This video demonstrates how I built the simple product catalog on the Drupal Commerce demo site using the core Taxonomy and Menu systems and a custom product display node type.

We are simply using the node teaser list on the taxonomy listing page. No views were needed :)

1. Create a taxonomy term vocabulary
2. Create a menu for your catalog, then manually add a link for each taxonomy term
3. Enable the menu block for your sidebar
4. Configure your block to not show on the checkout pages
5. Create a Product Display node with a "Product reference field"
6. Also add a "Term Reference" field that utilizes your new vocabulary
7. Enjoy your new catalog!

See it in action on the demo site: http://demo.commerceguys.com/dc/