What is a Variation Theme?

Variation Themes are Amazons way to organize/sort child listing under a parent.

Variation Themes are preset by Amazon based on category. Depending on the category your listings are in you’ll see the different types. For Apparel categories you have three main ones:
Color and Size, Color, Size.
For Groceries you have Flavor, Size, sometimes multi packs are an option. You get the idea. Let’s talk about the three Variation Themes you’ll see in Apparel categories.

Color and Size

The most common variation theme for a clothing listing is color and size. This means you’ll have both color and size options available under the parent. If you have a parent with this variation theme you can add new colors and sizes under it, whether or not there are already listings for that color variation listed under it.

Next up is Size

You’ll see these a lot for apparel, parent listings for a specific color of a product. You can add new sizes to these listings, but remember, when you see the color name in the title and you should only ever add listings to these if they are the same color. Since the Variation Theme is size, the only variation information that will be available once the child listing has been added to this variation family will be the size. If you add a green size 5 shoe to a blue parent, that shoe simply becomes a size 5.

And last but not least is Color

This Variation Theme is most often seen in backpacks and one size fits all items like hats, where you have variations in color, not size or fit. Like the size theme, you need to be careful to only add products that match the attributes listed in the title first. If you have a “One size, Men’s baseball cap” parent make sure you don’t have a boys, or toddler hat. The attributes listed in the title are non negotiable.

Hopefully you found this post helpful, it’s something I was very confused about when I first started sourcing, and editing listings.

If you have any questions about Variation Themes, or you’re stumped by a problem you’ve encountered, join our Facebook group or PM me through the Tarrant Toolbox Facebook page!