Attributes are sometimes confused with 'options', but they are quite different. Options are choices that are available to a customer to select when choosing a product. Attributes on the other hand are fixed pieces of information that apply to the product and cannot be selected or deselected by a customer.

To give an example of usage, a book might have a number of attributes:

• ISBN (unique book number that all books have)

• Publisher

• Author

• Genre (thriller, romance, non-fiction, etc.)

• Format (hardback, paperback, audio book, e-book)

Once created, you can enter the information for each and every book you feature on your site (although there is no requirement to enter any attributes for any item where you don't wish to).