Product-listing variations (parent-child relationships) is the term used to describe a product and its variants based on changeable elements like size and color.
Example: If you’re shopping online for shoes, find a pair you like and click on it, you’ll be taken to the product listing page. Here, you’ll click a dropdown menu to select your shoe size. This is you interacting with a product-listing variation!
Some benefits of setting up product-listing variations are:
- Variants help customers find and select products that match their preferences when shopping online
- Listings remain live when there are remaining variants available
- More variants is known to improve conversions
- Consolidates orders across variants, which can increase a listing’s organic ranking on the marketplace
When to use product-listing variations
Product-listing variations must meet the following criteria:
- Are products that are fundamentally the same and from the same brand
- Vary only in a few very specific ways (e.g. size, colour, weight, scent)
- Can be expected to be grouped together on one product page
Examples of good and bad variations
| Good variations | Bad variations |
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Structure
Product listing variations must include:
- A primary (parent) product: Acts as a non-purchaseable placeholder for variations of the product (the child products).
- The product variations (child products): Variations of the primary product that differ based on specific attributes like size and color.
- The variation theme: The defining characteristic that differentiates the product variations from each other. This relates closely to the product. (e.g. size, color, or hybrid combinations like SizeColor).
Primary (parent) products
The primary product appears in search results, but can’t be purchased directly. It acts as a grouping identifier to connect related versions of the product. Platforms like Amazon use primary products to structure product relationships (called parent products).
Product variants (child products)
Product variants (child products) are the purchasable variation of the primary product. It differs from the primary product based on the variation theme, such as size or color.
Variation theme
The variation theme determines how the variations differ from each other. This is usually based on size or color, but some platforms allow for hybrid variation themes (e.g. SizeColor - T-Shirts sold in different sizes and colors)