Child Product

If you thought a “child” product was an item suitable for kids to use, you’d be forgiven because that’s what it sounds like. However, in the world of ecommerce, a child product has an entirely different meaning.

A child product describes product variations that stem from “parent” products. These product variations are similar to one another but involve a slight change—most commonly, they’re the same product in different sizes and colors. The parent product is the original or main form of the product, and child products are the subsequent products of the parent product that have slight variations.

How “Child” Products Work

There are three components to any product variation relationship:

• The “Parent” Listing: This is the main product listing. Typically, these surface when a shopper searches for the item.
• Child Products: These are the products related to one another through the parent listing. Each child is a variation of the parent whether it’s the size, color, motif, etc.
• Variation Theme: This denotes how the parent listing and the child product differ from one another. For example, if you’re selling candles, the scent, color, and quantity are all instances of variation themes.

To illustrate this definition, take the scenario below as an example:

Say a customer wants to purchase a pair of jeans from your ecommerce store so they head over to your product’s sales page. When you use child products, the shopper can peruse the various sizes and colors of the jeans and then select the combination that best suits them—usually, from an easy-to-use dropdown menu.

This is a far more user-friendly option than providing customers with a list of all the potential color and size combinations which could look cluttered and probably confuse visitors, causing them to click off your site.