Creating and Managing Variation Listings

A variation is a family of related listings that represent the same product offered in different variants, such as size, color, style, material, etc. Variations are typically displayed together on shopping sites, allowing customers to select their preferred option from the available variants.

Even though a variation family is managed together, each variation is a distinct listing. Each variation has its own unique store SKU and each is mapped to a different Goflow product.

Find variation listings by filtering the Listings page for Family Type. You can view either variations or standalone listings, which are not part of any variation family.

Creating a New Variation Listing

Create a new variation family in one of three ways:

• New Product - Start with a single product and add more variation products later.
• Multiple New Products - Start with all variation products at once.
• Existing Standalone - Start by converting an existing standalone listing.

Starting with One Product

To create a variation family starting with a single product, follow these steps:

1. From the left sidebar, go to Listings › Listings.
2. In the upper-right corner, click New Listing.
3. Select the main product.
4. Select the store.
5. Select the listing category.
6. For Family Type, choose Variation Listing.
7. Select the variation type.
8. Click Next to continue on the next page.

Starting with Multiple Products

To create a variation family using all variation products at once, follow these steps:

1. From the left sidebar, go to Listings › Products.
2. Select all the products you want to include in the variation family.
3. At the top of the page, click Actions › Create Variation Listings.
4. Select the store.
5. For Variation Family, choose New Family.
6. Select the listing category.
7. Select the variation type.
8. Select the main product from the list.
9. For Listing Type, select either Manual or Synced.
10. Click Continue to proceed to the next page.

Starting with an Existing Listing

To create a variation family from an existing standalone listing, follow these steps:

1. From the left sidebar, go to Listings › Listings, then open the standalone listing.
2. On the Status card, click the pencil icon to edit the Family Type, and select Variation.
3. Select Create New Variation Family.
4. Select the variation type.
5. Click Continue to proceed to the next page.

The standalone listing becomes the main product of the new variation family.

Completing a New Variation Listing

On the New Variation Listing page, configure the individual variations. Follow these steps:

1. Select the Parent SKU.
2. On the Variation Products card, click the + icon to add variations.
3. For each variation:
   • Select the product item number.
   • Enter the Variation SKU.
   • Enter the variation type values.
4. Complete the parent and children listing attributes.
5. Click Publish Listing to validate and publish the listing.

To save the listing as a draft, click the split arrow and select Save as Draft.

Editing an Existing Variation Family

To edit an existing variation listing, follow these steps:

1. From the left sidebar, go to Listings › Listings, and open any listing in the variation family.
2. In the upper-right corner, click Manage Listing.
3. Make the desired changes, then click Publish Listing.

You can perform the following actions:

• Add New - Add new products to the variation family.
• Add Existing - Add existing listings to the variation family.
• Change Variation Type - Change the attributes that define the variation.
• Rearrange - Change the display order of the variations.
• Deactivate - Deactivate specific variations in the family.
• Attributes – Update the parent and child listing attributes.

Adding New Products

To add new products to the variation family, follow these steps:

1. On the Variation Products card, click the + icon to add variations.
2. For each variation:
   • Select the product item number.
   • Enter the Variation SKU.
   • Enter the variation type values.
3. Complete the children listing attributes.

Adding Multiple New Products in Bulk

To add multiple new products to an existing variation family, follow these steps:

1. From the left sidebar, go to Listings › Products.
2. Select all the products you want to add to the variation family.
3. At the top of the page, click Actions › Create Variation Listings.
4. Select the store.
5. For Variation Family, choose Existing Family.
6. Select a listing from the list, and click Continue.
7. For each variation:
   • Enter the Variation SKU.
   • Enter the variation type values.
8. Complete the children listing attributes.

Adding Existing Listings

To add existing standalone listings to a variation family, follow these steps:

1. On the Variation Products card, click the three-dot menu.
2. Click Add Existing Listing.
3. Select a listing from the list.
4. Click Add Listing as Variation.
5. Enter the variation type values.

The category of the added standalone listings are automatically updated to match the category of the variation family.

Only standalone listings can be added to a variation. If you want to merge two variation families, you must first break up one family.

Changing the Variation Type

To change the variation type of a listing, follow these steps:

1. On the Variation Products card, click the three-dot menu.
2. Select Varies By....
3. Choose the attributes that define the variation.
4. Click Update Variation Types.

Rearranging the Variation Sort

The order of variations in Goflow may affect how they appear on the shopping site. You can adjust the sort to highlight certain variations or keep the list logically organized.

On the Variation Products card, drag the handle to the right of the variation and drop it in the desired position.

Deactivating Variations

In addition to managing listing status, you can deactivate a variation directly while editing the variation family.

On the Variation Products card, click the X icon to the right of the variation to deactivate it. To reactivate the variation, click the ✓ icon.

Breaking up a Variation

To remove a variation from a family and convert it into a standalone listing, follow these steps:

1. From the left sidebar, go to Listings › Listings, and open the listing.
2. On the Status card, click the pencil icon to edit the Family Type, and select Standalone.
3. Click Save & Republish.

When the listing is republished, the variation family is also updated to reflect the removed variation. The variation family status is set to Pending Update.

To remove multiple listings or break up the entire variation family, repeat these steps for each listing in the family.

Managing Draft Variations

You can save and edit variation listings as drafts. You may also add existing draft listings to a variation, as long as all other listings in the family are drafts. The variation can continue to be saved as a draft until all required information is complete and ready to publish.

A variation family cannot contain a mix of published and draft listings. All listings in the family must share the same status.

Managing Variation Details

Variations consist of a parent listing and one or more child listings. Each has its own SKU and set of listing attributes.

