Creating characteristics

General information on characteristics

In addition to online shop categories, characteristics can help your customers filter items. Consider the following points to achieve this added value in the best possible way for your customers:

• Assign clear and expressive characteristic names and characteristic values.
• Clearly distinguish the characteristic names and characteristic values from your normal category navigation.
• Build a consistent and logical characteristic structure and characteristic hierarchy.
• Do not use too few nor too many characteristics and characteristic values.
• The order of characteristic values in JTL-Shop is the same as in the characteristics management.

Creating characteristics

In JTL-Wawi, characteristics always consist of the characteristics themselves and their different values.

1. Go to the menu Item > Characteristics. The dialogue box Creating and editing characteristics and characteristic values opens.

2. Click Create characteristic to create a new characteristic for your items.
3. In the Name group box, add other languages that you maintain in JTL-Wawi.
4. Activate the individual check boxes in the Displaying options group box according to your requirements.

5. Click Create value to add a value to the characteristic.
6. Name the characteristic and add a Description in the Definition group box. Via the button HTML editor, you can edit the layout of the description.
7. In the Image group box, you can add an image to the characteristic by clicking Import.
8. In the Meta data (SEO) section, adjust your settings for the URL path, Title tag and Meta description. In the Google preview field, you can see how your item will be displayed in the Google Search Results.

9. If you are creating several characteristics, you can either sort them by ticking the check box Sort characteristics alphabetically or sort them manually by using the arrow buttons. To delete a characteristic, select it and click Delete highlighted.

You have created a characteristic with multiple values, which you can now assign to an item.

Defining global characteristics

Characteristics are usually only visible for your customers when they enter a certain category of your online shop. This allows your customers to filter display results more specifically. However, if you want your customers to have the option of selecting characteristics already on the start page of your JTL-Shop, you can define a feature as a global feature.

1. Open an existing characteristic or create a characteristic and activate the check box Use as item characteristic in online shop.
2. Then activate the check box Global characteristic (from JTL-Shop 3).

3. Close the dialogue box with Save.

The characteristic you have created, and its values, will now be used in JTL–Shop as a global characteristic.

Creating characteristic groups

Characteristic groups only have the purpose of providing a clearer overview of the different characteristics in JTL-Wawi.

1. In the dialogue box Creating and editing characteristics and characteristic values, click Characteristic groups in the bottom left corner. The dialogue box Creating and editing characteristic groups opens.
2. Click Create to add a new characteristic group. Then assign a name for this group in the Details pane.
3. Select the desired characteristics and click on the left arrow button to add them to the characteristics group.

4. Close the dialogue box with Save.

You have now combined your characteristics into a characteristic group for your own overview in JTL-Wawi.

Assigning characteristics

In JTL-Wawi you can assign any number of characteristics to your item so that your customers can use them for more specific filtering.

1. Open the item master data of the item to which you want to assign characteristics and switch to the Attributes/Characteristics tab.

2. Click Assign characteristic below the Characteristics table. The dialogue box Assigning characteristics opens.

3. Select the desired Characteristic group. You will then see all created or assigned characteristics in the Characteristic column.
4. Select the desired Characteristic. In the Values column, you will then see the individual characteristic values.
5. Select the desired characteristic value and click on the arrow button. The characteristic and the characteristic value are now transferred to the Already assigned list on the right-hand side.

You can repeat this process and assign multiple characteristics and characteristic values to the item. The selected characteristics and characteristic values are listed in the assignment window.

6. Close the dialogue box with Save after you have finished assigning the characteristics and characteristic values. Your completed characteristic assignments for the selected item are transferred to the item master data.
7. Close the item master data by clicking Save.

The characteristics assignments will be transferred to your online shop during the next synchronisation. If you want to deactivate characteristics that you have already assigned, you can select the respective characteristic in the item master data and click Remove.

Other

Characteristics and child items

Please note that in JTL-Shop only the characteristics assigned to displayed child items are shown with the parent item. Characteristics that are only assigned to the parent items are not transferred to JTL-Shop and are therefore not displayed.

Characteristics and similar items

As a standard feature, for every item in your online shop, Similar items are shown on the item detail page. JTL-Shop compares the characteristics of the viewed item with the other items and displays similar items with the highest number of identical characteristics. If you do not use characteristics in JTL-Shop, similar items are picked from the search list or the assigned item tags.