How to Filter Products Using Attributes

• Overview

Overview

If you need to allow your customers to filter products on a category page using check-boxes or a drop-down menu, Attributes are the solution.

Difference Between Attributes and Categories

Categories and Attributes are both ways to organize and filter products on your e-commerce site, but they serve different purposes and help customers navigate your store in complementary ways.

Categories

• Definition: Categories are the primary way to organize your products into logical groups. They help users browse through your store by grouping similar products together under broad classifications.
• Example: If you are selling electronics, you might have categories like Televisions, Laptops, and Smartphones. Within the Televisions category, you could further break it down into subcategories like LED TVs, OLED TVs, and 4K TVs.
• Purpose: Categories help customers find the type of product they’re looking for by browsing through broad groups.

Attributes

• Definition: Attributes are additional filters or characteristics that apply to products within categories. They allow customers to narrow down their search based on specific features or details.
• Example: For TVs within the Televisions category, an important attribute might be Screen Size. You can create an attribute group called Screen Size with attributes like 60-70 inch, 70-80 inch, and 80+ inch. This allows customers to filter the TVs by their preferred screen size after they’ve selected the Televisions category.
• Purpose: Attributes help customers refine their search within a category by focusing on specific features or specifications that are important to them.

How They Work Together

• Categories are the first step in helping customers find what they are looking for. Once they’re in the right category, Attributes provide additional filtering options to help them find the exact product that meets their needs.
• Using our TV example:
  • A customer might first select the Televisions category (broad search).
  • Then, they could use the Screen Size attribute to filter down to 70-80 inch TVs (refined search).

This layered approach makes it easier for customers to find exactly what they’re looking for, improving their shopping experience and helping you to better organize your products.

There are a few steps to setting up attribute filters like the example above, so we'll break it down step by step. Click on the first link below to get started making attributes. Optionally, if you have lots of attributes to create, you can use the attribute group import and attribute import to create many attributes at once -- See link 4 below:

1. How to create Attributes and Attribute Groups
2. How to Apply Attributes to Products
3. How to Display Attribute Filters on Category Pages
4. Optional: How to Create Attributes and Attributes Groups (Import)