How do I create and edit a product group (Parent/Child Relation) on Zentail?

Last updated about 7 years ago

Product groups (aka "variant groups") are groups of SKUs that are listed together and vary based on one or more common attributes which we call "pivot attributes". Common pivot attributes are Size and Color.

These are commonly referred to as PARENT-CHILD RELATIONS on Amazon.  You can create and edit these product groups through your Catalog page or be using our import data feature.

Here's how to create a product group:
  1. Find a SKU in Zentail that will be included in this product group => Click on the SKU in the Catalog table.
    • this will become the "Master" (aka "parent") SKU for the group.
    • all other SKUs will inherit shared attributes from this SKU, so make sure you start with the SKU in Zentail that has the highest quality of data.
  2. Click on the 3-vertical-dot icon at the top of the left sidebar => Select "Create Product Group" from the dropdown menu.
  3. In the "Pivot Attributes" section click "Select an Attribute" => Select the attributes upon which your group will vary.
    • Contact us if you need us to add different pivot attributes based on your catalog.
    • The most common pivot attributes are Size and Color.
  4. Add  SKUs to your group:
    • If you are linking an existing SKU to this group
      1. Click the "ADD EXISTING PRODUCT" button.
      2. Search for your SKU(s) => Select the SKU(s).
    • If you are adding a SKU that does not already exist in your Zentail catalog
      1. Click the "ADD NEW PRODUCT" button.
      2. Enter a new SKU value => Click "ADD"
  5. The SKUs that comprise this group are now in the section below => in each row, be sure to enter values for each pivot attribute.
  6. Click the "UPDATE PRODUCTS AND GROUP SETTINGS" button.
Check out this Video to guide you through creating a product group.

Bulk Importing Product Groups

  1. Create a Template with the SKU and Master SKU, Variant Option (i.e. Size, Color, etc.) as the headers (For example, you can create a template with SKU, Title, Size, Color) - You will want to include whatever the variant option is.
  2. For each SKU in a product group, enter a consistent Master SKU
  3. The master SKU should be any value shared by all variants in  product group
  4. You can import a CSV file with this information and it will update your catalog. 
  5. If this is the first time you are creating this product group it should automatically add a Pivot Attribute (i.e. Color). ***Note: If there is only one color, size, etc for the SKUs in the group, it will not be added as a pivot attribute automatically through an import as there are no different values. 
  6. To add Pivot Attributes follow steps 1-3 above.
  7. For the shares common attributes, we will determine that all options are the same by default. For example, if you only include Shares Common Pricing and Shares Common Brand on the template and choose to have them checked off but do not include the other options, the other options will get checked off as well. We suggest including all the "shares common" attributes on the import and marking 0 and 1 for the ones you want unchecked and checked.
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Please Note:
If you are creating a group for the first time through an import, and you have fields that vary (i.e. color is different for the SKUs you are grouping together), then Zentail will group them and automatically infer and add the pivot attribute.

If you have an existing product group, and then you run an import to change a field within the group to vary (i.e you change the color for some of them), we do not automatically add the pivot attribute. The group will continue to use the color for the Master SKU. You would need to go into the SKU through the Catalog page, Edit Product Group, and select whatever pivot attribute you would like for the existing product group. Then you can import your csv so each SKU will have its own color (or size, or both, etc....).

If you have an existing product group that does not have size as a pivot attribute, and you are running an import to add a SKU that varies by size (it has a different size from the group), we do not automatically add the pivot attribute. The SKU(s) added to an exiting product group with infer whatever attributes are set for the Master SKU. You would need to go into the Edit Product Group view through the catalog (like in the example above) and add the pivot attribute first. Then you can run an import to add other SKUs to the product group.

To remove a SKU from a product group, simply click the 'x' on the far right side of the Edit Product Group view.


For more information see: Import/Export Data

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