Products
The product are the mainstay of your shopfront or store. Products can be Tangible or Digital i.e. a physical product or a song, picture, PDF etc that a shopper can download after they have paid for it.
Products can be just about anything and varying in types, shapes styles etc. Each product can be uniquely define using the Variations options and can also have unique custom fields created for it that the user must will in before checking out.
You will need to work in reverse order so remember to do your configuration under Checkout > Configuration then set up your Product Categories, Product variations, Suppliers and Custom Fields before you start adding your products. It is also a good idea to have you images ready if you are going to use product images.
Product Variations
The product variations are a way of giving your customers variations of options to choose from for your products. Each product can have multiple variations.
A variation could be size, quantity, color, shape, pattern, weight, etc. Any type of variation that you could possibly thing of. They are different options for your product. Each variation has variation options.
For example, you have a product called “Printed T-Shirt” which is available in different sizes Small, Medium, Large, X Large. In addition, you have the T-Shirt product available in different colors as well. You will add a product variation called “Shirt Size” and another variation called “Shirt Color”. Both can be either radio buttons or a select drop down menu.
Then you will create options under Checkout > Variation Options for your two product variations. For “Shirt Size”, you will create four options – one for each size – and give them prices if you wish. For “Shirt Color” you can create an option for each different color available and also add prices if you have to.
Manage Variations
When you go to Checkout > Product Variations you will be presented with the ‘Manage Variations’ screen which shows all of your current variations together with all the management features you need.
1. Add New Variation
Clicking this button will take you to ‘Save a Variation’ where you can create a new product variation for your shop. New variations added will show up on this ‘Manage Variations’ screen after they are added.
2. Order Options & Bulk Actions
The Order Variations button redirects you to the Order/Sort Variations screen. The screen shot below shows yo what will be seen on that screen, all you need to do is move you cursor over one of the variaiton boxes, you’ll notice the cursor change. All you have to do is click on one of the boxes and drag it into the order you need
When the sorting is complete you will see the message Product variations have been ordered/sorted.
The, “Bulk Actions,” feature allows you to select multiple variation records from the table using the checkboxes and then apply a bulk action on the selected records. The only bulk action currently available is ‘Delete’ which will permanently remove the selected variation records in the table.
3. Search Variations
Quickly search the database for variations by typing a word or phrase and then clicking the ‘Search Variations’ button.
4. Variation Row Actions
When you hover a variation row, action links will appear below it which are applicable to the row that you are hovering over. The links include ‘Edit’ which allows you to edit the variation, ‘Delete’ which will remove the variation permanentl, ‘View’ which will show you detailed information of the variation and ‘Sort Options’ which redirects you to a page where you can drag and drop the order to display the variation options. The screenshot below shows the screen to sort variation options.
When the sorting is complete you will see the message Variation options have been ordered accordingly.
5. Per Page
This is a quick way of choosing how many variations/records to show per page. The drop down has several values in it to choose from. When the total number of variations in the database exceeds this per page number chosen, you will notice page numbers appearing above and below the table to the right.
Product Content
When you initially save a product, you type its description into the editor but you may want to add content/description sections to your product such as specifications, instructions, tutorials, features, etc. It is ideal for that!
In the ‘Product Content’ section, you can add product descriptions and manage your existing ones. Product content can be saved either through the ‘Product Content’ section or directly when you are on the ‘Save a Product’ screen, below the editor. They are the same thing.
Each product content or additional description will be displayed on the product page as a tab. So if you have multiple additional descriptions, a tab will be created for each one.
Start by adding product content and attach it to a product.
On the ‘Save a Product’ Screen
When saving a product, you will see a box named ‘Additional Descriptions’ below the editor where the product description goes.
You can add unlimited additional descriptions here by clicking the ‘Add Another Description’ button and you can remove individual additional descriptions by clicking the ‘remove’ link above it.
You may use raw HTML code inside the text area of the additional descriptions. The HTML code will be correctly displayed when the product is viewed on the shop front.
All additional descriptions saved through the ‘Save a Product’ screen will end up in your ‘Product content’ section which is the global management section for product content.
Result on the Product Page
Having additional product descriptions on your product will split the info up into its relevant sections it was adding in and create new tabs for it. The tabs are automatically added to your product page for the specific product and looks like the this image.
The tabs are easy to use and a great way of displaying additional information that you don’t want included in your main product description.
