When you create parent-child relationships between products, you help customers find different versions of the product they are viewing. Learn more about parent-child relationships and variation relationships.
To create parent-child relationships between products, use inventory files or the Add a Product tool. You can view the existing child ASIN(s) for parent ASINs in the Amazon catalog on the Add a Product page in your seller account. if your product is not in the Amazon catalogue, you will have to create a new ASIN. For more information, see the ASIN creation policy.
Inventory files: special considerations
There are a few special things to consider when you use inventory files to update, modify, or delete your inventory.
You might also be able to use the Check My File feature to automatically detect variation sets in your inventory file.
You can find everything you need to set up a parent-child relationship in the inventory file template. The following table demonstrates how you might use an inventory file to set up a parent-child relationship for several t-shirts that come in 3 sizes and 2 colours.
In the example below, SKU 101 "T-Shirt" is the parent product. Because parent products are not offered for sale, fields such as size, colour, price, and quantity are irrelevant and should not be used.
However, you should still describe other aspects of the parent product, including an image that represents the generalised product. The only information to omit relates specifically to price, availability, and shipping.
The variation theme column indicates that products in this particular parent-child relationship differ from each other based on both colour and size. The "Data Definitions" tab in the inventory template lists the terms you can use for variation themes.
SKU | Title | Size | Colour | Parentage | Parent SKU | Relationship type | Variation theme | Price | Quantity |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
101 | T-shirt | parent | SizeColour | ||||||
101MB | Royal blue T-shirt M | Medium | Royal blue | child | 101 | variation | SizeColour | 15.97 | 50 |
101SB | Royal Blue T-Shirt S | Small | Royal Blue | child | 101 | variation | SizeColour | 15.97 | 50 |
101LB | Royal Blue T-Shirt L | Large | Royal Blue | child | 101 | variation | SizeColour | 17.97 | 50 |
101MR | English red T-shirt M | Medium | English Cherry Red | child | 101 | variation | SizeColour | 15.97 | 50 |
101SR | English Red T-Shirt S | Small | English Cherry Red | child | 101 | variation | SizeColour | 15.97 | 50 |
101LR | English Red T-Shirt L | Large | English Cherry Red | child | 101 | variation | SizeColour | 17.97 | 50 |