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      Suppliers: Creating variation products for non-Linnworks suppliers

      Variation products allow you to add a number of related products to Avasam as a single group

      This help article is written for our suppliers and will not be relevant if you are an Avasam seller. To access seller-specific articles, please follow this link.

      The most efficient way to create variation products is via CSV file import.

      To learn about bulk importing products with CSV files, please go to this article.

      Creating a new import configuration

      To create a new import configuration for a new import file type or source, you will need an example file to use in the process.

      1. In Avasam, open the settings menu.
      2. Select 'imports'. 


        Import configs-1
      3. Click on the 'add configuration' button.
      4. Provide a name to identify the import by and select the import type 'product basic detail'.
      5. You can select either 'FTP' or 'file' from the drop-down list labelled 'type'. 
        1. 'FTP ' allows Avasam to access the CSV file from a remote/web file server provided by Avasam. You will be provided with your access details by the Avasam team and will then be able to manually or automatically add your files into this location by completing the following fields:
          1. Server
          2. Port
          3. User name
          4. Password
          5. File path
          6. File name
          7. Use SSL (yes/no)
        2. 'File' allows you to  collect and upload a CSV file from the PC or device you are using at the time. 
          1. Click the 'upload' button.
          2. Locate and select the file, then click 'open'.
        3. Click on the button marked 'analyse and map' to review the fields in the file specified.
        4. A data preview will be loaded. If this shows the data in the file correctly, then move to the field mapping section below it. If not, then contact support via the ticket system.
        5. The left-hand column lists the column headings in the file you uploaded and the right-hand column shows which Avasam field they have been matched to. Avasam will automatically match fields if their name matches the name of the field exactly.
        6. To create a mapping:
            1. Select the name of the CSV heading in the CSV field drop-down.
            2. Select the Avasam field you want to map it to in the map to drop-down list.

      Product feed columns

      Each product will have it's own row in the CSV file, but certain columns are specific to creating variation products, and are shown in the table below:

      Column name Description Mandatory?
      ProductType Producttype tells us if the product is a main product, (a parent), or a variant (a child). It is left empty if the product is not part of a variation. Main products don't need a variantsize or variantcolour. They also don't have prices or stock quantities. No
      ParentProductId Parentproductid is only needed by variants. It should contain the productid/SKU of the main product this variant belongs to.  No

      VariantSize

      		 Any product in the catalogue can have a size and/or colour, but only variants have a variantsize and/or variantcolour as well, telling Avasam how to organise them. No two products in the same variation can have the same values in both fields: No
      VariantColour No
      VariantType Can be size, colour or colour & size No

      For completeness, the full list of fields required to create a product are below:

      Column name Description Mandatory?
      ProductId Internal identifier/SKU for product Yes
      Category Category name, see below Yes
      Title Product title Yes
      Condition "New", "A", "B" or "C" (in descending order) Yes
      Brand Product brand Yes
      MPN Original part number MPN OR Barcode Mandatory
      Barcode UPC or EAN number MPN OR Barcode Mandatory
      StockQuantity Current available stock level Yes
      PriceExclVAT Net price to seller. Ex VAT Yes
      RRPExclVAT Recommended Retail Price, ex VAT Yes
      VAT%Rate VAT rate to apply to product as whole number (eg. "20", "0") Yes
      Model Product Model number, if appropriate No
      Colour Product colour, if appropriate No
      Size Product size, if appropriate No
      WeightUnit Units used for item weights in file eg. "mg", "g", "kg", "lb"  No
      SizeUnit Units used for item size in this file eg. "mm", "cm", "in" No
      ShippingWeight Total weight inc packaging No
      PackageHeight Shipping unit height No
      PackageWidth Shipping unit width No
      PackageDepth Shipping unit depth No
      ProductWeight Product weight (without packaging) No
      ProductHeight Product height (without packaging) No
      ProductWidth Product width (without packaging) No
      ProductDepth Product depth (without packaging) No
      ProductType Producttype tells us if the product is a main product, (a parent), or a variant (a child). It is left empty if the product is not part of a variation. Main products don't need a variantsize or variantcolour. They also don't have prices or stock quantities. No
      ParentProductId Parentproductid is only needed by variants. It should contain the productid/SKU of the main product this variant belongs to.  No

      VariantSize

      		 Any product in the catalogue can have a size and/or colour, but only variants have a variantsize and/or variantcolour as well, telling Avasam how to organise them. No two products in the same variation can have the same values in both fields: No
      VariantColour No
      VariantType Can be size, colour or colour & size No
      ImageURL1 (to 6) You can supply URLs to download up to 6 product images. Image 1 will be the Main Image No
      Product URL URL (if available) of the product information page No
      ProductPDFURL URL (if available) of the product information as a PDF file No
      ProductVideoURL URL (if available) of the product information video No
      ShortDescription Short description of the product No
      LongDescription Long description of the product No
      AttributeName1 (to 9) Add in pairs. Creates extended property if does not exist for product. Name of property. No
      Attribute Value1(to 9) Add in pairs. Information to be stored for this product in extended property. No

       

      • If a product is only differentiated by size, and this is the value of varianttype, then all child variants must all be a different size in variantsize.
      • If a product is only differentiated by colour, and this is the value of varianttype, then all child variants must be a different colour in variantcolour.
      • If products are differentiated by both colour and size, and colour & size is the value of varianttype, then then no child variant should have the same values in both the variantcolour and variantsize simultaneously.

      Simple variation example

      If we are selling a t-shirt, in 3 sizes (S, M, L) and 2 colours (red and blue), then we would have the following information in their CSV file:

      Product Id Product Type Parent ProductId Variant Size Variant Colour Variant Type
      TShirt main       colour & size

      TRedS

      		 variant TShirt Small Red  
      TredM variant TShirt Medium Red  
      TredL variant TShirt Large Red  
      TBlueS variant TShirt Small Blue  
      TBlueM variant TShirt Medium Blue  
      TBlueL variant TShirt Large Blue