Product variations

If your product has options, you can create variations for it. Variations are unique sets of options (such as size, color, material, etc.) that exist for this particular product.

For example, if a t-shirt comes in two sizes (small and medium) and two colors (yellow and gray), it has four variants:

You can create variations for products that have two or more options with different values (like in the example above). You can also create variations for products that have only one option with several values (e.g., sizes S, M, and L). You can create as many variations as you like.

Product variations can help you:

• Assign different images for every set of options your product has (frequently used for apparel and shoes)
• Automatically adjust prices depending on the options your customer selects
• Track inventory with unique SKUs for each set of options to prevent overselling
• Specify weight, length, width, and height for each combination of options your product has to get more precise shipping rates at checkout

Adding product variations

Each product can have an unlimited number of options. Based on them, you can create an unlimited number of variations for this particular product. The combinations of options, as well as the options themselves, can vary from product to product. For example, one product has different sizes and colors, while another has different styles and materials.

To create a product variation:

That's it! Now your customers can choose from options and see corresponding pictures and prices while browsing. This is how variations can look in the storefront:

Editing product variations

You can use several tools to update product variations in your store:

• First, you can always update variations for a product on the product editing page in Catalog → Products, in the Options → Variations tab. This way, you can update all the properties for a chosen variation.
• Second, you can update product variations in bulk using the Bulk Product Editor tool. Just choose the products you need for editing in Catalog → Products, enter the Bulk Product Editor and scroll the table down to edit their variations.
  Bulk Product Editor allows you to update SKU, image, price (including the “compare to” price), weight, quantity (including the quantity for the low stock notifications), out of stock behavior, and whether the variation requires shipping or not.
• Third, you can use the built-in import tool. You can't create new variations using import, but you can update existing variations if they have unique SKUs (in this case, they are treated as individual products). To do that, you need to include these variations with their SKUs in a CSV file. Then you can update their name, price, weight, etc., the same way as you update other products via import.
  
  You cannot update the quantity for the low stock notifications and behavior when out of stock with import.

FAQ

Here is a shortlist of answers to frequent questions along with some tips to use variations effectively in your store.

If I add a variation to a product, does that count as an additional product?

No. You can add as many product variations as you need, they don't count towards product limits. We count products based on the number of products shown on the Products page in your store's admin.

Can I have different stock for each product size?

An item should have its own SKU and stock quantity so that its stock level can be automatically reduced upon sales. You can set a separate SKU and quantity in stock for every product variation in your store, i.e. for every combination of different options (usually it’s a combination of color and size).

Let’s say, you sell shoes and offer them in certain colors (Black, Red) and sizes (5, 5.5, 6, 6.5 7, or Large, Small, Medium, etc). You want to track the inventory level of every variation of the product (e.g., Red 7) to know when it’s time to replenish its stock and make this variation unavailable for online purchase when its stock reaches zero. For this, first, add options Color and Size to that product and create Color + Size variations out of these options’ values, then assign a unique SKU and specify the stock quantity and out of stock behavior ("Show on storefront") for every product variation.

Learn more about managing the stock of products with options (variations).

What if variation options differ between products?

There may be cases when you do not have consistent options across variations. For example, you have white t-shirts in sizes XS, S, M and L, and red t-shirts only in size S and M. You need to make sure your customers do not order red t-shirts in XS or L sizes.

For such situations we recommend that you create the variations for unavailable combinations of product options (for red t-shirts in XS and L in our example) and mark them as "Out of Stock":

Is it possible to use the same SKU for the base product and its variations?

Yes, you can use the same SKU for a product and its variations if you don't need to track inventory for variations separately. However, your store will prompt you to set a unique SKU once you change a variation stock, price, or weight. Once the variation is treated as a separate item, it should have its own SKU.

How to set the default variation?

A default product variation will show in the product details page based on the product's default set of options. For example, if "Gray" is the default option for "Color" and "Small" is the default for "Size", the variation "Gray, Small" will be this default variation. Your clients will see this when visiting your product details page for the first time:

If you do not need any preselected defaults, just tick the setting Do not preselect default value for product options in the Options tab where you edit product details:

Is it possible to use bulk discounts for variations?

Yes, you can offer tiered pricing for each variation based on quantity tiers. You can find the detailed instruction here: Bulk discount pricing for product variation.