Amazon: creating product variations

This article describes the process of creating product variations on Amazon.

Table of contents

Introduction

On ChannelEngine

On Amazon

Best practices

FAQs

Introduction

You can create variations on Amazon, which are different versions of the same product varying in size, color, or other aspects. Variations allow customers to easily compare and select options directly from a single product detail page.

On ChannelEngine

By default, content export is not enabled on Amazon, so you need to request this from your contact person at ChannelEngine.

To set up variations:

1. If your variations have a parent-child structure, skip this step. However, if your variations follow a grandparent-parent-child structure, you can choose which level is the parent on Amazon. By default, ChannelEngine uses the parent product, but you can select the grandparent instead. To do this:
   1. Enable the Use grandparent products setting on the Setup page of the channel. This tells ChannelEngine to treat the grandparent as the parent and group child products under it.
   2. Enable the Include standalone and parent products without the grandparent setting. This ensures that standalone products and variations without a grandparent product are also exported to Amazon.
2. Go to Product selection and include child products in your selection. Adding (grand)parent products is optional, as ChannelEngine automatically includes these afterwards.
3. Go to Categorization and assign the correct categories to your products.
4. Go to Mappings, Content mappings and select the category to which you want to apply variations. Ensure all required attributes are mapped and populated.
   
5. Set the optional Relationship type in Content mappings. To do this, select Variation from the dropdown.
   
   
6. Set up the Variation theme under the category-specific mappings. This is where you select the attribute that differentiates your variations. E.g.: if you are selling a T-shirt in different sizes, the correct option is either Size or SizeName. If you are selling a USB stick in different colors, the correct option is Color. If your products vary both in size and color, the correct option is Size/Color.
   NB: you can check Amazon's category style guides for guidance on the correct Variation theme. To do this, go to the Help section in Seller Central, and search for the category style guide for your specific category. E.g.: 'Category Style Guide - Electronics.'
   
   
   
7. After you map the attribute that differentiates your variations, set the content strategy. Map the Update type attribute to Clear and overwrite so that the existing content on Amazon is overwritten with the mapped data on ChannelEngine.

On Amazon

To create variations directly on Amazon, see the Use 'Add a product' to create variations article on Seller Central.

Best practices

Amazon's content mappings may not match the content that must be mapped for the specific product category on ChannelEngine. This mismatch is due to Amazon's vast number of categories and the frequent updates to their templates.

As a result, attributes that may be required might be marked as optional, and vice versa. The best practice is to generate the category-specific template on Amazon's Seller Central, and compare that to the mappings available on ChannelEngine. This way, you know for sure which mappings are required and which are optional.

Although parent products need values for all required attributes under All products, and all of them must be mapped to pass the validation, some of their values are copied from the child products. The attributes whose values are automatically copied are:

• SKU
• Variation theme - copied from the child products
• Parent_child
• Item_name
• Recommended browse nodes - copied from the child products
• Brand - it is mandatory that the brand name is consistent throughout the whole product family
• Product type (category) - copied from the child products

Try to avoid mapping optional attributes initially, that way you reduce the likelihood of encountering errors that prevent your content from being accepted by Amazon. Once the content is exported successfully, you can gradually map more optional attributes – making sure to check for new errors each time.

FAQs

I am using Amazon in a country other than the United Kingdom or United States. How do I identify the 'Relationship type' and 'Variation theme'?

Below you can find the translation of those attributes per country. Note that for the UAE the Relationship type is under the All products category, while the Variation theme is category-specific. For all other countries, both attributes are category-specific.

• Canada - Relationship Type, Variation Theme
• France - Type de relation, Thème variation
• Germany - Produktbeziehungs-Typ, Varianten-Design
• Italy - Tipo di relazione, Tema variante
• Mexico - Tipo de Relación, Tema de Variación
• Netherlands - Type relatie, Variatiethema
• Poland - Typ Relacji, Motyw zmiennosci
• Spain - Tipo de relación, Tipo de variación
• Sweden - Relationstyp, Variationstema
• United Arab Emirates (UAE) - Relationship Type, Variation Theme