Forum Academy Marketplace Showcase Pricing Features

Linking Database with a lot of product variables or not?

Hi Bubblers,

I have a product db where I will hold a lot of products across different categories & subcategories. Think of a big retailer for example Amazon, who would have categories of electronics, sports & outdoors etc.

My base structure for navigation using option sets is Category > Subcategory > Product type.

Each product type would have different details to be completed which could vary quite dramatically. My question is, should I include everything in a single product db or have a linked db to the product that holds all the detail variables. My option sets for the product details is some 25 options at the moment.

Example 1 - Single product db:

  • Title
  • Description
  • Images
  • Category
  • Subcategory
  • Product Type
  • Size
  • Colour etc.
  • List goes on for all the different variations (single inputs only, no stock options for example)

OR

Example 2 - Relationship dbs:

  • Db 1 - Product

    • Title
    • Description
    • Price
    • Images
    • Product details db - linked
  • Db 2 - Product details

    • Category
    • Subcategory
    • Product type
    • Size
    • Colour
    • Brand
    • Gender
    • Again, list goes on for the details

Any help greatly appreciated.
Thanks. Nick