Product variation management is recommended on Amazon as it gives your products greater visibility and also makes it easier for customers to select the product (size, color, etc.) they are looking for.
More about variations in Amazon Seller Central
Selling clothes and accessories? Read our FAQ article: How to configure clothing sizes on Amazon
Manage your variations
Use these attributes to manage variations :
- "parentage_level..value": defines whether a given SKU (product ID) is a parent or a child.
- "child_parent_sku_relationship..parent_sku": parent ID (a common identifier for all the variations of a product).
-
"child_parent_sku_relationship..child_relationship_type": relationship between the child and parent products. Select the value "variation" for parent and child products (must be empty for simple products).
- "variation_theme..name": variation criteria, to select from a drop-down menu. It can relate to color, size or a combination of two criteria (e.g Size, Color, Color/Size, etc.).
- "color..value", "size..value", "item_shape..value", etc. attributes are used to indicate the color, size, shape, etc. of the child product depending on its Variation type.
Parent products must be sent to Amazon if your catalogue contains variations.
What information must be provided for parent products?
Amazon requires certain information for parent product pages:
- "parentage_level..value" must be filled in with the value "parent"
- "variation_theme..name" must be filled in with one of the available values (e.g. Size, Colour, Color/Size, etc.).
- "child_parent_sku_relationship..parent_sku" must be empty.
- "child_parent_sku_relationship..child_relationship_type" must be filled in with the value "variation" (Variant).
- No EAN code ("externally_assigned_product_identifier.value" and "externally_assigned_product_identifier.type" attributes must be empty)
- No price ("purchasable_offer..our_price", "purchasable_offer..discounted_price" and discount dates attributes must be empty)
- No quantity ("fulfillment_availability..quantity" must be empty)
- No delivery time ("fulfillment_availability..lead_time_to_ship_max_days" must be empty)
- No currency ("purchasable_offer..currency" must be empty)
- No color, size, etc. ("color..value", "size..value"... must be empty)
Parent products configuration
We recommend to complete only the required attributes for parent products to avoid errors.
You may create a rule to empty the other attributes for parent products.
In addition to the attributes listed above, only fill in the following attributes:
- "sku"
- "item_name..value"
- "product-type" (completed through the Category mapping step)
- "product_description..value"
- "brand..value"
- "condition_type..value"
- "country_of_origin..value
- "manufacturer..value"
- "batteries_included..value"
- "batteries_required..value"
- "supplier_declared_dg_hz_regulation..value"
- "list_price..value_with_tax"
- "bullet_point.value_01"
- "main_product_image_locator..media_location"
What information must be provided for child products?
Amazon requires certain information for the child product pages:
- "parentage_level..value" must be filled in with the value "child".
- "variation_theme..name" must be filled in with one of the available values (e.g. Size, Colour, Color/Size, etc.).
- "child_parent_sku_relationship..parent_sku" must contain the parent product reference shared by all of the product variants (parent ID). Must correspond to the SKU of the parent product.
- "child_parent_sku_relationship..child_relationship_type" must be filled in with the value "variation" (Variant).
- "externally_assigned_product_identifier.value" must contain the product barcode (EAN, UPC, ASIN, etc. - Note that the barcode number must be registered by GS1).
- "externally_assigned_product_identifier.type" must be filled in with one of the values (ASIN, EAN, UPC, etc.) corresponding to the "product_identifier.value" indicated.
- A variation attribute – a color, a size, a shape, etc. – must be provided in the corresponding Amazon field (e.g "color..value", "size..value", "item_shape..value",…).
These attributes are present among the common attributes, except for "material..value" et "pattern..value", which are available at category level.
Example of configuration (see image) of two product variations:
In the first variation:
- Product 1000 is a parent product;
- Products 1000_10105 to 1000_10111 are its child products.