Many eCommerce websites give site visitors the option of filtering out products they are not interested in, by selecting criteria that matches their buying intention. In the example below, Skatehut offer the ability to select a particular brand, colour and size.
In another example, a category of Shirts may have the filter groups and attributes of:
Filter Group
Filter Attributes
Pattern
Striped, Plain, Patterned
Colour
Blue, Red, Green, White, Black
Size
XS, S, M, L, XL
Price
£0-15, £15-30, £30-45, £45+
Collar
Regular, Button Down
For a detailed example, view TM Lewin's extensive Product Filters
Creating Product Filters
Product filters are first created globally, then allocated locally to each product
Go to Settings - Products
Under Product Filters you can create a Filter Group (e.g. Colour, Size, Pattern etc)
Within each Filter Group, you can then create the differing Filter Attributes (e.g. blue, red, back, white)
You can reorder the options by using the drag and drop icon
You create and apply your product filters GLOBALLY across your entire database. The individual sales channel will only show those product filters related to the items on sale in that particular sales channel.
Allocating Product Filters
Once the global product filters have been created, you can
Allocate attributes on a per product basis
Allocate in bulk (you may want to filter the products page to get the relevant items)
NOTE: these are not the same as product variations, which exist at SKU level