Is it unnecessary to submit product Group Requests?

[1234Shine]

In a Zazzle Help Center article, it says:

"Our algorithms are very accurate when it comes to identifying which products should be grouped together, but there may be times that it might not pick up some of the more subtle nuances in similarity. For those times, we have enabled the ability for Creators to manually request their products be grouped together."

https://help.zazzle.com/hc/en-us/articles/360033801273-How-Design-Themes-are-Created

My understanding from reading the article above is products with the same design will be AUTOMATICALLY grouped and we don't have to "request" that.  The only time we have to manually submit a group request is when you find out later the algorithms accidentally "missed" them.  Am I right?  Have you ever had your products automatically grouped without sending the group requests?

[PacifierCity]

@1234Shine 

Yes.  I have had many product designs automatically grouped.  Yes, I have had many missed.  Yes, I have used the request to group.  It has never worked for me.  I still have a bunch of designs that are not grouped. 

This comes up in the tech forums from time to time and it seems the function is glitchy at best.  It's too bad as this is a neat function, when it works.

PC

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[Fiona]

Hi @1234Shine ,

Many thanks for your inquiry.

You can manually request your products to be grouped if you wish however, they should automatically be grouped together provided each product is the same product type and is featuring the same design. We are currently experiencing a delay with product groupings, it is being worked through at this time.

-Fiona😊

[1234Shine]

@Fiona  Hi, thanks for the clarification.  I have one related question.  Let's say I have two products already grouped by the algorithm.  Six months later, I upload a product of the exact same design but with a new trending background color.  Is the algorithm also programmed to pick up this new product and add it to the EXISTING group automatically ?  Or the new product won't be grouped at all this time UNLESS I submit a group request manually for all 3 products?

[Fiona]

Hi @1234Shine ,

Yes, it should automatically group the new product for you. This should happen as expected but if not, you can always manually request it via the 'grouping' feedback option under 'actions' on your store management page.

-Fiona