What is Variant Grouping?
Variant grouping links child SKUs (size, color, pack) to a parent so search and PLPs show a single canonical product with selectable variants, not a wall of near-duplicates.
How It Works (quick)
- Model:
parent_id with child attributes; share reviews/specs. - Indexing: Index both parent (for display) and child (for availability/price).
- Dedup: Collapse results by parent; expose variant swatches.
- Routing: PDP URL uses parent; variant selects via parameters.
Why It Matters in E-commerce
- Cleaner SERPs, better CTR, and clearer availability.
- Prevents cannibalization and mono-brand clutter.
Best Practices
- Stable parent IDs; normalize variant attributes.
- Use variant-aware ranking (e.g., in-stock sizes get a small bump).
- Consolidate reviews; handle OOS gracefully with substitutes.
- SEO: One canonical PDP; avoid thin duplicate variant pages.
Summary
Group variants under a parent to simplify discovery while preserving accurate price/stock at the child level.
