MMv4 KB
 
Product Group Editor
  Last Edited - 08/14/2014 7:46am PDT
  Category Path - Shopping Cart Software Components > Administration Area > Products
 
Product Groups are associations of similar products that allow for variations to be sold in the store.  When a product group is in place, customers will make the choice of the product variation using a dropdown menu on the product details page.

example
Using Product Groups, a T-shirt in sizes small, medium, large, and XL could be sold.  Each product variation can have its inventory tracked and even its own images, descriptions, or price.  Each variation is a product in the store's database, but will only appear to be a variation of the parent product in the store.


note
It is possible to set up product variations without creating individual products for each variation in the store database.  Those are known as Product Fields.  Product Fields are explained in further detail in the Product Field Editor.  The main benefit of using product groups rather than product fields, is that each variation is completely customizable, since each is also a product.  Product fields are simpler to implement, however.


The Product Group Editor is used to create new Product Groups and to edit existing ones.  The various sections of the Product Group Editor are explained below.
 
To create a new Product Group:
  1. Go to [Products > Search Product Groups > + ].
  2. Configure the product group.
  3. Click Save Changes to this Product Group button when finished.
 
To Edit an existing Product Group:
  1. Go to [Products > Search Product Groups].
  2. Click either the SID number or the icon associated with the product group.
  3. Make the desired changes to the product group.
  4. Click the Save Changes to this Product Group button when finished.
 
Product Group Information

Product Group Name
Input the name of the Product Group.  This name will be displayed to customers on the product details page, above the dropdown menu.

Active
Active Product Groups will be used in the storefront.  Inactive ones will not.

warning
Making a Product Group inactive does not make the individual products within the group inactive.

 
Add EXISTING Products to Group

Add Products to this Group
If the product group variations are already present in the store database, input the SID (System ID) numbers of the products.  Separate each one with a comma.  Click the Search button and use the search tool if the product SID numbers are unknown.
 
CREATE NEW Products to add to the Group

Create new products for this Group
In the section titled The new products will be variations of the parent product with SID, input the SID number of the parent product.
example
If a Tshirt was being sold in the store with various sizes, the parent product would simply be Tshirt.  The other members of the product group might be Tshirt (small), Tshirt (medium), etc.  First create and configure the parent Tshirt product in the store, note its SID (System ID number), then return to this page and input the SID number.


The items in the list of variations below are separated by
Select the type of symbol you'd like to use to separate the variations below. 

List of variations (such as colors):
Input the types of variations for the product group.  The system will create a new product for each variation.
  Separate each variation with the symbol selected above, such as a comma.
example
To create a series of sizes, like the example above, enter the following:
small, medium, large, XL
After the page has been submitted, 4 new products will be created in the store and assigned to this product group.

 
Manage the Products in this Group

Once the product group has been created, the Manage the Products in this Group section will include options for editing the product group.  Those options are listed below.

Parent
Use the radio button to select or change the parent of the product group. 

SID
Displays the SID (System ID) number of the products in the group.

Product Name
Displays the names of the products in the group.

Display Order
The Display Order controls the order of how the various variations are displayed in the dropdown menu on the product detail page.  The lower the number, the higher the priority.
example
If the Tshirt group had small, medium, large, and XL variations available, the most logical choice would be to give small a value of 1, medium a value of 2, large a value of 3, and XL a value of 4.


Active
If checked, the product in the group will be available in the product's dropdown menu.  Inactive product variations will be removed from the dropdown menu and not be available for purchase in the store.

Featured
If featured, the product will be displayed in the storefront. 
tip
In most product group scenarios, only the parent should be featured.  In the Tshirt example above, this would allow the store to simply market the Tshirt parent product, rather than clutter the store with Tshirt small, Tshirt medium, etc


Hidden
If selected as Hidden, the product variation will not be displayed directly in the store on the main store pages, such as the storefront, category, and vendor pages.

Include in Search
If selected, the individual product variations in the group will be included in store search results.
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