Some clarification on variants please

[AbleMods]

Well after looking completely dumb trying to help Compunerdy, I think I need some help understanding how variants really work.

So I have some questions...

If you create a product and add variants to it, you don't have to create saparate product records for each SKU you assigned in the variant setup?

If a variant references a SKU and that SKU does exist as a separate product in the catalog, does AC7 ever refer to it for anything?

What if some variants of a product are Non-shippable or Non-Taxable? It doesn't seem like that would be possible given the design as I understand it.

You could never set up a coupon code for a specific variant of a product because coupon codes require attachment to a real product record right?

What about volume discounts? They wouldn't work either with variants since the volume discount has to be applied to a specific product record in the catalog?

If the product with variants created is set to track inventory by variant, will the only inventory values applied anywhere in AC7 come from the variant setup even if the variants themselves have separate product records?

Would the shipping dimensions for all variants of a product come from the product record itself?

I guess I assumed any variant created required that it actually exist as a valid product record in the catalog. Sounds like that isn't true at all. I'm in danger of being wrong and that hasn't happened for a long time folks

[compunerdy]

LOL...

You can achieve the same result as far as what the customers see by using kitting.

With options/variants you are limited as they are child products of the main product.

With kitting/bundles you are not as limited because the options are actually other main products.

The way AC7 handles these is THE reason I chose to go with them. They are the only company I found that fully understands how kitting/bundles should work.

[AbleMods]

My understanding of kitting was that each group of kit items adds to the final price. Thus you're building something that will be sum total of all the item costs.

Plus I don't see any way to do swatches with kits. Is there a way?

I've been using variants because I can show the users swatches of their color choices.

If I set up a kit for a lifejacket that has 3 color choices and 5 sizes, variants seemed the way to go. If I used a kit, i'd only have one dropdrown with 15 choices and no swatch.

Am I understanding all that correctly??

See, now you've got me all rattled

[compunerdy]

You dont have to do the price the way you describe since you can set the main item price and tell all of the kit items to not add to the price.

But yes the only way to get swatches is by using variants.

What they really need to do is mix these two setups somehow. It would be confusing to setup but would be a very powerfull system.

[AbleMods]

I think it ends up being two different concepts, you're right it would a maze if it were combined into a single interface.

Sadly, I was assuming most of the functionality of kitting was in the variants and it's not.

There goes my "I'm never wrong" track record. Guess my ex-wife was right after all

[Shopping Cart Admin]

Hello All,

This is a subject we are ACTIVELY talking about for 7.1. Kit's and options MUST work together....how is another question. It's one of those questions where it's hard to make it work like everyone wants without making it difficult to comprehend.

Sometimes we wish we were not the industry leader and could just copy someone else However that wouldn't be any fun!

[Will]

I think it would be clearer to require each product to have at least one variant and limit inventory tracking to the variant level only.

Products that don't need variants would still need to have a single variant holding inventory info.

If every product has at least one variant then inventory can be handled consistently across products.

[compunerdy]

That is how my last cart worked.

[AbleMods]

yeah I think that's part of where my confusion stemmed from.

Here's the thing. When you set a product to "Inventory Product", you see the inventory fields right there. When you change it to Inventory Variants, they disappear and a message appears saying to manage variants on the variants page. That's good.

But as a developer, I spend so much time in the code and crawling through the tables, I easily forgot about the variant inventory values. I focused solely on the instock value on the product record.

The other part is simply the lack of documentation. Alot of what I've learned has been guesswork and trial-and-error. Unfortunately for me, this particular subject resulted in more error than trial.

Future developers and admin users will have the benefit of documentation, so they may not experience the same level of confusion...I have to keep reminding myself of that from time-to-time

[Will]

One of the big hassles for us is we are currently updating inventory manually.

If you go to "Manage > Inventory >" you can't update inventory on the variant level.

So that screen is effectively useless if you're tracking inventory by variant. You have to dig down into each product to update the inventory.

[compunerdy]

My variants show up in that list

[Will]

Sorry, my mistake -- I meant to refer to pricing. Too much in my head right now. Variants do show up for me under manage inventory. What doesn't is the pricing and cost of goods.

We just went through our first pricing increase across all our products. The person doing it had to dig down into each product to update the pricing and cost of goods. It took a ton of time. We somehow need to get those fields on a screen like manage inventory.

[AbleMods]

I'll bet that wasn't fun at all.

[compunerdy]

This is along the lines of another issue I brought up. A inventory page that allowed for setting of prices. Sorting by manufacturer etc.. would make life soo much easier.

Will..Couldnt you use Dataport to export your items..change the prices and reimport them? I am not sure if this is possible or not but might be worth a shot.

[Will]

Yes -- we are going to investigate doing the pricing, cost of goods, and inventory updates via the dataport tool.

Not sure yet which is going to be the better route. It would surely be faster using the dataport option, but there would be a much greater chance someone would hose the site due to an upload mistake.

With the web interface we can have any non-technical person update the pricing. If we just had the fields in a big grid, that would be enough.

[Odettes]

Im missing some functionality from version 5.5.
In that version it was possible for customers to modify their kit after they added it to the basket.
In version 7 when you click on the kit from the basket it just ends up with onother kit whitout the possibilty to change previus selections.
Why is that? Is it a bugg or is it supposed to be soo?
I really need it to work as i do in Able 5.5.

If you dont understand what I´m talking about, try this link to my webshop and make some selections and add it to the basket. Then click on it from the basket an you are now able to do some changes before putting it back to the basket again.
http://www.traileronline.se/Lve-LS-1300-P70C5.aspx