Product Variations are one of the most important aspects of eCommerce, and it is not possible to do the shopping for certain products without them. For example, shirts and trousers come in different sizes and dimensions, the furniture comes in other wood, computers come in various specifications. All these play a part in the product options that you have for an online store.
However, certain variations make it difficult for online sellers to deal with, especially considering you have so many of them to manage in your online store. If you cannot manage your variations appropriately, your online store will fall behind the rest of the market. In this article, we will be talking about the variations of a product and how you can set them up in your online store.
What are Product Variants?
As you try and explore eCommerce tips while setting up a product website, you will bump into two terms i.e. product options and product variations. Sometimes, you can use both of these terms interchangeably, but usually, they are said to be different aspects of an eCommerce website’s tools for establishing the variations. In this case, a product option is classified as another type of variation, like size or dimensions. On the other hand, the variations are the choices within those product options, such as large or small.
Image taken from Strikingly User’s Product
Certain eCommerce stores use options to personalize a product, such as customization. In this case, all the non-customized products are product variants. Other eCommerce websites, such as Strikingly, use options to refer to all types of product variants, whether they are customized or not.
Pricing Models for the Options of a Product
If you have a product type that has different pricing for some or all of its options, you can handle those prices in certain ways. The best way to manage this aspect is to determine how different the prices are between the various product options. However, it is totally up to you to determine how you can price your product. You can use different pricing models as per the products that you use or manage.
Firstly, the option is that you can create options for fees. You can set your product’s base price and use the value field for every option value to add to the base price. For example, as winter clothes are usually more expensive than summer clothes, this means that you can charge more for your XXL full-sleeve shirts by adding a value that will be integrated into your base price. If you add 3.15 to the XXL full-sleeve shirt option tab, the tab will increase its price by $3.15. Customers will be able to see the price when considering their options for products.
Establish Options Across Multiple Products
As your business should create an eCommerce website as per its demands, it’s vital to have so much authority over your online store products. However, better customization can only come from having a better setup for your business. Therefore, Strikingly gives you unique ways to set up options for your product across a wide range of inventory, so you do not need to visualize each product one by one.
1. Category-Wide Options
Image from Strikingly
When you add the product on Strikingly, you will be asked about the product type. It can either be physical, service, or digital. Once you determine the product type, you can add the product name, image, description, and price. Make sure to finalize all the details before putting them on the website. Then moving over to the product option, you will put in the required types, such as color, dimension, size. Once you add the product, it will appear on your website in the following way.
Image from Strikingly
If all the products in a particular category need to tick the same boxes, you can save your time by associating those options only for that category. Creating the product options is pretty easy afterward as you don’t have to go through the same cycle repeatedly for every product. Many well-established platforms, such as AliExpress Dropshipping Business Website has category-wide options to support their online sellers. However, you can also have the option of monitoring every product individually by keeping both options at your disposal.
2. Product Templates
In certain cases, you may find it important to apply product options to many products without deciding everything on categorization. You may also want to visualize the options for products that can be applied to a given product without any time limitation. You can consider the product templates for a better understanding.
Image taken from Strikingly
You can set up your template and customize it as per your business needs. You can even collaborate with your business partners about your design. Once you pick your template, you will be given two choices to template your product i.e. Copy Options and Link to Template. Copy Options allows the user to copy the information of the product’s options from the template and paste it onto the product. On the other hand, Link to Template enables the user to add the template’s information to the product. However, it creates a connection between the product and its template.
If you want to establish an online store for your business, make sure that you look into Strikingly’s online store website templates to make your work easy. It saves a lot of time as the templates are already tested and approved. Therefore, it won’t be long before you get your online store underway. All you need to do is to customize your online store appropriately to drive large traffic to your platform.
3. CSV Import
It can also be influential in certain cases if you add product options in bulk via the CSV import option. CSV import is another option for you to upload online store products. The addition of your product has to be the main priority, regardless of it is being uploaded manually or via CSV import. Once you add the product, then you can upload the options of the product. This is essential because uploading your products’ options via CSV would depend on the current data to associate them with the correct product. With a similar scenario, you can also upload the advanced options for a product soon after.
Reliable Practices for Displaying Product Variations
If you can make the most out of your online store, it will only improve the shopping experience of your potential customers. Therefore, you can improve your online sales by ensuring that product options are displayed appropriately, making them easy to understand. If your customer is experiencing any confusion, they would be penny-pinching and would not like the idea of spending their money. Hence, you can follow the following practices that prove to be beneficial for your online store.
1. Ensure that Customers can Consider all the Options
Colors don’t mean that everyone is under the same umbrella. If your product is red, blue, or green, you can be assured that some people will visualize those colors differently than others. Therefore, it is not right to make a decision based on colors alone. You can solve this problem by using Strikingly’s dropdown menu. You can create a dropdown menu of images instead of texts, which will allow you to show thumbnail images instead of color names.
Thumbnails can be essential for your online store’s product options. However, if you still want to improve its visibility, you must ensure that the photo gallery of your online store products has at least one photo of the available option. If you combine different product variants in a single image, make sure that you label appropriately as to indicate which is which.
2. User Appropriate Labels
Speaking of labels, they are also an essential part of your online store’s reputation. When you have thumbnail images for your preferable colors of product options, you can make them even more simple by giving them appropriate labels. It could be that your labels are so influential that the brown color may allow you to process quickly that the product is coffee or chocolate, or green is forest green.
Image taken from Strikingly User’s Website
If you become more specific with your color names, it will only add to the good customer service that you will provide. It will be easier to recognize your products as they will stand out more. Moreover, if you have a new collection of colors that are under the same spectrum (such as brown), you will not have many brown-esque designs with only one arbitrary label of ‘brown’. That would be confusing for you and your customers, making the plain online store products look cheaper than the unique ones.
Conclusion
When building an online store, you must be aware of the product terms, such as options, variations, customization, and personalization. Getting to know these product terms can be overwhelming for beginners, but it is the right strategy to become a successful online seller.
Image taken from Strikingly User’s Website
Do you want to create an online store? Make sure that you consider a high-quality website builder, like Strikingly, for this matter. Our platform will make it easy for you to manage the options for products. With Strikingly, you will better understand how to set up product options and pages to their maximum potential. You must remember that the customer experience you provide to your visitor has a positive outlook on your marketing conversions. Therefore, you must make your options for a product tick.
