Use categories to manage the appearance, order, and other characteristics of how products appear in the store. Categories that contain products represent distinct sections in the store. These sections can have different appearances depending on how you configure them. Settings within the categories determine the order of sections, the order of products within the sections, and whether products are featured within the sections.
In many presentations, store categories will appear as tabs in the store, although configuration may also allow for carousels, lists, and tiles. Because the container is the same, whatever the eventual appearance, it's generally easiest to envision when you simply think of a store category equaling a tab.
However, while all tabs are defined by categories, not all categories result in tabs (or other grouping display of products in the store). There are some specific categories that are used for other purposes, such as to define sign-up groups or exchange groups. The store management aspect of categories refers only to categories that define groups of products: store categories.
You can also define products as "featured" products within categories. Featured products can use optional graphic banners. The banners are defined in the product settings, and the products to be featured are added to the Featured Products list in category settings.
You can: