What are Customizable Attributes?

When it comes to the product information you map onto your product catalogs, the more the merrier. Comprehensive data is key. But sometimes, when using tools that help you store your product content and manage your catalog, you might find yourself limited. Perhaps your product has very specific attributes for which fields don’t exist. 

Where does this leave you? Lacking complete product information that can fully tell the whole story. 

In this case, customizable attributes offer more freedom.

A customizable attribute is the extra or additional information you tag onto your product that isn’t covered by general attribute fields. It allows you to add unique properties to your products. Generally, in a catalog management system, fields exist for attributes, each with set values. However, some of those set values might not match exactly what you’re looking for. In that case, a custom attribute field allows you to create a specific attribute of 

Types of custom attribute fields include:

• The String field allows you to input text-based attributes.
• The Number field is for numerical attributes.
• The Picklist field is for a predefined set of options that standardizes the attributes across catalogs. 

Benefits of Customizable Attributes

The most obvious advantage of the custom attribute is flexibility. You have free reign over how you choose to display your specific product features. Depending on the solution you use, the number of custom attributes you can use might be limited or unlimited (like CatalogForce).

Another benefit to this is that maintains uniformity. If you want your catalogs to reflect the product content you display on other platforms, you need to use the same attribute naming and value schematics. 

Presetting your product attributes reduces the errors that come with manually inputting attributes onto catalogs. It is possible to expand your product information far beyond the bare minimum, without sacrificing quality. 

Overall, this also improves standardization. If you create a picklist field/attribute, you create a set of accepted values that limit the options from which any data entry personnel can choose. For example, say your product is a wrench that comes in five distinct sizes (1/4, 3/8, 1/2, 3/4, 1). In the picklist fields, you will input these five values. That way, these are the only available values or options that can be selected when inputting data onto your catalog, online or otherwise. You avoid choosing any risk of errors and maintain consistent attribute values across catalogs.
When your robust catalog management system includes product information management functionality, it’s simpler to configure your custom attributes in the same place.