Greetings! Anxious to get started.

[Buttonpusher]

Greetings.  My name is Ken and I am a graphic designer.  I am new to running an online business and I am having difficulty understanding how to apply square tools to my specific business model and product.  I am desperate to get started.

I have a ton of questions and only a small budget.  I am sincerely grateful for any assistance.

Basically I sell one inch buttons. The reason that is important is because when someone hears the term "button" they think traditional "pinback button", the kind that leaves a hole in your shirt. But the one inch format lends itself to other products such as pendants, zipper pulls and more.

We call the one inch button format a "button charm" over just "button".  Currently our design library is 200 different designs and growing.  Buttons are not difficult to make, so much of our differentiator is in the numerous designs we can offer. 

So here is my question:  Would you design your website and list each different product variation as a separate product, (ie.  bumblebee pinback button, bumblebee pendant, bumblebee magnetic charm, bumblebee zipper pull,) or would you list the design only as the item and then create each product as an item variation?  ie.  Bee design > Pendant product variation, Zipper pull product variation, pinback button product variation , etc

[ElisabethB]

Hey @Buttonpusher - thanks for joining the group! My two cents on your question:

If the design/graphic is identical, I would make them variations instead of making separate products. If you're using Square Online for your site, you can add a separate image for each variation that people will see when they select the corresponding option. With the number of designs you already have and more being added, the list of products could get unwieldy pretty quickly. This also centers the design itself as the product, versus the item it's applied to. Hope that makes sense, but would love to hear what others think!

[AdamB]

I agree with what @ElisabethB said. It will give you a product list which is visually all of the designs themselves, and then if I like a design I can choose what formats I want it in. The reverse seems less engaging to me as a buyer and would also have a cumbersome list of variations.

[Buttonpusher]

That sounds logical to me... I tend to agree.  So then it would lead me to the follow up questions

A) Is it possible to apply different volume discount structures to individual product variations?
B) If I wanted to show a collection of featured pendants (which would be an item variation, not an item) How would I do that?

@AdamB  Thank you so much for affirmation!

Ken

[ElisabethB]

Hi @Buttonpusher! Unfortunately, there isn't a way to create volume discounts for online sales in Square (though you can set these up for offline sales in your Square dashboard under Discounts). Square Online supports coupons for specific items, but not for specific item variations. There isn't really a way to showcase only specific item variations, either. You can display featured items and categories and set them to automatically show the most popular items or choose items/categories manually, but that wouldn't really work for what you want to do. Alternatively, you could use the text and image options in Square Online to manually create a "featured item" section, but that's not quite what you're looking for, either. Sorry I don't have a better answer than that! 😕 

[Buttonpusher]

Your answers are fantastic.  I understand its just a tool and tools have limitations. I’m fine with developing a business model that adapts, but figuring out what can be done is key and you’ve been extremely helpful.  So for volume discounts I know now I simply have to create an alterrnative pathway for my customer.   I also have a much better unnderstandiing of my merchandising plan given the specifications you’ve provided.  Thanks so much!

[ElisabethB]

Thank you so much for the kind words, @Buttonpusher! 😊
I'm glad that the information was useful for you! Happy to help out with any additional questions you have as you move forward with your website. 🙌

[Buttonpusher]

@ElisabethB Thought I would share my work around for volume discounts just in case anyone else might find it useful.  All I did was create packaging increment options and then variations for each popular increment.  1, 5, 10 etc.  This gives me the ability to offer volume discounts as each variation is an increase in volume of units at a lower per unit cost.   

Granted, I now must list each product variation as a separate product.  You advised against this as it might be cumbersome and I agree, however, I have a slight advantage you are unaware of.  My product images are not photographs.  They are virtual renderings.  So there is no cumbersome photography aspect.  I can render several product photographs in seconds and they are accurate to the actual product my customer receives.

Thanks again for providing the missing information I needed to overcome this merchandising organization hurdle!

[ElisabethB]

Thanks for sharing that idea, @Buttonpusher - these kinds of tips are so valuable for other folks visiting the community with similar questions. 🙌

[ArtistryBLH]

Hi Elizabeth,

Is there is a way to add an entire inventory by way of uploading an Excel spreadsheet with product information.

Are you able to generate UPC codes this way?

Lori

[ElisabethB]

Hi @ArtistryBLH, and welcome to the group! Yes, you can add items (or update existing items) with a CSV file. Check out our support center article about importing items for more details. You can set a unique SKU for your items, if that is what you meant? UPC is a bit different from a SKU, though - not sure if that answers your question. 🙂 

[Buttonpusher]

After a long delay with some health issues, and finally fully understanding my merchandising and the squareup system, I finally got my website launched.   If you are looking for guidance on working with excel or CSV databases in getting your products uploaded, I believe I have a solid foundation of knowledge and would be glad to share what I know.  Currently, there are over 250 items in my product library.  Some with multiple variations.  Any comments on my site in general would be welcome.  Thanks in advance.  wickedfricken.com