Attributes/Combinations/Features/Faceted search

[Trevor B]

Dear All

I am very new to PrestaShop. I am currently evaluating it against other platforms as a replacement for our existing dated eCommerce platform.

I have to say, I am very impressed so far. And it may be the solution.

But I have hit a stumbling block..... it involves attributes/combinations/features and faceted searches. A long list I know! But if I can explain, you will see my problem.

We sell plants, anything from trees to fruit. So a good example of what I am trying to do would be strawberries. To keep it simple, we sell these in 2 sizes which are different prices. I can see that we need to use combinations to achieve this, that is fine. But I can't see anywhere how you get the price to change. For example, pot size A could be £1.50 and pot size B could £1.99. I know this must be possible because I can see it at work in the example store on the framed pictures - the different sizes give different prices. I have looked at the example attributes and combinations and product listings, but I can't see how they change price. I am sure I am missing something very obvious, though maybe this is tucked away somewhere? The other difficulty here is that we then have 'price breaks'. So buying 10 or more Pot A size is less then 10 or less. And the same for Pot Size B. I can see how this is done for single products, in fact I have set it up for a product or 2. But is this possible with combinations?

So this then brings me on to my other problem that I don't quite know how to deal with. Setting up the attribute for the pot size is great, it means I can have a faceted search on the strawberry page where people can filter on pot size. Perfect. But with things like strawberries, they also have properties like when the are best used "season of use". So this could be for example "Early", "Mid" or "Late". It would be so nice to be able to have this on the faceted search too. So that someone could filter on say all strawberries  that are ready early season. But I guess the only way for this to appear in the faceted search woul be to set these up as attributes with single values? That is okay, but the problem with that is that then in the product listing it looks a bit 'messy' as the single attributes become mixed up with attributes that we are expecting the customer to select. From my point of view, it would work much better if we left the attributes for just accepting customer choices on things like pot sizes and put things like 'Season of use' in the features. But then is there a way to include features into the faceted search? I suspect there isn't as I have looked and can't find a way. Does anytin know a way that would solve this problem I have?

To be honest, I am so close with this now to be able to present PrestaShop to my Manager and Mail Order team as a possible replacement, but this may be a bit of a showstopper unless I can find a way around the 'combination/price' and 'faceted search/attribute/features' issues.

Hope someone can help and alpologies for the long post.

Best wishes

Trevor

[8ternity]

I was having some weird issue with Faceted Filter module since 2.2.1 on fresh install. Also i found that it was a basic filter module. 

I build a e-commerce store for Printers and Photocopiers and to found printers and filter by features likes Color, Black, Scan to Mail, etc, i found a module that is clearly flexible and really like it.

See this module : 
Amazzing filter Module - https://addons.prestashop.com/en/search-filters/18575-amazzing-filter.html?ab=1

Check it out, you will find a treasure addon!

Hope it help you!

 

 

 

[gerryg]

On 6/27/2019 at 8:17 AM, Trevor B said:

Dear All

I am very new to PrestaShop. I am currently evaluating it against other platforms as a replacement for our existing dated eCommerce platform.

I have to say, I am very impressed so far. And it may be the solution.

But I have hit a stumbling block..... it involves attributes/combinations/features and faceted searches. A long list I know! But if I can explain, you will see my problem.

We sell plants, anything from trees to fruit. So a good example of what I am trying to do would be strawberries. To keep it simple, we sell these in 2 sizes which are different prices. I can see that we need to use combinations to achieve this, that is fine. But I can't see anywhere how you get the price to change. For example, pot size A could be £1.50 and pot size B could £1.99. I know this must be possible because I can see it at work in the example store on the framed pictures - the different sizes give different prices. I have looked at the example attributes and combinations and product listings, but I can't see how they change price. I am sure I am missing something very obvious, though maybe this is tucked away somewhere? The other difficulty here is that we then have 'price breaks'. So buying 10 or more Pot A size is less then 10 or less. And the same for Pot Size B. I can see how this is done for single products, in fact I have set it up for a product or 2. But is this possible with combinations?

