Master/variant hierarchies

Bizzkit PIM provides a way for managing master/variant product hierarchies, sometimes also referred to as product families. This allows for the inheritance of product data, which is essential for handling larger product catalogs efficiently.

In essence, every product in Bizzkit PIM can be turned into either a master or a variant product, depending on whether it is added to a master/variant hierarchy and on which level.

Bizzkit recommends

It is strongly recommended to use master/variant hierarchies for modeling product families. Product families are typically identified by the fact that multiple products share the majority of their attributes, while they differ on one or two attributes. A typical example of this could be clothing, where multiple variants of the same t-shirt are differentiated by variant attributes such as Size or Color.

The following example shows a product family for a T-shirt, containing two master levels (for each of the available colors) with each three variants (for each of the available sizes per color):

Example of a product family using a master/variant hierarchy

Managing master/variant hierarchies

There are several ways of creating and managing master/variant hierarchies.

Using the master/variant related bulk operations
Using the CSV import engine
Using the product details page

Inheritance of attribute values

One of the key benefits of using master/variant hierarchies is that attributes and their values are inherited by variants from their master. Attributes on master products are automatically inherited by variants on any level in the master/variant hierarchy, meaning that shared attributes are modeled only once and are reused on the variant level.

Given the following conceptual example, the Master product has an attribute Attribute A, which contains two attribute fields. Field 1 is segmented and contains two segments: EN and DK.

Conceptual example of an attribute on a master product

The diagram below shows the product Variant which inherits Attribute A from Master. This means that the entire attribute value as set on Master is the value for Attribute A on Variant as well.

Conceptual example of an attribute on a variant product which is inherited from a master product

Overriding attributes

Attributes can be overridden at the variant level, breaking the inheritance chain. When an attribute is overridden on a variant, the entire attribute value is replaced.

Given the following example, the Master product has an attribute Attribute A, which contains two attribute fields. Field 1 is segmented and contains two segments: EN and DK.

In the example below, Variant overrides Attribute A, so the values set for the attribute fields and segments are replaced with local values on Variant.

Conceptual example of an overridden attribute on a variant product

As a result, Variant has an overridden Attribute A with Field 1 with the segment EN, and does not include the segment DK for that same field.

Visibility in the PIM user interface

Product details page

Master/variant hierarchies are shown on the product details page for products which are a master or variant of another product.

Attributes which are defined on a master of the current product are shown with an indicator showing that the attribute is inherited from a master product.

Attribute inherited from master product as shown on the product details page

When overriding an inherited attribute locally, the local value and inherited value are shown side by side.

In the following example, the overridden value only contains an English segment, while the attribute value on the master contains an English and a Danish segment.

Mass Edit

When working with inherited attributes in Mass Edit, an icon is shown on the attribute field which indicates that the attribute is inherited.