Hey everyone! I’m trying to figure out how online stores handle different product types. You know how a t-shirt has different details than a laptop, right? So how do they manage all these varying product attributes?
I’ve heard Magento uses something called EAV (Entity-Attribute-Value). But what about other e-commerce platforms? Do they have different ways to handle this?
I’m really curious about how platforms like ATG, Broadleaf, or IBM Websphere Commerce deal with this challenge. Any insights would be super helpful!
Does anyone have experience with these systems or know of other approaches? I’d love to learn more about how they keep product info flexible across categories. Thanks for any help you can offer!
i’ve worked with shopify before, and they use a pretty flexible system for product attributes. u can create custom fields for different product types, which is neat. they call em ‘metafields’ i think. it lets you add specific details for each product category without messin up the overall structure. pretty handy stuff!
Having worked on several e-commerce projects, I can shed some light on this. WooCommerce, a popular WordPress plugin, uses a system of product attributes and variations. It’s quite flexible, allowing you to create custom attributes for different product types. For example, you can set up attributes like ‘size’ and ‘color’ for clothing, or ‘processor’ and ‘RAM’ for laptops.
Salesforce Commerce Cloud (formerly Demandware) employs a similar concept with their ‘custom attributes’ feature. It lets you define additional fields for products beyond the standard set, which is crucial for handling diverse product catalogues.
These approaches, while different in implementation, all aim to solve the same problem: maintaining flexibility in product data structures across various categories. The key is finding a balance between standardization and customization.
Hey Iris85, that’s a really interesting question! I’ve been wondering about this too.
Have you looked into how PrestaShop handles product attributes? I heard they use something called ‘product features’ which sounds kinda similar to what you’re describing.
I’m super curious - what made you interested in this topic? Are you building an online store yourself or just exploring e-commerce tech?
It’d be cool to hear more about what you’ve found so far. Have you come across any other interesting approaches in your research?
Maybe someone else here has experience with smaller or more niche e-commerce platforms? I bet there are some creative solutions out there we haven’t even thought of yet!