Proceed to the next document: 1.2 Defining Product Attributes During Product CreationMiva Merchant allows you to define Product Options such as color, size, and style. On the basis of the Product Options, you will create Sub-SKUs in Order Manager.
Note: Miva Merchant uses the terms "Product Attributes" and "Product Attribute Options." The Order Manager generally refers to Product Attributes as "Options," "Product Options," "Attributes," or "Variants."
All Inventory items must be present and identical in both the shopping cart and the Order Manager before starting work with Sub-SKUs. The recommended process is to start by defining product options in Miva Merchant and then download your product data to the Order Manager. This chapter provides a detailed guide of how to define product options in Miva Merchant to be used for building Sub-SKUs in the Order Manager.
If you already use Product Attributes in Miva Merchant, you will probably have to make some changes in the way you code your Attributes.
Before defining Product Attributes, you need to know about Attribute Types, Individual Product Attributes, and Attributes Templates.
Miva Merchant has the following Attribute Types:
Radio Button - Can be used for Sub-SKUs
Drop-down List - Can be used for Sub-SKUs
Check box - Can't be used for Sub-SKUs, except in certain circumstances
Text Field - Can't be used for Sub-SKUs
Text Area - Can't be used for Sub-SKUs
The Radio Buttons and Drop-down Lists can have a number of Attribute Options. The Check box, Text Field, and Text Area Product Attributes do not have Options.
Examples:
Radio Buttons or Drop-down Lists
Product Attribute: Color
Product Attribute Options: Red, Blue, and White
Check box
Gift Wrapped?
In Miva Merchant, when an Attribute only applies to a single product, it makes sense to add the attribute directly to the single product instead of creating an Attribute Template (described later).
Example: A store might offer a lawn ornament in a Frog, Turtle, or Duck design and no other products will have the same three (3) Options.
Note: Individual Product Attributes are created when editing the product on the Edit Product/Attributes page.
If you sell similar items, it is more efficient to create an Attribute Template and apply the same set of Attributes to many products.
Example: If your supplier changes their assortment of fragrances, you would only need to change the one (1) Attribute Template.
A Product can have multiple Attributes and the Attributes can be any combination of Product Attributes and Attribute Templates.
Shoppers' Options will have the same look regardless of how they are generated.
There can be copied or referenced Attribute Templates:
Copied Attribute Templates - When the template is copied to a product, any future changes to the template will not affect the product attributes.
Referenced Attribute Templates - When the attribute template is referenced, a simple update to the template is immediately applied to all products referencing it.
Note: If you are going to use a third-party module on Miva for attribute level tracking, then the referenced templates can not be used.
Read more on this topic in 2.3 Setting Up Inventory Tracking at the Attribute Level.
Proceed to the next document: 1.2 Defining Product Attributes During Product Creation
See Also: