Product families
Use product families to group variations of similar products, for example, different sizes and colors of the same clothing item. Cin7 Core creates a unique SKU for both the product family and for each variation of the family.
Unlinking all product family variations from your sales channel, deleting the products entirely, then properly configuring the product family in Cin7 Core before listing it again on the sales channel may help resolve your issues.
Prerequisites
You should know how to create products and services
You will need the Inventory - Products and familiespermission in order to add and edit the list and details of products, services, and product families.
Create a new product family
Creating a new product family is similar to creating a product.
Select Inventory from the main menu, then Product families.
Click + Add to add a new family.
Fill in the product family details. Fields marked with an asterisk (*) are mandatory.
Enter up to 3 variations in the Option label fields. The option labels (color, size, etc.) will then populate the Options tab.
Add option values (Red/Blue, S/M/L) in the Options tab. Cin7 Core has no limit on the number of option values that can be added, however some ecommerce integrations may have their own limits on total number of product variations. For example, Shopify limits product variations to a maximum of 100 per product family.
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Click the Variations tab. Here you can either generate variations automatically, or map existing products in your inventory to variations.
Manually add existing products from your inventory to the product family by clicking +Add. This adds a line to the variations table and you can search for an item in your inventory to map it.
Let Cin7 Core generate the variations by clicking Generate. SKUs are generated automatically but can be manually edited and mapped with existing items if necessary.
Click Save to finish.
Add a variation to an existing product family
Select Inventory from the main menu, then Product families.
Open a product family.
Go to the Options tab.
Add a new option value.
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Click the Variations tab. Here you can either generate variations automatically, or map existing products in your inventory to variations.
Manually add existing products from your inventory to the product family by clicking +Add. This adds a line to the variations table and you can search for an item in your inventory to map it.
Let Cin7 Core generate the variations by clicking Generate. SKUs are generated automatically for the new option value but can be manually edited and mapped with existing items if necessary.
Click Save to finish.
Add images and attachments to product family
Images and attachments added to a product family apply only to the product family, not to the product variations within that family.
Add images and attaches to a product family
Select Inventory from the main menu, then Product families.
Open a product family.
Click the Images and attachments tab.
Drag and drop, or select files to upload.
Select a default image by checking the box next to the image.
Click Save to finish.
Product variation images and attachments must be added from the product variation record.
Add images and attachments to multiple product families
You can add images and attachments to multiple product families at once, using links to your image hosting provider.
Select Inventory from the main menu, then Product families.
Select Export then Images and attachments to download a CSV template.
See Uploading product photos via CSV file to Cin7 Core for how to input direct links from your image hosting provider.
Save your file.
Select Import, then Images and attachments.
Upload the saved CSV file to update your product family images.
Delete a product family
Delete product families from the product families list. You can delete multiple product families at once. Deletion first deprecates all product family variations, then deletes deprecated variations if possible, then deletes the family.
Delete a single product family
Select Inventory from the main menu, then Product families.
Open a product family.
Click Delete.
Delete multiple product families
Select Inventory from the main menu, then Product families.
Check the box to mark families to delete.
Click More, then Delete product families.
Confirm your decision.
Add product families to a purchase, sale, or transfer
Items from a product family can be added in bulk to a purchase order, sale order, or stock transfer to save time.
Create a new purchase, sale, or transfer.
When adding items to the order or quote, click Family.
Enter the Product family.
Chooses quantities to order or sell. You can view the product family in Matrix or List format.
Edit prices and quantities if required.
Click Add products and then continue as usual.
Clone a product family
Clone product families to speed up enter multiple similar product families into your inventory quickly. This clones product family information including options, prices, production BOM, and much more.
Select Inventory from the main menu, then Product families.
Open an existing product family.
Click Clone.
Enter a new Family SKU and Family name.
Change any options or product family information you require.
Click Done to generate the product family. Cin7 Core generates new variations are generated once you save the new product family.
Add a production BOM to a product family
Product families are used to group together products with similar characteristics but different options, for example color and size of clothing. Depending on the number of options, there can be a large number of product family variations. Manufacturing a product family requires each variation to have a production BOM, but adding these one by one is inefficient.
Product family production BOM creates a general production BOM for the family (e.g. shirt) but allows other product family variations to be used as components (e.g. fabric). Production BOMs for each variation are auto-generated from the general BOM and the mapping values, saving time when preparing production BOMs for many variations at once.
Display product families in documents
You can display product families in two ways on your sales and purchase documents; showing all variations in either list format or matrix format. All of our document templates are fully customizable.
List format is the standard sales and purchase document format, showing variations in a list of order lines:
Matrix format displays the variation quantities in a compact table:
Product family information
Fields marked with an asterisk (*) are mandatory for creating a new product family. Once the product family details are filled in, click Save to finish. Product family information will apply to all variations in a product family, but you can edit this from a product variation's record if required. Some fields, like product barcode, can only be set from a product variation's record.
