Product variants

A variant configuration says how a product of a product type is split into product variants: which attributes split it, and which attributes hold one value for the whole product. Product variants let you manage all versions of one product together. A typical example is a fashion product sold in several sizes.

Product name	Size code	Material	SKU
Shirt with logo	S	Cotton	shirt1-s
Shirt with logo	M	Cotton	shirt1-m
Shirt with logo	L	Cotton	shirt1-l
Shirt uni	S	Linen	shirt2-s
Shirt uni	M	Linen	shirt2-m
Shirt uni	L	Linen	shirt2-l

These are two products, each sold in three sizes. Without product variants they would be six independent products, and a changed text or a new product image would have to be entered six times.

With product variants, Shirt with logo and Shirt uni are two products with three product variants each. Two things decide how:

• The attribute that splits a product into product variants, here Size code. Each of its values becomes one product variant.
• Which attributes hold one value for the whole product and which hold one for each product variant. Here Product name and Material hold one value for the whole product, and SKU one for each product variant.

Both are set in a variant configuration, which belongs to a product type. A variant configuration can split a product more than once, into up to five levels: Color, then size first splits a product by color, then each color by size, and the sizes are its product variants. A level can also split by more than one attribute at once, as the second level of Color, then waist size and inseam length does. A product type can have several variant configurations, and each product uses one of them.

Which attributes can split a product

Only Text, Integer number and Number with decimals attributes that are not translatable can split a product into product variants. When you choose the attribute for a level, the list offers only those. Saving a product type checks the same rule: if a variant configuration splits by any other attribute, Save is refused and the message names the attribute: Couldn’t save the product type. “Color” can’t split products into product variants. Only Text, Integer number and Number with decimals attributes that aren’t translatable can. Choose another attribute.

An attribute a variant configuration splits by is always part of the product type: on the product type’s page its tick cannot be removed (Attribute sections).

Set up a variant configuration

1. In the sidebar, open Settings → Product types and select the product type, or create a new one (Product types).
2. Under Variant configurations, choose New variant configuration.
3. Give it a Name, such as Color, then size.
4. Under Level 1, choose the attribute that splits a product first, such as Color; choose several to split by all of them at once. To split it again, choose Add level and choose the attribute for Level 2, such as Size. A variant configuration has up to 5 levels, and no two levels split by the same attribute.
5. Choose Create. The Variant configuration window opens, where you choose which attributes each level holds (below). Close it when you are done; the variant configuration is listed under Variant configurations, and each attribute it splits by is now included in the product type.
6. Choose Save on the product type, or Create on a product type not yet created. Nothing about the variant configuration is saved before that.

Allow products without product variants, under Variant configurations and available once the product type has a variant configuration, decides whether a product of this type can also be created without product variants. Untick it if every product of this type has product variants.

Choose which attributes each level holds

The Variant configuration window opens when you create a variant configuration, and again when you select one under Variant configurations. It has one column for the whole product and one for each level:

Column	An attribute in it holds
Whole product, One value for the whole product	One value for the whole product, the same for every product variant, such as Product name or Material.
Level 1, By Color	One value for each value of the level’s attribute, such as one set of images for each color.
The last level, such as Level 2, By Size	One value for each product variant, such as its SKU or GTIN.

Drag an attribute to the column where it belongs. The attribute that splits a level stays in that level’s column. Remove from level, the minus beside an attribute, moves it back to Whole product.

Check it

Open Products in the sidebar and choose New product. Select the product type, then the variant configuration, and check that the product editor shows each attribute where you expect it.

Variant fields in an export

An exported product row carries its variant structure as fields — Variant dimensions, Variant path, Parent variant ID and Has product variants. What each holds: record keys.