Promo’s with Variations (ParentChild)
In this article:
- Set Up Options – Parent vs Child.
- Amazon Code – Information.
- The wrong picture for my product is variation showing. Why?
- Double up shopper requests.
Set Up Options – Parent vs Child.
Running promotions for products with variations can be tricky. The below will help with getting yours set up right.
You can run a promotion 2 ways:
- Under the parent ASIN. (Suggested)
- Under the child ASIN. (Limits some support from us).
Parent promo
A parent promotion is best used when you want to offer your product where the shopper may select ANY of the variations that you offer.
For example, if you are offering a t-shirt and want the shoppers to be able to select their own size, small, medium or large, then you’d set up the product and run the promotion under the parent ASIN, tracking all variations (meaning you left the box ticked ‘Track Parent Product and All Variations’).
In AMZ Tracker this will appear like the below. 1 product added, with variations attached to it: Rankings tab edit screen below. To see more details about adding a product with variations to AMZ Tracker see here: How To Guide: Products with Variations (Parent/Child).
Selecting the correct variation and seller for the promotion:
Variation:
When you set up your promotion, you will have the option to select the variation of the product that the shopper is directed to when they click the “Buy Now” button after being approved for a coupon.
Merchant ID:
If there are multiple sellers of the same product, you can enter your Merchant ID to ensure the shopper will go to your storefront when they go to buy the product.
The variation and Merchant ID boxes are underneath “Product Group” when setting up a promotion.
For a detailed guide on finding your merchant ID you can see our guide here:
Q. My product has multiple sellers, how can I link to mine only?
Run Parent Promo, But Offer 1 Variation
If you run a promo under the parent, but only want to offer 1 variation, you can do this, but you must make it very clear to the shopper that the code will only work for that 1 variation.
For example, if you are offering a coffee mug, but you only want to give a discount on the red ones, not the blue ones.
Please make it clear in the heading, description, and in the notes to the shopper. You can even direct a shopper to the exact variation with a Super URL linked only to that child ASIN.
Issues: An issue here can be that the image shown is not customizable, so it might show the picture for a different variation rather than the one you want as the image gets pulled directly from the parent Amazon listing.
Where possible it is always best to run your promotion under the parent ASIN. When using this parent promo we can assist with restricting shoppers to 1 code. If they were previously approved for a variation then they won’t be able to apply again. This stops the issue of them only being able to purchase a product once regardless of how many variations it has.
Child promo
Running a promotion under the child ASIN is easier if you only want to offer 1 variation.
You add that child ASIN to AMZ Tracker and untick ‘Track Parent Product and All Variations’. This variation will appear as a separate line in AMZ Tracker and will be treated independently with all tracking mechanisms.
This will make the right image show (pending you’ve set up your images to this ASIN in Amazon), and be a direct link to the product variation without a Super URL.
Issues: However with this option we can’t limit any previous shoppers from a different variation from applying. This is because to our system this variation is a stand alone product. If you wanted to run a promo this way, then you’d need to manually reject anyone who applied previously.
Amazon Codes – Information
When you are creating your promo codes in Amazon you also have the option to set the code up for one ASIN or for all of them. So be sure to match the promo codes your create in Amazon to what you are offering in AMZ Tracker to alleviate any issues with shoppers trying to use your codes.
If you are only offering 1 variation then create you codes for that ASIN only.
If you want to allow the shopper to select the variation they want, then be sure to make the codes available for all ASINs associated with the product.
See here for more information about creating a promotion in Amazon.
The wrong picture for my product variation is showing. Why?
In this case we are referring to a seller wanting to select a different product image so that it matches to the variation that you want to offer.
Example: Even thought you might want to offer only the red one, the picture shows the pink version.
This happens when you have chosen to set up your product under the parent ASIN whilst tracking all of the variation child ASINs as well. Our system automatically pulls through the primary image for your product listing on Amazon. This is generally the one attached to the parent ASIN.
At this time it is not an option to select the image you want from your list of Amazon images. So, to continue to run your promo under the parent ASIN, but only offering 1 variation, you need to be very clear in your title, description and notes to the shopper to help elevate any confusion when the shoppers are requesting to purchase your product.
How you can fix it: Run the promotion under the child ASIN.
If you’d like the image to be the exact one for that variation the only way to do this is to set up and run the promotion under that child ASIN without tracking the variants. As explained above, there are issues with running a promotion this way, so be sure to read it.
Double up shopper requests
As explained above in the ‘Set Up Options – Parent vs Child’ section there are issues with our ability to protect sellers from multiple purchases from shoppers based on the way you’ve chosen to add your parent/child products in AMZ Tracker.
Under the parent ASIN. (Suggested)
Here we can limit shoppers to only be approved once for your product, regardless of if you run different promotions under each child ASIN.
Under the child ASIN. (Limits some support from us).
The seller will need to manually record and filter out shoppers as they run each new variant promotion. We can limit a shopper to 1 code per ASIN, but as you change the child ASIN to offer a different variation we can’t connect the promotions, as the system sees them singularly, not as a group.