Zazzle, is number in a collection permanently set to 36 products?

[Barbara]

I'm asking this question because I have a collection of 51 birth year mugs, ranging from 1940 to 1990. The number of products shown in this collection is now static at 36, and only the first 36, which leaves out the remaining mugs up through 1990. In the past, customers have bought multiple mugs to give as gifts to people of various ages, which is now not going to happen as often because they won't be aware of the full range.

If 36 is all we get, I'll have to break up the set into two collections, which isn't at all optimal.

Zazzle, is this a hard number, meaning you won't be showing anything beyond 36 from now on?

Colorwash's Home

[idraw]

From the FAQ:
What is the limit in the number of items in a collection?  300 products

[Barbara]

Look at one of your products that's in a collection of, say, 50 items. Count the number of products in the collection shown beneath that item on its display page. Mine shows only 36 of the 51 mugs.

If I break up the collection into two, making one collection include 1940 through 1965, because none of those mugs will be in the collection that shows 1966 through 1990, that second collection won't be shown.

Colorwash's Home

[Baylee · Accepted solution]

Granted, the little scrolly thing only shows 36 products as a sample, but clicking on the collection title, just above it, brings up the complete collection. It would be nice if this was a little more obvious, but I wouldn't start breaking up collections in case this detail is improved in the future. 

[Barbara]

I'll be darned. Let me go check... You're right, of course. I never, ever noticed it was hot-linked. I hope customers are more observant than I am. I also hope Zazzle will make the link a little larger than tiny.

[Jadendreamer13]

Maybe in your collection description you can add instructions on how to see more: “to see more of this collection, click the….”

[KeegansCreation]

Can confirm. All the products will show when the collection is viewed in the designer's store. But only 36 show in the scroll on the product page.

Thus collections of >36 products should be broken apart since that is typically where the customer will see it.

Zazzle may have done some data collection on how often customers hit the Next button on the scroll and found it was rarely >6 times.

But wait..

I have Birthday and baby shower collections that are showing in the MP in the new format (cover photo for collection plus collection products on the product page) but none of them have >36 products. But I went to the MP and found somebody's wedding collection that had 42 products and hitting See More Products unfolded the page to all 42 products within the collection.

So if that format gets expanded to more collection types, then the >36 cutoff will no longer be in effect. That makes me think it really is a function of data collection on how many times a customer is willing to hit the Next button. The new format unfolds in blocks of 24 rather than 6 which lets a collection be a whole lot bigger before the customer runs out willingness to hit the Next button.

[Barbara]

@KeegansCreation 

So maybe I should wait to see what Zazzle decides to do about this. I won't be able to see anything until types of collections other than for "events" are allowed equal footing. If I have to break apart the mug collection, it'll probably reduce sales.

Colorwash's Home

[Scott]

This might just be how we're choosing to display things for now. I'm looking for more info.

Generally speaking, we're probably going to be running tests on the product page clear until the holiday rush starts. It's important that we find a nice arrangement for this page because of its importance to sales. As you can tell, we're now putting more weight on how collections are displayed, so my suggestions probably are:

1. Worry more about updating your collections with the new collection type, and add media (Cover Photo, etc) to the Collection. I understand that this is a lot of work, but if you work on it little by little it may seem more manageable.

2. Don't worry too much about how the collection appears on page. We'll probably be testing a variety of styles/appearances. If you think you're seeing a bug then please let us know.

3. I think I'd hold off on making massive collections changes (reducing the number of products, etc). I'd use the new collections backend as your guide as to whether you should add more products to a collection. We may provide some updated guidance once the upcoming holidays are behind us.

[Barbara]

Thanks, Scott. Everything you've said makes perfect sense. The freakout is on a hard pause.

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