Attributes

Some items like shoes and t-shirts are sold in various sizes and colours. In plentymarkets, such characteristics are called attributes. Attributes help you simultaneously characterise your products and create saleable variations, e.g. the t-shirt in the colour red and the size S.

The procedure is as follows. First, you’ll create attributes like colour and their corresponding values like red, blue and green. Then you’ll combine attribute values together to create variations. For example, you would get 9 different variations if you combine the sizes S, M, L with the colours red, blue and green. This video offers you a playful introduction to the topic:

Learn about attributes in our playful tutorial

Do you sell your products on markets like Amazon and eBay? Some markets require you to link your own attribute values with their attribute values.

Optionally, you can also add images to visually represent your attribute values. Or you can save the names of attributes and their values in multiple languages.

Other ways to characterise products

Do you want to characterise your products without building variations? For example, do you only want to highlight the technical features of a product in your store? This is done with the help of properties and characteristics! The difference is that properties define specific variations whereas characteristics define entire items.

1. Creating new attributes

First, create attributes like colour or size.

Creating a new attribute:

Go to Setup » Item » Attributes.
Click on New attribute ().
Enter the internal name.
Save () the settings.
→ The attribute is created and the tab Basic settings is displayed.
Carry out the additional settings. Note Table 1.
Save () the settings.

Table 1. Creating a new attribute
Setting	Explanation
Name (internal)	Unique name for the attribute. The internal name is used in the plentymarkets back end only and is not visible for the customers. The internal name can only be assigned once per system. The internal name must not contain the following characters, otherwise errors may occur while exchanging data: Comma Colon Semicolon Quotation marks
Position	Which attribute should be displayed first, second, third, etc? Enter a position number into this field. If an item has multiple attributes, then the attributes will be displayed in the store in ascending order according to their position number.
Image link possible	Select this option () if you want the item image to change, e.g. on eBay, depending on which size or colour a customer chooses. In other words, the appropriate images will automatically be displayed on eBay. *Note:* Although multiple attributes can be linked with one variation, the image link is only possible for one attribute per variation. *Additional settings*: Link your variations to the appropriate images. Make sure that you’ve made these images available for the marketplace. Then link the variation images to the market attributes. These steps are described in further detail in another chapter.
Attribute selection in store	How do you want customers to choose sizes or colours in your store? Should they choose the name from a drop-down list or click on an image? With drop-down menu = The attribute names will be displayed in a drop-down list. With image = The attributes will be displayed as images in your store. With box = Attributes are displayed as boxes with attribute values in the online store.
Groupable in item lists	Should variations that have this attribute be displayed individually or cumulatively in the online store? Check mark = Each variation will be displayed as an individual product in the online store. *Example:* you sell a shoe with 2 attributes: colour and size. You want each shoe colour to look like an individual product in the online store, but not each size. In this case, you’ll check this option for the attribute “colour” and you you won’t check this option for the attribute “size”. When customers browse through the category in your store, they’ll see each colour variation as a separate product. If a customer clicks on a colour variation, then he will be taken to the item’s webpage. Here the customer will see a drop-down list, which he can use to select the appropriate shoe size. *Relationship to other settings:* Check your settings for the item view and category view in the Ceres plugin. The option Show variations by type can affect the option Groupable in item lists and vice versa. *Callisto users:* If you use the old Callisto store, then available item variations will be displayed with the template ItemViewCategoriesList. The $ItemViewCategoriesList_GroupByVariation option is found in the settings of the Callisto template. Here you can select if you want to group by attributes or by variations.

2. Specifying values

Create attribute values like red, blue, green or S, M, L, XL.

Specifying attribute values:

Go to Setup » Item » Attributes.
Click on the attribute.
Click on the Values tab.
Click on New value ().
Enter the internal name.
Save () the settings.
→ The attribute value is assigned an ID and displayed in the Values tab.
Carry out the additional settings. Note Table 2.
Save () the settings.

Table 2. Specifying attribute values
Setting	Explanation
ID	A consecutive ID is automatically assigned by the system and cannot be changed.
Image	How do you want customers to choose sizes or colours in your store? Should they choose the name from a drop-down list or click on an image? Upload an image here if you want to visually display the attribute value. *Additional settings*: In the basic settings, specify that this attribute should be selected with an image. Optionally, enter the maximum image size. These steps are described in further detail in another chapter.
Position	Which attribute value should be displayed first, second, third, etc? Enter a position number into this field. The attribute values will be displayed in the store in ascending order according to their position number.
Name	Enter a name to be displayed in the online store.
Name (internal)	Unique name of the attribute value. The internal name is used in the plentymarkets back end only and is not visible for the customers. The internal name can only be assigned once per attribute. The internal name must not contain the following characters, otherwise errors may occur while exchanging data: Comma Colon Semicolon Quotation marks
Note	Enter a note about the attribute value (optional).
Percentage	Enter the percentages for the automatic distribution of attribute values. When reordering an item, the quantities of attribute values will automatically be distributed among the total quantity. *Note:* Automatic distribution only takes effect for items with exactly two attribute values.

3. Creating variations with the attributes

An item’s first variation is called its main variation. If an item has multiple variations, then the main variation can either be a saleable product or it can be a virtual data record. A virtual main variation is used to manage the other variations of the item with inheritance.

How exactly you’ll proceed depends on whether the main variation should be for sale or not.

