The "Product Variations" feature is based on using classes and attributes and is enabled by the add-on Product Variations. The add-on is available to X-Cart Auto users.
The "Product Variations" feature allows you to have versions of a product that will be treated not as product item options but as fully independent product items. Each of these items will be a separate entry in your store's catalog. However, you will be able to group these items together for ease of management and accessibility by shoppers.
For example, you could have product items like the following:
Red T-shirt, Size: S;
Red T-shirt, Size: L;
Red t-shirt, Size: XL; etc.
Or you could have items like:
T-shirt, Color: Red, Size: S;
T-shirt, Color: Red, Size: L;
T-shirt, Color: Blue, Size: XL; etc.
Each of the items will have its own SKU, description, price, quantity in stock, and all the rest of X-Cart product properties.
To streamline the shopping experience for customers, you will be able to group those items together based on a certain attribute/multiple attributes that they have in common. You get to decide which attribute(s) should be used for this purpose; for example, in the case of "Red T-shirt, Size:..." it could be the attribute "Size", and in the case of "T-shirt, Color:..., Size:..." it could be a combination of two attributes - "Color" and "Size". As a result, on product lists, the product variations will be presented as separate product items, but if your customer opens the details of one of the variations, they will be able to easily select a different variation of the same product on the same page and thus switch to viewing the details of that variation. The switch of the page content is done quickly and inconspicuously, so the shopper gets the impression of simply switching options on the same page, whereas in fact every time they get to view a separate product item.
Important:
The approach employed by Product Variations is different from that of Product Variants. The latter treats versions of a product rather as options instead of independent product items. It may present a problem if using X-Cart integrations with popular suppliers/catalog providers (SEMA Data, AutoSync, ASAP Network, etc.) that handle product variations as separate product items. For this reason, if you are going to use such integrations, we recommend using the add-on Product Variations.
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