Frequently asked questions about the product overview, product editing, and product lists
What happens to product data after it is deleted?
What's the best practice for setting up products with more than one type of variation?
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What happens to product data after it is deleted?
We permanently delete the information from our system once it's been deleted from an account and there is no way to retrieve details about it afterwards, even with an API. We do not store data about deleted products, therefore it cannot be used to push information about its deletion to other systems or websites.
To ensure the integrity of your data, we always recommend you set up a regular backup of your account using a Channel.
What's the best practice for setting up products with more than one type of variation?
For variable products, there are a couple of different ways you can set up parents and variations. To make it easier to understand, let's imagine that you sell a pair of shoes that comes in 6 colors and 10 sizes.
Option 1 is creating one parent product with a variant product for each combination of size and color. This means that you would have either A) a sellable parent product with 59 variations (60 SKUs in total) or B) a non-sellable parent product with 60 variations (61 SKUs in total).
Option 2 is creating a parent product using either one of the options above. Let's say you choose color. You then create variations of each parent based on size. This means you would have either A) 6 sellable parent products with 9 variations each (60 SKUs in total) or B) 6 non-sellable parent products with 10 variations each (66 SKUs in total). Alternatively, setting up parents using size would mean you have A) 10 sellable parents with 5 variations each (60 SKUs in total) or B) 10 non-sellable parents with 6 variations each (70 SKUs in total).
We generally recommend Option 2 for greater ease of organization, and non-sellable parents for greater flexibility when it comes to syndication.
Regardless, another best practice is to create product SKUs based on the product's traits. For example, let's take one of the shoes above and imagine it's called the "Melissa Wedge Sandal." The nonsellable parent SKUs for this product based on color could be something like "MEL-BLK, MEL-GRY, MEL-BLU, MEL-TAN, MEL-GRN, and MEL-WHI." The variant SKUs can then be easily differentiated from the parents by including a size. Take the black version of this shoe for example, and you would have "MEL-BLK-4, MEL-BLK-5, MEL-BLK-6, MEL-BLK-7, etc."
Businesses often have different needs when it comes to setting up a parent/variant structure, depending not only on their products, but also on the sales channels to which they syndicate. If you have doubts about the best setup for your products, book a meeting with your customer success manager to analyze your data and help you decide the best method for you.
What's next?
- Learn about the product overview
- Learn about the product detail page
- Learn how to edit products in bulk
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