filtering by manufacture?

[petesouthwest]

Is it possible to set up the cart so that when a customer has chosen a product category they can further filter on brand?

For example, if I was selling cars I would have categories for saloon, estate, hatch etc, so after a customer has chosen 'saloon' I would like to offer them the ability to filter the huge list by make, so for example they could choose Audi, and then only see audi saloons.

Is that possible? How would I do it?

Many thanks
Pete

[Kermy]

I did this sort of thing at http://www.discountstyling.co.uk - a huge range or car bodykits needed this level of differentiation. Basically the site is set up with a large number of sections - each kit type section has further subsections for each car maufacturer.

The menu isn't shown as a list, instead its two javascript-driven drop-down lists to save on screen space and make it easier for customers to see what they're looking at.

Is this the sort of thing you were looking for?

[petesouthwest]

I did this sort of thing at http://www.discountstyling.co.uk - a huge range or car bodykits needed this level of differentiation. Basically the site is set up with a large number of sections - each kit type section has further subsections for each car maufacturer.

The menu isn't shown as a list, instead its two javascript-driven drop-down lists to save on screen space and make it easier for customers to see what they're looking at.

Is this the sort of thing you were looking for?

Hi
Its similiar to what I was after. The only disadvantage for me is that its impossible to show them all and sort on say price. For example, using the illustration I started with, if I wanted the cheapest saloon car, I could choose Saloon and easily see which is the cheapest or most expensive. With your example I would have to know which makes are the cheapest and check them indevidually, while comparing in my head the prices. Its only a small difference, but for a customer it can make a large difference to the useability of the site.

[Kermy]

The example I posted does force you to choose a specific manufacturer and model, but you could easily include an 'any' option in both those fields. All my solution does is narrow down the search terms with the checkboxes instead of a user input box, giving an optional price criteria. The customer then sees all the relevant search results, which (I'm assuming) are sorted into price order.

[pinbrook]

We've done this with a customvar, which allows you to search using the customvar as a choice in a drop down box.

the actual detail escapes me now, but it can be seen at http://www.venus365.co.uk/

[jont]

As with Jo I do something similar using a CUSTOMVAR set against each product - make sure it is ticked as "searchable" and then under View | Search Setting | Searchable Properties select the CUSTOMVAR from the drop down and enter the variables as needed