Attributes and Variants

[taseaford]

Hey folks!

 

I know my topic title is a little ambiguous, but the question is a little involved and I had trouble describing it in just a few words, so please pardon my Newbie-ness.

 

BACKGROUND:

We operate an online bookstore and have hundreds of thousands of products. Some of them have many different variations (15 or 16 variant groups in some cases). We get our inventory files in csv form from our distributor which has Y, N, or ? values for most variations.

 

QUESTIONS:

 

Each product variant has a separate ISBN or UPC value. Is there a way to link separate products together using variants?

 

EXAMPLE:

Product Color Binding Price UPC

Personal Journal Brown Genuine Leather 19.99 RANDOM

Personal Journal Black Cowhide 24.99 RANDOM1

Personal Journal Pink Hardback 9.99 RANDOM2

 

To import these products PS would currently create 3 separate products with separate item numbers, which means that when customers search for "Personal Journal" they would end up with three separate "Personal Journals" that may not be any different from the search page.

 

What I would like, would be for there to be one item, "Personal Journal" that will allow the user to see all three possibilities but will also reflect the correct UPC. As it stands, I can create one item and assign variants to that item, but then only one UPC will ever be ordered regardless of which variations the customer chooses. This creates confusion in the shipping department as they try to decipher which variant the customer wanted. Also, having separate item #s/UPCs for each means we can track which variations customers are most interested in. Does anyone know how to rig something like this up?

 

(I've looked at the attributes generator and that's almost what I need. The only two improvements I need is for it to be automated. With hundreds of thousands of products whose qtys change often, it has to be something that is automated. And, it needs to link with the ISBN/UPC of the variant products.)

 

 

Also, if this is possible, because of the amount of it would be nice to be able to import attributes and variant information. However I couldn't see how to do that with the native import tool. Am I missing something or does someone know an alternative?