So this then brings me on to my other problem that I don't quite know how to deal with. Setting up the attribute for the pot size is great, it means I can have a faceted search on the strawberry page where people can filter on pot size. Perfect. But with things like strawberries, they also have properties like when the are best used "season of use". So this could be for example "Early", "Mid" or "Late". It would be so nice to be able to have this on the faceted search too. So that someone could filter on say all strawberries  that are ready early season. But I guess the only way for this to appear in the faceted search woul be to set these up as attributes with single values? That is okay, but the problem with that is that then in the product listing it looks a bit 'messy' as the single attributes become mixed up with attributes that we are expecting the customer to select. From my point of view, it would work much better if we left the attributes for just accepting customer choices on things like pot sizes and put things like 'Season of use' in the features. But then is there a way to include features into the faceted search? I suspect there isn't as I have looked and can't find a way. Does anytin know a way that would solve this problem I have?

To be honest, I am so close with this now to be able to present PrestaShop to my Manager and Mail Order team as a possible replacement, but this may be a bit of a showstopper unless I can find a way around the 'combination/price' and 'faceted search/attribute/features' issues.

Hope someone can help and alpologies for the long post.

Best wishes

Trevor

Hi Trevor, you can use Faceted Search for Attributes and/or Features. You can also add a module that combines Multiple Features for the same product (https://addons.prestashop.com/en/search-filters/6356-multiple-features-assign-your-features-as-you-want.html) to solve the "Early", "Mid" or "Late" situation.

And also use this module (https://addons.prestashop.com/en/combinaisons-customization/31071-show-combinations-or-product-attributes-in-product-list.html) to show both Attributes an Features and Prices (based on the Combination) on Product page.

I use both on my platform (www.calculatucosto.com) and they work really well. Take a look.

I hope this helps! Gerry 

Edited July 1, 2019 by gerryg
more info added (see edit history)

[Trevor B]

On 6/28/2019 at 2:28 PM, 8ternity said:

I was having some weird issue with Faceted Filter module since 2.2.1 on fresh install. Also i found that it was a basic filter module. 

I build a e-commerce store for Printers and Photocopiers and to found printers and filter by features likes Color, Black, Scan to Mail, etc, i found a module that is clearly flexible and really like it.

See this module : 
Amazzing filter Module - https://addons.prestashop.com/en/search-filters/18575-amazzing-filter.html?ab=1

Check it out, you will find a treasure addon!

Hope it help you!

 

 

 

Hi and thanks for the reply.

Thank you also for the recommendation.

This is where I am having a little difficulty with Prestashop. There are some modules I would really like to try, this one for example looks particulatly useful and may do exactly what we want.

But we are in this process of evaluation rather than implementation. We are trying to work out the best shop platform for us. Prestashop seems to rely heavily on modules, which to be fair so do other platforms. But the fact that none of the modules seem to have a free trial makes it incredibly difficult to evaluate. We can't spend £100+ on a module just to see if it is what we need. But then find it either isn't what we want or we decide not to use Prestashop.

It is a real dilemma for me at the moment. I really like the look and feel of Prestashop. But I can't present a case to my Manager(s) without persuading them to spend money on something they may never get a return on if we do not go with the module or Prestashop.

It is very difficult!!! Oh for a 7 day module trial option..........

Thanks again

Trevor

[gerryg]

1 hour ago, Trevor B said:

Hi and thanks for the reply.

Thank you also for the recommendation.

This is where I am having a little difficulty with Prestashop. There are some modules I would really like to try, this one for example looks particulatly useful and may do exactly what we want.

But we are in this process of evaluation rather than implementation. We are trying to work out the best shop platform for us. Prestashop seems to rely heavily on modules, which to be fair so do other platforms. But the fact that none of the modules seem to have a free trial makes it incredibly difficult to evaluate. We can't spend £100+ on a module just to see if it is what we need. But then find it either isn't what we want or we decide not to use Prestashop.