Family SKU*
A Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) is the identifier for a product with a maximum length of 45 characters. SKUs in Cin7 Core must be unique.
Cin7 Core has some rules for acceptable and unacceptable SKUs:
Unacceptable SKU: All numerals, starting with 0. This will cause problems importing and exporting data into CSV templates. E.g. 01 234 567.
Unacceptable SKU: Leading spaces, this can cause sync issues.
Acceptable SKU: Alphanumeric, including starting with 0. E.g. 003-Gloves, 103-Gloves.
Acceptable SKU: All numerals, not starting with 0. E.g. 1 234 567.
Each variation within the product family, as well as the product family itself, needs a unique SKU. The variation SKUs can be assigned automatically by Cin7 Core or manually.
Family name*
Name to identify the product family.
Category*
Categories are a form of product segmentation. Choose a category from the drop-down list or click + Add to add a new category. Each product can belong to one category.
Brand
Brands are a form of product segmentation. Enter the brand of the product. Each product can have one brand.
Costing method*
Costing methods decides how your stock value is calculated, and in what order you pick items for sale and other processes.
Dropship
Dropshipping sends items directly from your supplier to your customer. Set products to dropship always, optionally, or never. You need to assign suppliers to a product to dropship it.
Dropship supplier
Choose a supplier for drop ship orders, if you are using the dropship option. Dropship supplier will apply to all variations in a product family unless you configure suppliers from a variation's product record.
Last supplier
Enter the last supplier for this product family. This information will be used to populate purchase orders in Cin7 Core.
Supplier price
Enter the supplier price for this product family. This information will be used to populate purchase orders in Cin7 Core.
Option labels
Choose up to 3 option labels (e.g. color, size, etc.) per product family.
Unit of measure*
Unit of measure for sales of the product. Add any units of measure you need (hour, cm, kg, inch, L), or use the default unit, item.
Accounts
Optionally select COG, Inventory, and Revenue accounts for this product family. You can manually edit these when making a sale or purchase if required.
If you do not use special accounts for your items we recommend leaving these fields blank, consult with your accountant or bookkeeper if you are unsure. If multiple revenue accounts apply to a sale, Cin7 Core will use the highest priority revenue account.
Tax rules
Optionally select purchase and sale tax rules for this product family. You can manually edit these when making a sale or purchase if required.
If you do not use special tax rules for your items we recommend leaving these fields blank, consult with your accountant or bookkeeper if you are unsure. If multiple tax rules apply to a sale, Cin7 Core will use the highest priority tax rule.
Default location*
Default storage location for this product family.
Additional attributes set
Use Additional attributes to add custom fields to your product family variations.
Minimum before reorder / reorder quantity
These affect low stock reorder points for the product.
Comma delimited tags
Product tags are a form of product segmentation. You can add as many tags as you require, separated by commas.
Warranty
Apply a warranty to the product describing return and refund terms and conditions.
Description
Enter a long description for your product. The long description has an HTML editor for formatting. This information is mandatory for some sales channels.
Prices
Set simple prices for the entire product family, or for each variation individually. You can only add dynamic pricing from each variation's record.
Discount
Apply discounts to a product.
HS code
The harmonized system (HS) is used by customs authorities around the world to identify products when assessing duties and taxes. This field is imported and exported to sales and shipping channels that support this information.
Country of origin (COO)
Represents the country or countries of manufacture, production, design, or brand origin where a product comes from. This field is imported and exported to sales and shipping channels that support this information.
Bill of materials
A Bill of materials describes which components make up the current product. Select a BOM for the product if this product needs to be assembled from raw materials and/or product components, or can be disassembled into components. This generates a product family BOM.
Product family pricing
Set simple prices for the entire product family, or for each variation individually. You can only add dynamic pricing from each variation's record.
Add prices for product family
Select Inventory from the main menu, then Product families.
Open an existing product family.
Edit prices for each price tier.
Save your changes.
Add prices for product family variation
Product family prices will automatically be applied to each variation in the family. You can optionally edit these prices.
Select Inventory from the main menu, then Product families.
Open an existing product family.
Go to the Variations tab.
Edit variation prices here. Only simple prices are supported here, you must go to the variation's product record to add dynamic pricing.
Save your changes.
Product family dimensions
Set weight, height, width, length, and units of measurement for product family variations.
Select Inventory from the main menu, then Product families.
Open an existing product family.
Go to the Variations tab.
Go to Product dimensions and weight.
Enter dimensions and weight values for product family variations.
Save your changes.
Product family additional attributes
Set additional attribute values for product family variations.
Add additional attribute set to a product family
Select Inventory from the main menu, then Product families.
Open a product family.
Select an Additional attributes set from the dropdown menu.
Save your changes.
Add additional attribute values to product family variations
Select Inventory from the main menu, then Product families.
Open a product family with an additional attribute set.
Go to the Variations tab.
Go to Additional attributes.
Enter additional attribute values for product family variations.
Save your changes.