Create product variants on Amazon – How it works and why you should rely on it!
Variety makes life more beautiful. Whether it’s donuts in the flavors of strawberry, chocolate, and lemon or the favorite shirt in all colors. We like variety, and sometimes consumers even need variants, for example when it comes to clothing sizes.
This is how you can also find the same product in different versions on online marketplaces like Amazon and eBay. The band shirt for dad in XL and for mom in S. We customers definitely benefit from the selection.
Sellers like vendors can create product variants on Amazon. How this works and what you should know can be found here.
Let’s start right at the beginning:
What are product variants?
Not only on Amazon can sellers who have the appropriate writing rights for the respective ASIN create product variants. Various fashion providers like H&M, Zalando, and Otto have been relying on this method for a long time. A T-shirt in sizes XS to XL – five variations of one item.
Or phone cases: A special case for the iPhone XS in various colors and patterns from floral prints to animal prints, here there is a whole range of possible variants.
Of course, sellers on marketplaces like eBay and Amazon can also offer their products with different variants, provided they have the appropriate writing rights, for example if they are the owners of a brand. Of course, there are also guidelines from the online giant regarding the content of product variants.
Amazon itself states that products that meet the following requirements are expected to work well as variants:
The requirements indicate that it should always be about a practically the same product that differs only marginally from the other variants – like the T-shirt from the example above.
It is also important that customers would expect these products to be together on one product page. As we all know, the customer is the focus at Amazon, and they should experience a good customer journey under all circumstances. If they click on a T-shirt and only need to select the appropriate size as expected, it is simple for them and they will not be confused. However, if they click on the T-shirt and now have to choose whether to buy the T-shirt or perhaps a dress with the same pattern, the customer is understandably irritated – after all, they wanted a T-shirt and not a dress. Customer orientation, of course, also has its justification. After all, this increases the likelihood that customers will shop at Amazon again in the future. You benefit from this as well.
Amazon further writes on the topic of product variation: If your products do not meet the following requirements, they may not be so well suited for creating variants:
Of course, if you only offer one product variant, it makes little sense to add a product variation on Amazon. How could it?
The second point is also easy to understand if we invest some brainpower.
The next two aspects may require a bit more explanation. When you create product variants on Amazon, they are added to the same product page. This means you have the same content – the title and description are identical. This also shows why a T-shirt and a dress, even with the same pattern, are not product variants. You would have to make the product title very cumbersome to do justice to both products, and that is not very clever from an SEO perspective. Additionally, such a title or corresponding description would not be very consumer-friendly. Thus, we have also explained the last point.
Superordinate, subordinate & product design: Amazon-German, German-Amazon
To understand the three expressions, it is easier to take a closer look at the structure of the relationships between them:
As the name suggests, the superordinate product is basically the parent, or the Parent, of other products. This product cannot be purchased due to its structure. It serves only for overview purposes. This could be, for example, a T-shirt with a logo of the brand.
Each variant that this article has is a subordinate product. It is then the child of a parent, or a Child. Therefore, some sellers also talk about the parent-child connection. In our example, these would be the T-shirts with the brand logo in white and black or in sizes XS to XL.
The product design describes how the subordinate products differ from each other. For example, in color or size, but sometimes also in both, meaning in color AND size. In our example, this would be: the white T-shirt in size M.
How to add product variants on Amazon
You have different options for creating product variants on Amazon. Provided you have the appropriate writing rights for the ASIN, for example because you are the owner of a brand, and you adhere to Amazon’s guidelines.
Product variants can either be uploaded via flat file or created directly in Seller Central. Here we will only discuss the procedure for creating in Seller Central:
Which procedure you should use to add product variants depends on whether this variant already exists or not. For both methods, you start by selecting the Inventory section from the drop-down menu in Seller Central and then Add a Product. Here you can search for the product variant you want to add on Amazon. By the way, the search results are most accurate when you search using IDs like ASIN, ISBN, or EAN. Now you need to choose whether you want to add your offer to an existing variant or a completely new one.
How to add your offer to an already existing product variant on Amazon
How to create new product variants on Amazon
When creating product variants on Amazon, you should always adhere to the corresponding style guides for product detail pages and for ASIN creation. A violation can result in the withdrawal of the permission to create corresponding content or even the withdrawal of the selling rights.
