difficult one

[tester123]

Besides my t shirt services I would like to in built printing services in general.

The final price of the product depends on 5 variables. All of them are connected proportionally with each other.
I cant do it using attributes of products becouse those change the pricing basing on theory that Matt Lamination on business cards always costs 3 euro - it really depends on how many need to be laminated, single or both sided, on how many days turnaround.

I wonder if Presta can actually handle this type of product...


Thx

[phrasespot]

It is possible with a lot of patience, planning and tedium. I try to describe it below, if anyone has a better way I would love to hear it.

What you call variables can be represented with attribute groups and attributes in PrestaShop. First you decide on the the intrinsic properties of the item you are selling. Say, business card, and using your variables, we may have:

Quantity in pack
Lamination
Turnaround

Then you decide on non-overlapping values those properties can take. It is important that those values assigned under one property are mutually exclusive. Two special values, other and none, should be considered for each property during value assignment to properties:

Quantity in pack (50, 100, 500, 1000)
Lamination (none, single-sided, double-sided)
Turnaround (never, whenever, express, supersaver)

You then enter these into Catalogue >> Attributes and groups (first image)

Next you decide on a base configuration, give it a price and enter it as the default combination (Catalogue >> Product >> Combinations), say:

Quantity in pack:50, Lamination:none, Turnaround:never = $9.99

Then for each property and for each value of each property you make a combination and increase the base price by appropriate amount. So, for example the next few entries would be

Quantity in pack:100, Lamination:none, Turnaround:never = $14.99
Quantity in pack:500, Lamination:none, Turnaround:never = $49.99
Quantity in pack:1000, Lamination:none, Turnaround:never = $74.99

(all price increases are due to increase in quantity. Only values of one property is changed so far.)

After enumerating all combinations of the first property, when you start second property combinations you need to take into account the price changes for the both properties. So, the next few entry would be:

Quantity in pack:50, Lamination:single-sided, Turnaround:never = $10.99
Quantity in pack:100, Lamination:single-sided, Turnaround:never = $16.99
Quantity in pack:500, Lamination:single-sided, Turnaround:never = $54.99
Quantity in pack:1000, Lamination:single-sided, Turnaround:never = $79.99

(price increase for the first one is due to lamination, the price increases for the remaining three are due to both increase in quantity and the lamination)

Doing the same thing for the second value of the second property and increasing prices accordingly:

Quantity in pack:50, Lamination:double-sided, Turnaround:never = $12.99
Quantity in pack:100, Lamination:double-sided, Turnaround:never = $19.99
Quantity in pack:500, Lamination:double-sided, Turnaround:never = $59.99
Quantity in pack:1000, Lamination:double-sided, Turnaround:never = $89.99

And so on.... (see second attachment). So far we have 12 combinations (1 base and 11 variations). Adding the combinations required by the first value of the third property will double that. At this point you must take into account price effects of all properties when you're adjusting the prices. Because there are four values in the final property, when you finish you will end up with 1 base and 47 variations that will will display as three drop-down select boxes in product page (see last of the attachments). In general you will have:

vp1 x vp2 x vp3 ... combinations where vpn is the number of values for property n. I said it was tedious Of course, you would do this all in a spreadsheet and then dump it into CVS and go from there. Does this make sense? Does anyone have another, easier way?

p.s. don't use turnaround value never, your customers may be unhappy

[tester123]

Hi phrasespot,

I appreciate Your time answering my difficult one.

That idea was roaming around my head for a while. I tried to enter few items this way. I learned it is going to take me few weeks to enter it all. Another solution I sparkled up was to upload the store with all ready products, and use sub-sub-sub categories to put it all in order. I have all items in csv already and came to the point where I would need to upload it all, and "automatically" attach to sub sub sub categories. Imagine - 6 gsms of leaflet, 6 formats, 2 paper finishings, folded/flat, 4/4-4/0 - and all that multiplied by number of products.
It seems there is no other way of doing it than the long, lots of 6am coffees, one.

Am I right?


Another question:
Product in Home category, displayed at the bottom. How to avoid the long prod name being cut off by the picture box?

Thank You once again.

[phrasespot]

Categories is a valid solution too. Advantage of combinations is, once you have your prices decided, there is a combination generator (Catalogue >> [Product] >> Combinations >> Product combinations generator), though it takes a little practice to use it correctly.

For the name cut-off problem make another thread and post a screen capture please. Changing the title of the original post of this thread may be a good idea too for the benefit of future searchers.