Attributes are the building blocks of any product description.
Attributes are used for the following tasks:
To display the features on the product page;
To filter products;
To compare products;
To display a summary of attributes in a list of products;
To search for similar products according to attributes.
Common and unique attributes
Some attributes are common to all products (name, price, brand, colour, etc.). They are already present in Cartum and don't need to be created and configured.
The second part of the attributes is unique and belongs only to specific product categories. E.g. size, material, diameter, composition, strength, style, season, etc.
There is a possibility to create and flexibly set up additional attributes.
Default system attributes
Some attributes do not need to be created separately, as they are already set by default in your shop and available for all your products.
The following attributes are already available in your store:
Color
Brand
Supplier
Barcode (GTIN, EAN, UPC, ISBN)
Manufacturer Part Number (MPN)
Warranty type
Warranty period (months)
Product condition
Product templates
Product templates are groups of additional attributes used when building a product catalog.
Each category in the product catalog uses one of the product templates. It means that for all products in this category, you will be able to set the value of the attributes from this product template. Moreover, you can use these attributes to filter products within the given category.
Product variants
Product variants are product variations of one model characterized by several options. For example, a pair of trainers of the same model but of a different size are different only in size. Or a phone model with a slightly different memory capacity, which means the variants also differ in price.
An option is an attribute by which variations of products of the same model differ. Options are also flexible within the product templates.
Do I have to create unique templates for each category?
Obviously, not. It all depends on products you want to sell in the store. You may use product templates in the following ways.
One product template for several categories
It is possible to use one template for several product categories. For example, such categories as Suitcases and Handbags have most of the features duplicated, but there are also some distinct features. In this case, you can use one generic template, creating attributes for similar categories.
Incomplete options will not be displayed on the website and will not affect product filtering.
One product template for the entire shop
If all products belong to the same category, you can create one template for all products.
A unique template for each category
In cases where your catalog consists of categories with widely differing features, you would be better creating unique templates for each product category to avoid confusion.