Create a product
Do this once before you import anything. Creating one product manually shows you modelling problems in ten minutes that would otherwise show up after a failed import of 8,000 rows.
Take the product you know best. For a technical wholesaler that might be a
hydraulic hose 4711-A in the family hoses: it has a thread size, a pressure
rating, a German and an English description, and an image. If that one product
can be entered cleanly and reaches 100% completeness, the family works. If it
cannot, you have found the problem while it is still cheap.
Create it
- Go to PIM › Products.
- Select New product.
- Enter the SKU. This is the permanent identifier and the key everything else joins on: your ERP, your imports, your customers' order lines. Use the SKU your ERP uses.
- Choose the Family. This decides which attributes you will see.
- Set the Kind. A product that varies by size or colour is a Model; choose its Family variant and add the variants afterwards, each with Parent (model) pointing at it. See Variants.
- Check Enabled. It is pre-set by the tenant setting Publish new products immediately; leave it off if you want to look at the product before buyers do.
- Save. You land on the product.
What the form asks for, and what each answer decides:
| Field | Decides |
|---|---|
| SKU | The identity. Unique per tenant; an import keyed on it updates this product. |
| Kind | Simple, Model or Variant. A model carries the variant axes; a variant needs a parent. |
| Family | Which attributes exist for this product and which are required. Without a family, completeness stays empty. |
| Family variant | For a model: the axes its variants differ on. |
| Parent (model) | For a variant: the model it belongs to. |
| Enabled | Whether channels see the product at all. Independent of completeness. |
Fill it in
Select Edit and open the product workbench. It shows the family's attributes, arranged in the tabs you defined as attribute groups.
Work through the groups. Two switches in the workbench decide where a value is stored:
- The locale. Localizable attributes are filled per language. Filling German does not fill English.
- The channel. Scopable attributes are filled per channel.
When you are done, select Recompute completeness on the product. The family was already measured when you assigned it; this measures it again against the values you entered. Getting one product to 100% for one channel and language tells you the family contract is achievable. If you cannot, the family is asking for data you do not have, and that is a modelling problem worth fixing now.
Assign categories
Select Add to category and pick the categories this product belongs in. A product can be in several. If a rule-based category matches it, the product appears there on the next recompute without you doing anything.
Add media
Pick assets for the product's asset attributes. If the family has an Attribute used as image set, whatever you choose there becomes the thumbnail in lists, search results and exports.
Enable it
A product has an Enabled flag, separate from completeness. Completeness says ready; enabled says published. A product can be 100% complete and deliberately switched off.
Enable it when you want it live. If it still does not appear in the shop, work through Why a product is not showing up.
What to check before you move on
- Did every attribute you expected appear? If not, it is not assigned to the family.
- Did anything appear that makes no sense for this product? The family is too broad.
- Could you reach 100% completeness? If not, either the data does not exist or too much is marked required.
- Does the product look right in the storefront?
Fix the model now, while one product exists.