Small note on the side: This content (description, keywords, product category, and other attributes) will be displayed on Amazon for all product variants you create – they apply to the parent product. Of course, only for the respective item and not across products! You can manage and adjust the product details at any time under Inventory
You can also delete product variants, by the way. On Amazon, you can easily do this in the same interface where you also specify the information for variant combinations. Simply select the corresponding offer and click on delete selection.
Automatically recognize product variants
With a very large number of different variants, manual creation can of course be very time-consuming. Through the Check my file function, automatic recognition can also be performed for some categories to establish variant relationships. All information on this can be found in the inventory file template. Below, we provide an example from the help pages in SellerCentral. For a T-shirt that comes in various sizes and colors, the inventory file could look like this:
| SKU | Title | Size | Color | Productrelationship | Parent SKU | Type of productrelationship | Variantdesign | Price | Quantity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 101 | T-Shirt | | | parent product | | SizeColor | | | |
| 101MB | T-Shirt blue size M | Medium | Blue | child product | 101 | Variant | SizeColor | 15,97 | 50 |
| 101SB | T-Shirt blue size S | Small | Blue | child product | 101 | Variant | SizeColor | 15,97 | 50 |
| 101LB | T-Shirt blue size L | Large | Blue | child product | 101 | Variant | SizeColor | 15,97 | 50 |
| 101MR | T-Shirt red size M | Mittel | Rot | subordinate product | 101 | variant | SizeColor | 15,97 | 50 |
| 101SR | T-shirt blue size S | Small | Red | subordinate product | 101 | variant | SizeColor | 15,97 | 50 |
| 101LR | T-shirt blue size L | Large | Red | subordinate product | 101 | variant | SizeColor | 15,97 | 50 |
What you need to consider when creating product variants on Amazon
You should always pay attention to whether you are currently in the parent or subordinate product, as this affects the structure of the product page. When you edit product attributes such as descriptions and titles, this always applies to the parent product. A description like “T-shirt size M” is not very effective if you want to create (or have already created) additional product variants on Amazon. A potential buyer with size S would probably not click on your offer, even though they have the option to select their size. After all, they assume that your offer only refers to size M.
Also note Amazon’s reminder that your items must belong to a product category where variants are allowed, such as clothing.
Additionally, you should ensure that you always adhere to the style guides of the online giant. This way, you also optimize Amazon SEO for your product variants. More tips on how to optimize your listing can be found in our blog.
Why you should focus on product variation on Amazon
Creating product variants on Amazon significantly boosts your visibility. On one hand, all individual subordinate products benefit from the visibility of the parent. This way, you only invest once in good descriptions, and all product variants become equally visible, as the customer finds all versions on the same product detail page.
On the other hand, reviews will always be submitted for the parent product, which means the subordinates also benefit from it. We all know how hard it can sometimes be to get a review from a customer. If each product variant stands alone, the overall number of reviews may be high, but the individual variants may not look very good. If you offer five sizes as individual products and each product has three reviews, that alone is not very much. However, if you offer these as product variants, the reviews are aggregated, and your product has 15 reviews. This not only creates a better impression with customers but also with the Amazon algorithm and thus your overall rating.
Additionally, you increase the benefit for customers on Amazon when you create product variations. With better visibility, they can see all variants at once and do not have to search again if the color of the desired T-shirt does not match their taste. Instead, customers can simply click through the offered variations and select their favorite.
Incidentally, the likelihood that a customer adds multiple items to their cart increases. If a nice blue T-shirt is offered right next to a white one that the customer is looking for, they will buy the blue one along with the white one.
You can also increase the cart by creating bundles on Amazon as product variants. In addition to the standard equipment, another variant can be a set with additional accessories or a combination item. For example, you can offer a bundle with glasses and a VR-compatible game alongside the VR headset as a variant. This way, you market your offers right where they are most likely to be purchased.
Image credits in the order of the images: © Alexander Raths – stock.adobe.com / © Cybrain – stock.adobe.com / © Vera Kuttelvaserova – stock.adobe.com
