Please see how do I create a product in the admin? or learn more by reading what is a variant product? In order to set up the basic product information.
After the product type has been selected and product information completed the next step is to choose which attributes you want to use to create your variants.
Attributes
The attributes section is where you select the attributes you want to use to create the variants for this product. For example if you want to sell the same product in three sizes you would choose the attribute name as "size" and then select the sizes from the values field.
- Name - this is the attribute group you want to use to generate the variations of this product.
- Values - this is where you select the values of your chosen attribute group.
- Custom sort - checking this box will allow you to choose the order that the varients are displayed to the customer. When this box is checked you can change the order of the attribute values by dragging them into position. If this box is not selected the order they appear on the attributes page in the admin will be used.
- Split listings - checking this box will create a separate listing for each of your variants.
Variants
The variants section is generated once you have selected the attributes you want to create variants from. Each variant will have its own row where you can set price and inventory for each variant. Each variant has a number of fields, the most commonly used fields are displayed on the page, the additional fields can be accessed by clicking the row or arrow on the end of the row.
- Price - this is the normal price the customer will pay for the item.
- Reduced price - this is the sale price of the item.
- SKU - this is a unique identifier for this product.
- Stock level - this is used to enter the quantity in stock of the product you're creating. (Aero will automatically deduct stock when an item is sold.)
- Variant name - this is used to provide a custom name for this variant that is different from the product name.
- Tags - this is used to apply tags to this variant. Your store for example could be using tags to manage discounts or shipping, where tags could be used to differentiate between variants where needed. How tags are used for variants will depend on how your store has been set up.
Additional price fields
- RRP - this is the recommended retail price.
- Cost price - this is the cost of the item to your business.
- Tax group - this allows you to choose which tax group this price applies to.
- Add price - clicking this button will add another price row, allowing you to add additional prices such as time limited and quantity discounts.
Additional inventory fields
- Barcode - while optional the barcode is often used by third party applicaitions such as Google Shopping.
- Reference - while optional the reference field can be used to provide data to an EPOS or other system.
- Track this variant's stock level - this is selected by default but you can choose to not track stock if you are using drop shipping for example.
- Stock buffer - allows you to set the number of items in stock before the website will list the item as out of stock, this is mainly used for when selling via third party integrations as well as your Aero store.
- Allow customers to purchase this variant when out of stock - checking this box will allow customers to purchase this item even when none are in-stock, this is particularly useful for drop shipping.
- Min purchase quantity - allows you to set a minimum quantity for ordering this product.
- Max purchase quantity - allows you to limit the quantity when ordering this product.
- Multiples of - allows you to restrict the purchase of this product to a certain multiple, for example only allowing wine to be bought as a case of 6.
Additional shipping fields
- This variant is a physical product and requires shipping - this checkbox is selected by default however if you're selling a digital product that does not require shipping this box should be unticked.
- Weight - the weight field is used to calculate the shipping cost of the item.
- Harmonized system code - These codes are a standardized numerical method of classifying traded products. It is used by customs authorities around the world to identify products when assessing duties and taxes and for gathering statistics.
- Country of origin - this is the country from which the item will be shipped and used to calculate shipping costs.
Additional status & visibility fields
- This variant is visible - checking this box will cause the variant to not appear on the storefront but customers will still be able to purchase.
- This variant can be purchased - checking this box will cause the variant to not be purchasable, but will still appear on the storefront.
- Hide when out of stock - checking this box will cause the variant to not appear on the storefront and cannot be purchased when the stock level reaches zero.
- Available at - allows you to choose the date and time when customers will be able to purchase this variant.
Additional attributes
Additional variant attributes can be used to provide custom fields, these may have been set up by your agency and used to display additional information about your variant.
Images
The images section is where you manage the images associated with this product & its variants.
Although product images are optional we strongly recommend adding at least a few high quality images to each product as this helps towards increasing conversion from your customers.
You can upload images by clicking the button or dragging your images onto the box in the page.
Once your images have uploaded you can hover over the image to see the options available on the image;
- Default - checking the default box will use the image when no variant has been selected by the customer.
- Alt - clicking the alt text button will present you with a text field to put in some alt text for this image. Alt text is used by screen readers in order to provide a description to disabled users.
- Delete - clicking on the bin icon will remove the image from the product.
Images can be re-ordered by dragging them into the order you want to display them to the customer.
Clicking the "Toggle default/attribute images" checkbox allows you to choose which of your images apply to which variant.
Using the select menu to choose the variant will then allow you to drag the images you wish to use for the selected variant.
The order of attribute images can again be changed by dragging the images to re-order them.
Status & Visibility
The status & visibility section is where you manage everything to do with how and when your product is visible, published and purchasable by your customers. The options in this section are;
- This product is active - checking this box will cause the product to not appear on the storefront and cannot be purchased.
- This product is visible - checking this box will cause the product to not appear on the storefront but customers will still be able to purchase.
- Hide when out of stock - checking this box will cause the product to not appear on the storefront and cannot be purchased when the stock level reaches zero.
- This product can be purchased - checking this box will cause the product to not be purchasable, but will still appear on the storefront.
- Hide from listings pages and search results - checking this box will not show this product on the storefront and in search results but can be accessed directly using the url.
- Published Timestamp - this field allows you to change when the product was or will be published (if a date and time in the future are set). If left blank the published timestamp will be automatically filled in with the time the product was created.
Description & Summary
The Description & summary section is where you can add both a long and short description for your product. Where these are shown to your customer will depend on the theme your store is using.
Writing your own description and summary is important for SEO and increasing conversions.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
The SEO section is where you manage the content used by search engines to index your store.
SEO is an important aspect when it comes to customers finding your store when searching for products you're selling.
The SEO section has a number of fields for you to complete;
- Heading - this is the product name and will be the main heading in most themes.
- Page title - used by search engines as the title of this page.
- Meta description - combined with the page title and displayed as the search engine listing description.
- Canonical - used to give direction to the search engine about how to index this product.
- No index - checking this box will direct search engines to not index this page.
Additional Attributes
The additional attributes section is used to provide custom fields, these may have been set up by your agency and used to display additional information about your product.