It is a real dilemma for me at the moment. I really like the look and feel of Prestashop. But I can't present a case to my Manager(s) without persuading them to spend money on something they may never get a return on if we do not go with the module or Prestashop.

It is very difficult!!! Oh for a 7 day module trial option..........

Thanks again

Trevor

Trevor, most modules on the Marketplace comes with a Back Office and Front Office Demo. I would never buy a module without trying them first (especially Back Office settings).

Having said that, there is no perfect scenario and you will buy modules you consider useful at one point and then ended up not using it or finding a better one; it's part of the cost of doing business and constantly improving your platform.

If you are new to Prestashop (like I was over a year ago), it is a good option for small to mid-size businesses. Remember it is an open source platform, which means you cannot call anybody if issues arise; you basically rely on developers, users and forums helping each other.

[Trevor B]

16 hours ago, gerryg said:

Trevor, most modules on the Marketplace comes with a Back Office and Front Office Demo. I would never buy a module without trying them first (especially Back Office settings).

Having said that, there is no perfect scenario and you will buy modules you consider useful at one point and then ended up not using it or finding a better one; it's part of the cost of doing business and constantly improving your platform.

If you are new to Prestashop (like I was over a year ago), it is a good option for small to mid-size businesses. Remember it is an open source platform, which means you cannot call anybody if issues arise; you basically rely on developers, users and forums helping each other.

Hi Gerry

Thank you for you comments, much appreciated. 

I guess the "open source" bit plays against us a little. We are reliant on what modules we can get I guess. And everything else we would have to write ourselves or find someone whow could. For example, we have a very specific payment capture that we have to follow. Basically we don't take payment in advance. It is just the nature of the business we are in - plants. Customers can order in March and we don't get the stock untik November. But we do still need to verify and capture card details. Not text based card numbers and CCVs I don't think we get away with that! But we need to verify the card and generate a payment system token that we can use later. An example being Payware Ocuis tokenisation which we use now. I have a horrible feeling that this would not exist as a standard module. As you say, there's no developer as such to contact and discuss this with. So this probably goes in the negative column when considering Prestashop.

That said, I do really like it. It has a lot of positives. I have to thank you by the way. I hadn't realised until you mentioned it that features could be used in faceted searches. I went back and checked this out and you are absolutely right. They can. I don't know how I missed that really.

The open sourse iss does raise it's head again though with bugs. Like you say, no developer. I have already come across one reproducable bug to do with display of combinations. When I get a momenty, I will post about it in the 'bugs' section.

Thanks for your replies.

Trevor

[gerryg]

7 hours ago, Trevor B said:

Hi Gerry

Thank you for you comments, much appreciated. 

I guess the "open source" bit plays against us a little. We are reliant on what modules we can get I guess. And everything else we would have to write ourselves or find someone whow could. For example, we have a very specific payment capture that we have to follow. Basically we don't take payment in advance. It is just the nature of the business we are in - plants. Customers can order in March and we don't get the stock untik November. But we do still need to verify and capture card details. Not text based card numbers and CCVs I don't think we get away with that! But we need to verify the card and generate a payment system token that we can use later. An example being Payware Ocuis tokenisation which we use now. I have a horrible feeling that this would not exist as a standard module. As you say, there's no developer as such to contact and discuss this with. So this probably goes in the negative column when considering Prestashop.

That said, I do really like it. It has a lot of positives. I have to thank you by the way. I hadn't realised until you mentioned it that features could be used in faceted searches. I went back and checked this out and you are absolutely right. They can. I don't know how I missed that really.

The open sourse iss does raise it's head again though with bugs. Like you say, no developer. I have already come across one reproducable bug to do with display of combinations. When I get a momenty, I will post about it in the 'bugs' section.

Thanks for your replies.

Trevor

You are always welcome. Good luck with your endeavor!!

[beshop]

is there any filter that combines features and attributes? For example, the size should be only one. Let him find a master that has size L, and a variant that is size L?