✔ How to Add Variations on Amazon 2020 | New Amazon FBA Product Listing

A Product Listing Variation is a related item to an existing item you’re already selling that you would like to be listed under the same listing.

It has a concept of parent – child listing which is a confusing topic for some.

In this post, we will provide you with everything that you need to know about setting up and optimizing your Amazon Product Variation.

Let’s make it simple..

Variations are multiple related products available that can be combined into one listing.

That means you can offer multiple sizes, colors, length..

..and you can even add different flavors of pet food!

Imagine you are in a store looking through all of the options for a particular item that you are looking for.

Do you pick the black, blue or two toned color bag?

Or do you want to purchase a snack size chocolate chips pack or a party size?

Customers want choices and convenience whenever they shop online.

Adding variations to your listings can significantly improve your customer’s experience..

By providing various buying options in one place with the convenience of staying at home.

It is a win-win!

For our customers, it is much easier for them to find what they’re looking for on your listing instead of browsing through the crowded search results.

And for you as a seller, you can utilize the traffic that is already coming to the original item and have people buy your items.

Aside from these, did you know that there are more advantages of having a product listing variation?

What Are The Advantages of Adding A Product Variation?

HIGHER CONVERSION (ESPECIALLY FOR NEW ASINs)

Customers have immediate multiple options available to them without having to click on multiple product listings to find the size or color they want.

Variation listings also increase the amount of time you keep a customer’s attention to your listings.

Example is, if they don’t want the specific color of the item they are looking at, they just simply scroll through the variations you are offering.

The longer they stay on your page is, the higher the chance of the customer converting into sales.

This strategy greatly increases the chance of a conversion!

HIGHER VISIBILITY

Aside from improving the customer experience, low performing or brand new products now have a higher chance of discoverability!

How?

By pairing the item to a high performing product, the chances of being seen by potential customers are higher than creating a new listing.

Let’s say you launched a new hairbrush color variation..

And you are not sure if it will be successful or not..

You can add it as a variation to one of your established and related listings!

Simply put, the less performing item will “piggyback” on the success of the established listing by receiving greater visibility.

COMBINED REVIEWS and QUESTION AND ANSWERS

One fun fact about adding a product variation is..

No matter what variation a customer purchases, the reviews are cumulative and it will all be listed under the same listing (called parent listing).

By doing so, all question and answer history from all variations will be seen under the same product listing.

So, if you have one variation that has a higher number of reviews than the other variations..

..all reviews and questions will be merged on one product page!

COMBINED SALES HISTORY

As you boost your visibility and get an increased conversion rate, your Amazon sales will also be added into your Sales history..

And every sale that has been made whatever variation it is, will be merged towards the total sales history of that listing.

This not only helps you increase your organic search ranking, but it will be counted towards your overall Best Sellers Rank.

To get a clearer picture, let me give you some examples of variations:

HOW TO CREATE YOUR VARIATION LISTINGS?

Create A Brand New Listing Variation

There are actually two ways on how to create a brand new listing on Amazon, by going through Seller Central or you can upload an inventory file.

These are the steps on how to do it in Seller Central:

1. Login to your Amazon Seller Central Account.
2. On the home page, hover your mouse over to the Inventory tab then select Add a Product on the drop-down menu.
3. Click on “I’m adding a product not sold on Amazon”.
4. Browse through the categories to find your product or use the search function to select your matching category.
5. On the next page, fill out the Product Name, Brand and Manufacturer sections. Leave Product ID blank.
6. Click on the Variations tab and select your Variation Theme.
7. Enter all the variations you are selling and click on Add Variations.
8. Enter the Product ID, Product ID Type, Condition, Price and Quantity. (For FBA, make the quantity zero)
9. Click Save & Finish.

Create A Variation From an Existing Listing

1. Login to your Amazon Seller Central Account.
2. On the home page, hover your mouse on the Inventory tab then on the drop down menu, select Manage Inventory.
3. Look for the item that you want to create a variation, click the drop down menu on the right and select Copy Listing.
4. Then on the next page (Vital Info Page), you can add the Product ID later. Just go straight to Variations tab.
5. On the Variation Theme, select the variation that you want to add on the drop down.
6. List all the variation terms and click the Add Variations button.
7. Indicate the mapping and the SKU, choose the item condition, set the price and the quantity. The Product ID can be added later.
8. Click on Save and Finish.
9. You should see a green callout indicating that the item has already been confirmed.

Related Reading: A Guide to Creating Effective Copywriting for Amazon

How to Add Variations on Amazon |BEST PRACTICES

Be careful when creating variations, make sure that you follow all Amazon Guidelines on Variation Relationship Overview.

Not all related products are valid variations. The following questions can help you to determine whether certain products are valid variations:

• Are the products fundamentally the same (i.e. the similarities of the ASIN’s design and function are so basic as to be hard to alter, resolve, or overcome)?
• Could the products share the same title?
• Do the products vary only in a few, specific ways that do not alter the core essence and nature of the item (such as color or size)?
• Would customers expect to find these products together on a single product detail page?

Here is a link for the complete guidelines:

Don’t try to manipulate the variation system in order to grow your sales on new products or gain reviews on unrelated listings.

Any attempts to manipulate a variation by adding it into a listing that is not related will prompt Amazon to remove your product listings for non-compliance.

Here are some of the best practices:

1. Do not list different products together:

• Example 1: A cell phone charging cable and a portable charger, while related, are not the same product and should not be listed on the same detail page.
• Example 2: A laptop bag with handles and a laptop bag without handles are two different product styles that should be listed on separate detail pages.

2. Do not use variation themes incorrectly; they should only be used for their defined purpose.

• A color and size variation theme must not include any information other than color and size respectively.
• Different phone models, for example, should not be listed within a color theme.

3. Do not introduce a large variation family. Large variation families deliver poor customer experience as the Detail Page may take a while to load or not load at all.

• Check the current size limit for the variation family in Variation relationship FAQ.
• When a variation family is approaching the limit, break it into smaller families with distinct characteristics.
• Example: If you have a product called Women’s Comfortable Boots, a large variation family with 4000 child ASINs, and there are five colors of this product, you can consider breaking it into families in different colors with all sizes available in each new variation family.
• Note that this is only an example and you can decide on the classification, split and title as you see fit.

4. Do not list a hard bundle (one ASIN which includes multiple components but the components are not buyable individually or do not have their own detail pages) as a variation. 

This is to make sure that customers can compare/review components of bundles individually on their own detail pages.

• A common example of a hard bundle is a shrink wrapped camera bundle where the components of the bundle are not individually identifiable ASINs.

5. Amazon Devices detail pages are strictly controlled and maintained (e.g., no other merchants sell Amazon Devices on Amazon.com).

Adding product variation to your Amazon listings will greatly improve your success in the marketplace.

Be strategic!

Set up themes, add content, organize your variations – keep the attention of your customers to your listings..

Stand out from your competitors..

Are you ready to create your first variation listing?

If you want a more in-depth walkthrough or if you have other questions regarding variations, please leave a comment below!