Product traits

A trait is a detail that describes a product, such as its screen size, color, material, or brightness. Traits do two jobs on your storefront, and you can use either one on its own or both together:

• Search filters. A shopper narrowing a large catalog can tick a value to see only the matching products, the same way a big electronics store lets you filter results by brand, screen size, or price. Traits are what power those tick boxes.
• Product specifications. On a product page, traits list out the details of that product, so a shopper comparing two televisions can see the exact size, resolution, and connections of each.

If your catalog is small or your products are simple, you may not need traits at all. They earn their place when shoppers need to narrow down a large or technical range, or when the details of a product matter to the buying decision.

The three-part model

Traits are built from three pieces that nest inside each other. Once you understand this shape, everything else follows.

1. Trait Category — the top-level grouping. Think of it as the subject you are describing, such as Display or Audio.
2. Trait Type — a single characteristic within that category, such as Screen size or Brightness. A category can hold several types.
3. Trait Value — one option for that type, such as 55", 65", or 75". A type can hold many values.

A shopper never sees these three words. What they see is the result: a filter they can tick, or a specification listed on the product page.

A worked example

Say you sell televisions. You might set up:

• Trait Category: Display
  • Trait Type: Screen size with values 55", 65", 75"
  • Trait Type: Resolution with values 4K, 8K
• Trait Category: Connectivity
  • Trait Type: HDMI ports with values 2, 3, 4

A shopper looking for a big 4K television can now filter to Screen size: 75" and Resolution: 4K and see only the models that match. On each of those product pages, the same details appear as specifications.

How a trait connects to a product

Products have traits. You give a product its traits by assigning the values that apply to it, and those assigned values then appear on the storefront as that product’s filters and specifications.

You can work from either direction, whichever suits the moment:

• From a product, add the traits that describe it — see Assign traits to a product.
• From a trait value, add every product it applies to at once — see Trait Builder.

Both routes create the same connection between the product and the value. When you first build your catalog, assigning products to a value in bulk is usually fastest. Day to day, adding a trait to a product from its record is often more natural.

Choosing what a trait does: spec, filter, or both

Each Trait Type has two settings that decide where its values appear on the storefront. Tick either, or both:

• Display on Product Page — the values appear as specifications on each product that has them. Use this for details a shopper reads while deciding, but does not need to filter by.
• Display As Filter — the values appear as tick boxes in search, so shoppers can narrow results. Use this for the details shoppers most often shop by.

Ticking both makes the values appear as specifications and as filters. Because these settings live on the Trait Type, every value in that type behaves the same way. Decide the purpose of each type as you create it. The Trait Builder shows a live preview of how a value will appear as a spec and as a filter, so you can confirm the result before you finish.

Where to set up traits

Everything you need is in one place. Open the StoreConnect Console and go to Inventory > Traits > Manage traits. From there you can:

• Build your categories, types, and values, one at a time or a whole branch at once, and assign one value to many products — see Trait Builder.
• Add traits to a single product — see Assign traits to a product.
• Export your traits to a spreadsheet and import assignments back in — see Import and export traits.

If you have a set of traits you apply to every new product of a certain kind, a template can assign them automatically when the product is created. See Apply product traits using templates.

:::note Renaming a Trait Category or Trait Type updates the values and products that use it automatically. You do not need to re-save each one. :::