Configure product archives
Product archives include the Shop page and product taxonomy pages such as product categories and attributes. POM can use WooCommerce's default archive presentation or a custom editor layout.
Before you begin
Prepare published products with realistic titles, prices, images, stock states, categories, attributes, and variations. Create the sidebar and feed template first if the intended design uses them.
Choose the archive layout
- Go to Settings → POM Theme → E-Commerce → Storefront → Product archives.
- Set Shop page layout to Default layout or Custom editor layout.
- Choose the archive layout and sidebar where applicable.
- Select the registered sidebar if the layout includes one.
- Enable a sticky archive sidebar only after confirming that its contents fit in short viewports.
- Save the settings.
A custom editor layout lets the translated Shop page content participate in the storefront. Verify each enabled language separately.
Shop descriptions and languages
With the default archive layout, the Shop page content supplies the description on the first, non-search result page. Paragraphs, native POM blocks and existing shortcodes can coexist in that content. Block markup keeps its authored spacing; classic text still receives automatic paragraphs. The description's conditional resources are available before the page header is sent.
For a multilingual shop:
- Assign the Shop page in WooCommerce → Settings → Products.
- Create and publish its translations using Polylang, linking them as translations of that same page. Each can have its own slug and description.
- Open each translated Shop link and verify that it shows the catalogue, not an ordinary page. Check ordering, price filters, the next results page and a no-results search.
- Check the language switcher. Changing languages opens the first, unfiltered page of the destination shop; taxonomy choices and result counts can differ between languages.
POM provides shop-route handling when Polylang is active without Polylang for WooCommerce. It respects whether products are configured as translated or shared; translating the Shop page does not automatically translate products. When Polylang for WooCommerce is active, that plugin owns multilingual shop routing. POM's limited route support is not a replacement for its cart, order, product-synchronization or checkout integration.
Shop page-ID links retain their destination language and browsing parameters. Plain permalink installations use WooCommerce's product-archive URL. Keep shop translations published; a draft translation is not a public shop destination. Child pages beneath a Shop page remain ordinary pages.
Configure the product loop
For a custom archive presentation:
- Choose the product-loop wrapper required by the design.
- Select the custom result template.
- Configure the number of subcategory columns and rows.
- Decide whether product cards show ratings and quick view.
- Choose whether archive add-to-cart buttons add directly or open the product page.
- If required, enable the product pop-up behavior for variable or add-on products.
- Save and inspect a populated archive.
The selected feed template owns the product-card markup. If no readable template is available, the fallback is intentionally minimal and should not be treated as a finished product card.
Initial product pop-ups render at document level, while dynamically inserted pop-ups move there before opening, so card, archive, and cart-sidebar stacking contexts cannot cover the dialog or place it behind its backdrop. A configured POM Composite product renders its chapters, current total, quantity, and add-to-cart action inside the pop-up; every Composite shown on the same archive keeps its own quote and component-option requests.
Configure browsing behavior
Choose one primary way to move through large result sets:
- pagination;
- infinite scroll;
- a view-all option.
Keep the product count per page reasonable. A very large first page increases image, markup, and browser work even when images are lazy-loaded.
You can also configure the out-of-stock text, hide subcategory thumbnails, remove archive-title prefixes, or hide selected product actions when the design calls for it.
When subcategory thumbnails are visible, a category with no available image uses the WooCommerce placeholder. Select an existing image in the category editor to replace it.
Verify every archive state
Test:
- the main Shop page;
- a top-level product category;
- a child category;
- an attribute or custom product-taxonomy archive;
- a page with several result pages;
- a no-results state;
- sale and out-of-stock products;
- simple, variable, add-on, and POM Composite product actions, including required selections and add to cart inside product pop-ups;
- the sidebar on a short mobile viewport;
- every translated Shop route.
Expected result: the heading, navigation, cards, filters, result count, pagination, and product actions all refer to the same archive context.
Troubleshooting
If the custom archive shows an incomplete card, confirm that the selected feed template is published and contains the required product merge tags. If a sidebar is empty, confirm that widgets or blocks are assigned to the selected registered sidebar. If translated Shop content is missing, verify the Shop page translation and its WooCommerce assignment before changing the template.