and up come the twelve parts you carry for that car.

That detail is all that matters. A 200-photo album with prices buried in the comments doesn’t save anyone the question — it makes it harder to ask. That’s why some people post “their catalog” and keep answering the same messages on WhatsApp: they uploaded photos, not a catalog.

What information does each product need for the catalog to actually work?

Five fields. You don’t need more than that to get started:

1. Name, the way the customer asks for it, not the way it appears on the invoice. “Front brake pads,” not “BRK-4471-F.”
2. What it fits, which is the piece of information that makes search possible. For auto parts, that’s compatibility (make, model, years). For clothing, it’s the size; for a grocery store, the package size; for a hardware store, the measurement.
3. Price. With tax or without, but say which.
4. Whether you have it or not. A yes or a no, nothing more.
5. A photo — yours, of the actual part. The supplier’s catalog photo looks nice and doesn’t look like what you’re actually going to hand over.

Field 2 is the one almost everyone skips, and it’s what separates a catalog that works from one that’s just decoration. Without compatibility, the customer is going to message you anyway to ask if it fits, and you’re back to square one.

What do you do when you carry the same part in three versions?

This is where hand-built catalogs get stuck. Rogelio carries the same brake pad in three grades: economy, domestic, and imported. If he lists them as three separate products, his catalog fills up with nearly identical rows and the customer can’t tell which is which.

The fix is one product with three options. A single listing, “Front brake pads — Tsuru,” with three versions inside it, each with its own price and stock level. The customer sees one part and picks a grade; you update one price without touching the other two.

The practical rule: if the customer searches for it as one thing, it’s one product. If they have to choose between variants once they reach the counter, those are options, not separate products.

Who updates the catalog when a price changes?

You do — or whoever’s at the counter. That’s the whole point of having your own catalog.

If every price change has to go through the nephew who built you the site, you’re never going to update it, and a catalog with eight-month-old prices is worse than no catalog at all: the customer shows up with a screenshot and a look that says “it says something else here.”

What you need is a console where you log in, find the product, change the number, and save. No code, no waiting on anyone, right from your phone if you’re at the counter. When it takes less than a minute, you actually do it.

How many products should you start with?

With the ones that move fastest — not your whole inventory. Thirty or forty pieces, done properly, cover most of what people ask you about; three thousand half-filled rows never get finished, and the catalog stays a draft forever.

You already have the list, and it’s not in your head — it’s your last order from the supplier. Whatever you restock the most is whatever sells the most. Start there and add the rest as people ask about it — that way the counter sets the order, not you at eleven at night trying to remember everything.

What a catalog won’t fix for you

It won’t bring in new customers on its own. It’s the answer to a question people were already asking you, not an ad.

It doesn’t replace the personal touch either. Rogelio will still be answering WhatsApp messages, just about something else: instead of “do you have it?”, people will write “hold the imported one for me, I’ll swing by at 6.” That conversation is worth the three minutes.

And it doesn’t maintain itself. If you upload stock levels and never touch them again, in two months your catalog is lying to people. A 30-item catalog that’s current beats a 500-item one running on March’s numbers.

How to have your catalog online this week

You don’t need to hire anyone or learn to code. Describe your business in Proyecta the way you’d explain it to a customer: “a site for my auto parts store in Uruapan, with a catalog people can search by car make and model, prices, whether something’s in stock, and a WhatsApp button.” From that comes a real, published site with its own link, and a console where you change prices and stock yourself.

Upload what you restock most first. If “do you have it?” messages drop in the first week, the catalog is already doing its job, and you’ll know what to add next.

Describe it and publish it at proyecta.dev.