Main variation is not for sale
Main variation is for sale

Imagine you sell a t-shirt in the sizes S, M, L and XL. The main variation is not for sale and it doesn’t correspond to any of these sizes. The main variation is simply a data container used to manage prices, categories and other product settings.

First create the item without selecting any attributes. This will create the main variation without any attributes.
Then choose the attributes while you create the necessary variations.

Imagine you sell a t-shirt in the sizes S, M, L and XL. The main variation is for sale and corresponds to one of these sizes, e.g. S.

First create the item and choose the appropriate attribute value, e.g. the size S. The main variation will be created with this attribute value.
Then choose the remaining attributes while you create the other variations.

4. Optional functions

4.1. Linking attribute values with marketplaces

Some markets, such as Amazon and eBay, require you to link your own attribute values with their attribute values. For example, imagine you sell a turquoise t-shirt. But the market you want to sell it on only accepts the colours green and blue. Link your own attribute values with the ones on the other market. This ensures that your items are displayed correctly.

This video illustrates the idea with a playful example:

Link your attributes to those on Amazon

Linking attribute values with variation images too

Should the item image also change depending on which size or colour a customer chooses? Some markets, such as eBay, require you to also link your variation images with the appropriate attribute values.

4.2. Visually displaying attributes

4.2.1. Displaying attribute values as images

How do you want customers to choose sizes or colours in your store? Should they choose the name from a drop-down list or click on an image?

Follow these three steps if you want your attribute values to be displayed as images.

Uploading images for attribute values:

Go to Setup » Item » Attributes.
Click on the attribute.
Click on the Values tab.
Click on Upload image () in the Image column.
Select the image for the attribute value.
Click on Open.
Save () the settings.
→ The image is uploaded and a preview is shown in the Image column.
Repeat these steps to upload images for other attribute values.

Changing the appearance in the store from text to image:

Go to Setup » Item » Attributes.
Click on the attribute.
Click on the Basic setting tab.
Select With image from the Attribute selection in store drop-down list.
Save () the settings.

Changing the size of attribute images:

Go to Setup » Item » Images » Settings.
Enter the maximum height and width in the Attribute images area.
Save () the settings.

4.2.2. Saving an individual image for every variation

Should the item image change in the online store depending on which size or colour a customer chooses? Follow the steps below if the appropriate images should automatically be displayed.

Linking variations to the appropriate images:

Go to Item » Edit item.
Open the item.
Click on the Images tab.
Upload the necessary images.
Select the images () that you want to link.
Click on Variation link ().
→ The Variation link window is displayed.
Use the filters on the left as needed.
Choose which variations () should be linked to the selected images.
Click on Link ().
→ The images are linked with the selected variations.
Save () the settings.
→ If a customer chooses the variation in your online store, he will see the appropriate item image.

Linking variation images to market attributes

Should the item image change, e.g. on eBay, depending on which size or colour a customer chooses?

Some markets like eBay not only require you to link your attributes with the market, but also to link your variation images with the appropriate attribute values.

Have you met all of the requirements?

Make sure you’ve already linked your variations with the appropriate images and that you’ve made the images available for the marketplace. Furthermore, make sure you’ve allowed image links in the basic settings.

Linking variation images to market attributes:

Go to Item » Edit item.
Open the item.
Click on the Images tab.
Select the appropriate attribute value for the item image from the Market attribute link drop-down list.
Save () the settings.
→ If a customer chooses the variation on eBay, he will see the appropriate item image.

Where do I find the “Market attribute link” field?

This option is only displayed if the image has been linked to one or more variations.

4.3. Saving the names in multiple languages

Is your store available in multiple languages? Then you’ll also need to translate the names of your attributes and attribute values.

Translating the names of attributes:

Go to Setup » Item » Attributes.
Click on the attribute.
Click on the Name tab.
Enter the name in as many different languages as needed.
Save () the settings.

How the attribute name is displayed in the online store

The name should be as short as possible since it will appear next to a selection box in the online store.

Translating the attribute values:

Go to Setup » Item » Attributes.
Click on the attribute.
Click on the Values tab.
Select a language from the Show language drop-down list in the header.
→ Only the text in the Name column will change.
In the Name column, enter the attribute values in the selected language.
Save () the settings.

Displaying the name in one language and saving it in another

The drop-down list Save language indicates which language the name will be saved in when you click on the save icon. You won’t usually work with this drop-down list since the language is automatically selected here when you choose a language from the Show language drop-down list.

However, you can choose a different language from the Save language drop-down list if you want to see the name in one language and save it in a different one.

5. Deleting attributes

Before you can delete an attribute, you have to delete all of the variations that are linked with this attribute. The variation group function is a useful tool for doing so.

Deleting variations linked to an attribute:

Go to Item » Edit item.
Set the filters on the left as follows:
1. Set the filter Table type to Variations.
2. Set the filter Active to ALL.
3. Use the ALL filter to select the attribute from the drop-down list.
Click on Search ().
→ All variations linked with this attribute are displayed.
Select all of the variations ().
Click on Variation group function.
→ The Variation group function window opens.
In the Procedures area, select the option Delete variations ().
Click on Execute.
→ The variations are deleted.
→ The attribute can now be deleted.

Deleting an attribute:

Go to Setup » Item » Attributes.
Click on Delete () in the line of an attribute.
→ A new window opens.
Click on Delete () again to confirm your decision.
→ The attribute is deleted.