Entering Variation SKUs

The parent SKU appears at the top of the page. This SKU represents the variation family as a whole, rather than any individual listing. The parent SKU must be unique and cannot be the same as any of the child SKUs.

You can search for the parent SKU in Goflow to view all listings that belong to the variation family.

Child SKUs are listed in the Variation Products card. Each child SKU represents a specific variation of the family.

Entering Variation Attributes

The parent listing attributes appear on the Parent Details card. These attributes apply to the variation family as a whole and do not vary between child listings.

The child listing attributes appear on the Variation Details card, and mirror the attributes of the parent. When you edit a parent attribute, the update is automatically applied to all child listings. When you edit a child attribute, however, the change applies only to that specific child. Once a child attribute is edited, the field turns purple to indicate that it has been detached from the parent. After a field is detached, future updates to the parent attribute will no longer update that child field.

Parent images are generally distinct from the variation images, so images added to the parent are not automatically copied to the child listings. To copy the parent images to all variations, click the Copy to Variations button next to the parent images.

Prefilling Product Fields

Listing attributes are prefilled from product data. Each variation child pulls attribute values from its mapped product.

Parent attributes are prefilled using the main variation product. The main product is typically the first product in the variation, though it can also be specifically selected.

Prefilling overrides parent mirroring. If a child attribute is prefilled with a value that differs from the parent or the main product, that field will automatically detach from the parent.

Managing Variation Types

The variation type defines how listings in a variation family differ. It consists of:

• Varies-by attribute - A parent-level attribute that defines how the variation can vary. These apply to the entire variation family. For example, Size and Pattern.
• Variation attributes - Child-level values that define how each specific variation actually varies. These differ per listing. For example, one variation has Medium and Striped, while another has Large and Striped.

Set the variation type when creating a new listing. To update the variation type for a single variation, edit the varies-by on the Manage Listings page.

For synced listings, map the varies-by attribute in store attribute mappings. Enter the attribute names in a product field. For example, create a custom field named varies-by with values Size and Pattern. The varies-by attribute syncs with the main variation product.

The varies-by attributes are displayed on the Variation Products card. For each attribute, enter a value either manually, have it prefilled, or synced. The values you can enter depend on the attribute. Some attributes use restricted select lists with predefined options, while others allow free-form input.

Managing Variation Types in Bulk

You can update variation type in bulk using the Import Listing Attributes upload. This process includes three steps:

1. Learn - Identify valid varies-by values
2. Define - Define the variation type
3. Populate - Provide values for each variation

Getting Valid Varies-by Attributes

To see which attributes a category supports for its variation type, follow these steps:

1. From the left sidebar, go to Listings › Listings.
2. At the top of the page, click the Import icon and select Import Listing Attributes.
3. Select the store.
4. On the Template tab, select the category.
5. Select the varies-by attribute.
6. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Download Attribute Details.

The Attribute Details file lists all listings attributes that can be used as values for the varies-by attribute for the selected category.

In the example below, the file shows that for the Sofa category, the varies-by attribute is a choice field, meaning values must be selected from a predefined list rather than entered as free text. Then it goes on to list all valid attributes that a sofa listing can vary by: Color, Orientation, and Material.

Varies By
Choice
Optional
Color
Orientation
Material

The varies-by attribute is required for variation listings. It is marked as optional in row 2 because it does not apply to standalone listings.

Setting Varies-by Attributes

To define the variation type, follow these steps:

1. Return to the Import Listing Attributes page.
2. Select the varies-by attribute and choose the number of headers to include.
3. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Download CSV Template.
4. Add a row for each child SKU in the variation family.
5. Enter the attribute names in the varies-by columns.
6. Upload the file.

The varies-by attribute supports multiple values. Use the spinner to select how many Varies-By headers to include in your file, as each attribute must be entered in a separate column.

Varies By is a parent-level attribute. Because it applies to the entire variation family, the file must include all child SKUs.

In the example below, the variation type for a sofa family is set to vary by Color, Orientation, and Material.

SKU	varies by	varies by	varies by
SOFA-BLUE-LEFT-FABRIC	Color	Orientation	Material
SOFA-BLUE-RIGHT-FABRIC	Color	Orientation	Material
SOFA-GRAY-LEFT-LEATHER	Color	Orientation	Material
SOFA-GRAY-RIGHT-LEATHER	Color	Orientation	Material

Populating Variation Values

To enter values for the variaiton attributes on each listing, follow these steps:

1. Return to the Import Listing Attributes page.
2. Select the attributes to include in your file, for example, Color, Orientation, Material.
3. Click Download CSV Template.
4. Enter the attribute values for each SKU.
5. Upload the file.

In the example below, a child SKU updates the values for the variation attributes Color, Orientation, and Material.

SKU	Color	Orientation	Material
SOFA-BLUE-LEFT-FABRIC	Blue	Left-facing	Fabric

You can combine steps 2 and 3 into a single file. In the example below, the variation type is defined for the sofa family, and the corresponding variation values are provided for each SKU.

SKU	Varies By	Varies By	Varies By	Color	Orientation	Material
SOFA-BLUE-LEFT-FABRIC	Color	Orientation	Material	Blue	Left-Facing	Fabric
SOFA-BLUE-RIGHT-FABRIC	Color	Orientation	Material	Blue	Right-Facing	Fabric
SOFA-GRAY-LEFT-LEATHER	Color	Orientation	Material	Gray	Left-Facing	Leather
SOFA-GRAY-RIGHT-LEATHER	Color	Orientation	Material	Gray	Right-Facing	Leather