Separated variations or combined under same parent ASIN?
We have two identical products that only vary in size. So far we’ve been building their rank, sales and reviews with separate listings.
However, recently we’ve become unsure if this is resulting in us cannibalizing ourselves and ultimately leading to worse rank for the two products opposite to what we could have achieved having them under a parent ASIN with combined reviews, better organic rank etc.
What is the PROS and CONS (with data-based/analytical arguments)?
Combining your two identical products under the same parent ASIN has its pros and cons.
On the positive side, it can streamline your inventory management, potentially improve your organic rank by consolidating sales and reviews, and enhance the overall customer experience by presenting size options on a single product page.
However, there are drawbacks to consider:
First, you risk losing the individual rankings and visibility that your separate listings may have earned.
Second, if one size consistently outsells the other, it might skew your product’s overall rating, potentially harming sales of the less popular size.
Moreover, customers who’ve purchased one size may leave reviews that don’t apply to the other, potentially confusing future buyers.
To make an informed decision, analyze your sales data, review performance, and customer feedback for both approaches.
If one size significantly outperforms the other, keeping separate listings may be more advantageous, while combining them could make sense if the sizes sell relatively evenly and you prioritize simplicity and organic rank improvements.
Having separate listings for your two identical products with just size differences can be a smarter move. Keeping them apart lets you focus on different groups of shoppers and tweak your product pages just right.
You can experiment with different keywords, create descriptions that fit each size, which boosts your chances of attracting the right customers. Plus, it’s easier to manage stock and prices for each size when they’re not bundled up.
Sure, there’s a risk of competing against yourself, but with some good marketing and promotion, you can dodge that bullet. In the end, the choice should depend on your sales numbers and how you work your marketing skills.
To add some context. After being out of stock for 3-4 weeks on both variations (single, separated listings), we are having issues getting both products back into crucial organic rank positions. Our initial through was to combine the two variations under the same page to try and push rank this way instead of struggling with the two listings separately. Not sure if this is a good idea or not.
Letting your listings to go out of stock is the single worst thing you can do. The BSR keeps going down every second your listing is unavailable. This has nothing to do with your listing being separated or not. Always plan ahead.
This we are very aware of. We are asking if it could be a good strategy to merge the two variations under one parent ASIN in the process of trying to re-gain organic ranker quicker.
Whether to merge the variations together is a decision you need to make. Keep in mind that you are risking losing all of your reviews, ranking and even being moved into a different category / browse node in the process. A common scenario reported by many sellers.
So ‘merging’ the two listings under one Parent ASIN is a risky action? Please note that it would not be a merge in the classical sense, but moving the existing ASINs under one Parent ASIN
Isn’t it possible to create a new PARENT ASIN and then move the two existing ASINs under that as child ASINs? This is not merging them, but merely ‘moving’ them.
My LVA has over 5 years experience with listings on Amazon, and is considered by many clients to be at an expert level. I drop him questions from time to time and this was his response on this situation.
From what I gather there, you may be able to just create a parent and add these as variations. That way the child variation reviews will carry over, according to him. If you have another question, I’d be happy to ask about any other detail your curious about.
We specialize in listings and have his hand-crafted courses of our listing services we provide. Let me know if you’re ever interested in checking them out.
We very recently bought out a company that we used for listing services because the owner was retiring the business. It was only for listing services, but we are currently merging an account maintenance department into the mix. We are seriously here to help out sellers with anything we can. Our website is currently being updated to reflect services, not just courses, but all is available. https://tarranttoolbox.podia.com/
Mind you, the website will get an overhaul in due time. The previous owner didn’t do much to it beyond providing the products, so I literally put that look together in about 2 days.
I hear you!! We pretty much lucked into the timing. We do have a Facebook group for our company. There isn’t much activity in there but it’s a good place to share thoughts and troubles. I’m new to this forum, but I’m really liking it so far and plan to check up on it daily. Feel free to get a hold of me here or on FB for any questions at all. I plan to drop some free material in here from time to time. I’m thinking I’ll share our free guide to fixing orphaned listings in this forum, so keep an eye out for that. It comes with case templates and everything.
I am happy to hear that you like this forum, hopefully it will grow over time into a friendly and welcoming community where sellers can find anything they need
I hear you!! We pretty much lucked into the timing. We do have a Facebook group for our company. There isn’t much activity in there but it’s a good place to share thoughts and troubles. I’m new to this forum, but I’m really liking it so far and plan to check up on it daily. Feel free to get a hold of me here or on FB for any questions at all. I plan to drop some free material in here from time to time. I’m thinking I’ll share our free guide to fixing orphaned listings in this forum, so keep an eye out for that. It comes with case templates and everything.