How to Add a Variation to an Existing Amazon Listing

At some point, you will probably want to know how to add a variation to an existing Amazon listing.

Once you have established a listing why not add more variety and sales account by adding something different to the listing? It makes sense.

Amazon product listing variations make it possible to cater to different customers; if done correctly, this results in more sales and better reviews.

If you want to increase product conversions and discoverability, here is what you need to know about how to add a variation to an existing listing.

I will also cover how to add a variation to any new listings you create in the future.

Before we dive in, let me explain some Amazon lingo; this will make it far easier to understand.

Amazon Listing Variations Explained

In a nutshell, a variation refers to related products that are listed for sale under one listing – it consists of three components:

1. Parent ASIN. This is the primary listing that will house the variants.
2. Child ASINs. These are variants of the parent ASIN. For example, let’s say the parent ASIN is a single bottle of Organic Skin Cream. The child ASIN added here might be a 2 x pack of this same product. You might want to add further Child ASINs with more quantity variations.
3. Variation Theme. This is a type of variation that can include aspects such as size and color. In general, only one variation theme can be use per listing, but this differs based on the category you are using. If you wanted to sell a larger bottle of the skin cream, you could use the size variation theme to do this.

How to Add a Variation to an Existing Amazon Listing

Here are the steps you would follow to add a variation to an existing Amazon listing.

• Log in to your Amazon Seller Central account.
• Hover over the Inventory tab and select Manage Inventory.
• Locate the item you want to create a variation for, click on the drop-down menu to the right of the item and select Copy Listing.
• Once you are taken to the vital info page, go to the Variations tab.
• Under Variation Theme, select the variation you want to add to the existing product, list all variation terms, and click Add Variations.
• Click the Save and Finish button to apply the variations.

A green callout will highlight whether an item has been confirmed. You should also see a variation under the product’s status.

(Source: Seller Central)

Using Variation Wizard

If you ever need to add to or update an existing variation family, you can use Variation Wizard. This interactive tool makes it easier to create, delete or update parent-child variations in bulk.

(Source: Ecomclips)

Once you have Variation Wizard open, hover over Inventory and click Add a Product. You will now see the option to create variations using Variation Wizard.

You can now either enter the child ASIN you want to update or the parent ASIN you want to add.

On completion, click Generate Template, which you can upload to add these variations.

How to Add a Variation to a New Amazon Listing

To add a variation to a new Amazon listing, you can either manually create a new parent-child listing via Seller Central, or you can upload a completed inventory file.

Here are the steps you would follow:

• Log in to your Amazon Seller Central account.
• Hover over the Inventory tab and select Add a Product and I’m Adding a Product Not Sold on Amazon.
• Once you find your product, select the matching category, and fill in all the necessary details, but leave Product ID
• After all the vital info is added, select the Variations tab and Variation Theme. Add all the variations you want to and click Add Variations to confirm.
• You can now enter the product ID, type, condition, price, and quantity.
• Click Save and Finish, and your parent-child listing should be live in 10 – 15 minutes.

How Do I Combine Amazon Listings?

I also thought it would be worthwhile to mention how to combine Amazon listings.

Before you combine listings, I recommend making sure you meet Amazon’s requirements by reading through their Variation Relationships Overview and Variation Policy.

Unfortunately, in the past, some sellers used variations to increase the number of quality reviews, which is why Amazon implemented stricter policies.

Here are the steps you would follow to combine Amazon listings:

• Using the Product Classifier or Templates for Specific Categories, download the necessary template for your category.
• Using this template, create both parent and child SKUs.
• For the parent item, complete all the required fields, including SKU, but leave the Parent SKU column blank.
• In Parentage, enter the value of “parent” and add a valid value in Variation Theme (color, size etc.). You can leave the Relationship Type and any other non-required fields blank.
• For any child items that you want to add, complete all the necessary fields. For the Parent SKU field, use the value from the parent’s SKU. This will be the same for all child items.
• In Parentage, enter the value of “child” and add a value of “variation” in Relationship Type.
• For the Variation Theme field, use the same value that you used for the parent item. Again, this will be the same for all child items.
• Once all the necessary fields have been filled, you can upload the completed file to Amazon.

If you are enjoying this article you might also be interested in the question; Can you Merge Amazon Accounts? In my opinion, it’s useful to know, it helped us plan for the future.

Are Variations Worth It?

When used correctly, variations can boost your conversion rates because of the positive effects on the customer experience. The happier you make your customers; the more willing Amazon is to rank your listings higher in their search results.

What’s more, any reviews you generate for any of your variations will be shown together, which can help increase click-through rates.

If you have been looking for ways to boost sales and happen to be selling different variants, I highly recommend adding variations to your Amazon listings.

If you want to enhance the effectiveness of your listings further, you should read through my title optimization guide, I cover all the strategies we use to optimize our listings.

Have any questions? Leave me a comment below.