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 attributes the family Varies By.
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 attributes the family Varies By.
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 attributes the family Varies By.
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 Varies By attribute values that define how this variation differs from the others.
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.
• 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 Varies By attribute values that define how this variation differs from the others.
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 Varies By attribute values that define how this variation differs from the others.
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 Varies By attribute values that define how this variation differs from the others.

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.

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. The parent and each child have their own SKU and listing attributes.

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.

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.