What Happens When You Reclassify Products?
Reclassifying products — moving SKUs from one department, class, or other hierarchy level to another — is a common operation in retail planning. Toolio has built-in processes to help you through it. This article walks you through how to prepare, execute, and verify a reclassification.
Use Cases
Your organization is creating a new department (e.g., splitting "Coffee" out of "Electrics") and needs to move existing SKUs into it.
SKUs were originally classified under the wrong hierarchy node and need to be corrected.
A seasonal reorganization requires moving products between classes or subclasses.
Before You Begin: Preparation Steps
Before updating your product feed, complete these preparation steps in Toolio.
Step 1: Add New Option Values
If your reclassification introduces new hierarchy values (e.g., a new department or class), you must define them in Toolio first.
Navigate to
Account > Settings > Organization Settings > Options.Open the relevant option (e.g., Department, Class, Subdepartment).
Click
Addto create each new value.Repeat for every hierarchy level that has new values.
For bulk additions, you can import option values via CSV. See Creating, Importing, & Managing Options for details.
Step 2: Update Product Hierarchy (If Applicable)
If you use a product hierarchy in your Merchandise Plan, the new hierarchy nodes must exist before products can be assigned to them.
Navigate to
Account > Settings > Configuration > Organization Settings > Product Hierarchy.Verify that the new combination of hierarchy values appears after a product import, or trigger a Repopulate Product Hierarchy to refresh.
See Configuring and Using Product Hierarchies in Merchandise Plan for more information.
Step 3: Review Sales Curves
If your sales curves are assigned at the hierarchy level being reclassified (e.g., at the department or class level), they will no longer apply correctly after products move to a new node.
Check whether your sales curves are assigned by SKU or by hierarchy level.
If assigned by hierarchy level (e.g., department, class), plan to reassign sales curves to the new hierarchy values after reclassification.
If assigned by SKU, no changes are needed — the curves will follow the SKU.
Choosing Your Reclassification Approach
Before executing, consider two key questions:
Should your historical data (actuals) follow the old hierarchy or be migrated to the new one?
Should your existing forecast and plan data move to the new hierarchy or stay as is?
In most cases, migrating both history and plans (Option 4) is the recommended approach. When historical data is refreshed, it will eventually move to the new hierarchy regardless — so it is better to do this intentionally rather than have it happen unexpectedly during a future data refresh.
Below are the four possible combinations and the steps for each.
Option 1: Keep History & Keep Plans on Old Hierarchy
You do NOT want history or plans to move.
Update your product feed (or SKU master data) with the new classification values.
Verify in Master Data that a sample of SKUs reflects the updated attributes.
If you use product hierarchy, run Repopulate Product Hierarchy.
Stop here — do not trigger any data refreshes.
Notify your CSM (and Toolio Support) that you have reclassified but opted not to migrate history or plans.
⚠️ Be aware that any future data refresh will move historical data to the new hierarchy. This approach is only a temporary hold.
Option 2: Keep History on Old Hierarchy & Migrate Future Plans
You do NOT want history to move, but you DO want future plans migrated.
Update your product feed with the new classification values.
Verify in Master Data that a sample of SKUs reflects the updated attributes.
If you use product hierarchy, run Repopulate Product Hierarchy.
Use the
Re-allocatefunction to migrate your plans into the new hierarchy. See Using the Re-allocate Function for details.Stop here — do not trigger any data refreshes.
Notify your CSM (and Toolio Support) that you have reclassified and moved future plans but kept history on the old hierarchy.
Option 3: Migrate History & Keep Existing Plans
You DO want history migrated, but you do NOT want to move your existing plans.
Update your product feed with the new classification values.
Verify in Master Data that a sample of SKUs reflects the updated attributes.
If you use product hierarchy, run Repopulate Product Hierarchy. Confirm there are no variants remaining on the old hierarchy node.
Trigger a
Data Refreshfor all time periods and all plans.Once complete, review your historical data to confirm it was reclassified correctly.
Do not run the
Re-allocatestep.
Option 4: Migrate History & Migrate Future Plans (Recommended)
You DO want both history and plans migrated. This is the most common and recommended approach.
Update your product feed with the new classification values.
Verify in Master Data that a sample of SKUs reflects the updated attributes.
If you use product hierarchy, run Repopulate Product Hierarchy. Confirm there are no variants remaining on the old hierarchy node.
Trigger a
Data Refreshfor all time periods and all plans.Once complete, review your historical data to confirm it was reclassified correctly.
Use the
Re-allocatefunction to move your existing plans into the new hierarchy. See Using the Re-allocate Function for details.Reassign sales curves if they were set at the hierarchy level (see Step 3 above).
If using product hierarchy, mark the old hierarchy node as
inactiveso it no longer appears in your Merchandise Plan.
Impact on Assortment Plans
When products are reclassified and the product feed is updated, items in your Assortment Plan will automatically move to the new hierarchy node. You do not need to re-import or manually reassign items.
For example, if you move coffee makers from the Electrics department to a new Coffee department:
Existing assortment plan lines for those SKUs will update to reflect the Coffee department.
The items will no longer appear under the Electrics filter in your assortment plan.
You may need to create a new assortment plan dataset that includes the new department, or update your existing dataset filters.
End-to-End Checklist
Use this checklist to ensure nothing is missed:
☐ Add new option values in Settings > Options for each hierarchy level
☐ Update product hierarchy in Toolio (if applicable)
☐ Update product feed / SKU master data with new classification
☐ Verify a sample of SKUs in Master Data
☐ Run Repopulate Product Hierarchy (if applicable)
☐ Trigger
Data Refresh(if migrating history)☐ Run
Re-allocate(if migrating plans)☐ Reassign sales curves (if assigned at hierarchy level)
☐ Mark old hierarchy nodes as
inactive(if applicable)☐ Notify your CSM and Toolio Support of the completed reclassification
FAQs
Will my historical sales data move automatically?
No. Historical data only moves when a Data Refresh is triggered. Until then, past data remains under the old hierarchy. However, Toolio does not track attribute values at a point in time — so the next data refresh will move the data regardless.
Do I need to re-import my assortment plan lines?
No. Assortment plan lines automatically update to reflect the new hierarchy once the product feed is updated.
What happens to sales curves after reclassification?
If sales curves are assigned at the SKU level, they are unaffected. If they are assigned at a hierarchy level (e.g., department or class), you will need to reassign them to the new hierarchy values.
Can I reclassify products on a weekday?
Yes, though some organizations prefer to do reclassifications during quieter periods (e.g., weekends) to minimize disruption. Coordinate with your team and CSM on timing.
What if my product feed sends incremental updates?
If your ERP or product system sends delta updates (only changed SKUs), verify that all reclassified SKUs were included in the update. If in doubt, request a full file refresh to ensure nothing was missed.