Product Variants allow you to sell different versions of the same product, such as different sizes, colors, patterns, or other customer-selectable options.
Variants are created from product attributes. For example, a shirt with Color and Size options can generate variants such as Blue | Small, Blue | Medium, Orange | Small, and Orange | Medium.
This article covers:
- Options for Variants
- Enabling Product Variants
- Managing Variants
- Connecting images to variant options
- Editing variants
- Bulk editing variants
Options for Variants
The Options for Variants section controls how product options are shown to customers on the storefront.
Choosing a Storefront Display Type
At the top of the Options for Variants section, choose how customers should select variant options on the storefront.
The available display types are:
- Dropdowns
- Tags
Dropdowns
Use Dropdowns if you want customers to select each option from a dropdown menu.
For example, a product with Size and Color options would show one dropdown for Size and another dropdown for Color.
Tags
Use Tags if you want customers to select each option from clickable buttons or swatches.
This is especially useful when options should be displayed visually, such as colors or patterns.
Click More details to view examples of how Dropdowns and Tags will appear on the storefront.
Adding Variant Options
To add a variant option, select an attribute in the Name field.
While both Descriptive Attributes and Variant Options are derived from Attributes, descriptive attributes describe facts about a product, such as vendor, material, or brand. Variant options are customer-selectable choices that create different versions of the product, such as size or color. If you haven't already configured attributes that you'd like to use as variant options (typically attributes like color and size, for which there exist multiple versions of the product), read the Product Attributes article.
Note: The same attribute cannot be used as both a descriptive attribute and a variant option on the same product.
Then, select one or more values in the Value field.
For example:
-
Name: Color
Values: Ink, Faded Blue -
Name: Size
Values: XS, S, M, L, XL
You can also create values for your attributes directly from this section, using the same attribute creation flow used for Descriptive Attributes.
A product can have multiple variant options, and each option attribute can have multiple values.
The order of the option attributes and values determines how they are displayed to customers on the storefront.
Enabling Product Variants
After adding option attributes and values, turn on Enable Product Variants.
This generates variants for all option value combinations and allows customers to select from those options on the storefront.
For example, if a product has:
- 2 colors
- 8 sizes
The system will generate 16 variants.
If Enable Product Variants is turned off, the Options for Variants section is treated as inactive. Customers will not see the option values on the storefront, and the product will behave like a single product without selectable size, color, or other variant options.
Managing Variants
Once product variants are enabled, the Manage Variants section appears.
This section displays the generated variants for the product.
The variant list includes:
- Variant name
- Price
- Inventory status
- Visibility
Variant names are generated automatically from the selected option values and cannot be manually renamed.
For example, a variant name may appear as Ink | XL or Faded Blue | Small.
The Manage Variants section includes two actions:
- Connect Images
- Edit Variants
Connecting Images to Variant Options
Use Connect Images to connect product images to specific option values.
This is most commonly used for color options.
For example, if a product is available in Ink and Faded Blue, you can connect the correct product images to each color value.
When a customer selects that option value on the storefront, the product images will update to show the images connected to that value.
Selecting an Option
First, choose the option attribute you want to connect images to.
For example, select Color if you want to connect images to each color value.
The modal will then display each value for that option.
Adding Images
For each option value, you can either:
- Click Choose to select from images already uploaded in the product's General Details section.
- Click Upload to upload an image directly for that option value.
If you click Choose, you will see a modal where you can select images from your general image gallery to connect to that specific option.
If you click Upload, you'll be able to upload images directly and connect them to your selected option value, but they are not added to the general product image library which is shown before the customer selects color/size or other variant options.
Each option value can have multiple images connected to it, but one image cannot be connected to multiple attribute values. Also, right now you can only connect images like this to a single attribute and its values.
Removing Connected Images
To remove a connected image, hover over the image and click the trash icon.
Applying Image Connections
After connecting images, click Apply to save the image connections.
Note: If you change the selected option attribute in the Connect Images modal, existing image connections for the previously selected option will be lost.
Editing Variants
Use Edit Variants to manage variant-level pricing, SKU, inventory, weight, dimensions, and visibility.
The Edit Variants modal allows you to update each variant individually or apply bulk changes to selected variants.
At the top of the modal, choose the inventory management type for the variants:
- Stock Status
- Track Inventory
These settings apply to all variants for the product.
Stock Status
Use Stock Status when you want to manually mark each variant as either in stock or out of stock.
When Stock Status is selected, each variant has an inventory dropdown where you can choose:
- In Stock
- Out of Stock
Track Inventory
Use Track Inventory when you want to enter exact inventory quantities for each variant.
When Track Inventory is selected, each variant has an inventory field where you can enter the quantity available for that variant.
When Track Inventory is selected, you can also enable Allow customers to purchase when out of stock.
This setting allows customers to continue purchasing variants after inventory reaches zero.
Note: When variants are enabled, the inventory settings in the Edit Variants modal take priority over the general product inventory settings. If you have already configured general product inventory settings before creating variants, those settings will auto-populate into these fields.
Filtering Variants
Use the Filter option to filter the variant list by selected option values.
For example, you can filter the list to only show variants that include:
- Blue
- XL
- Ink
- Small
This is useful when a product has many variants and you only want to edit a specific group. When you have selected filter options, hit Apply to view the variants that match your filter.
Variant Fields
Each variant row includes fields that can be edited in the modal.
Price or Modifier
If the product uses regular pricing, each variant can have its own editable price.
You can also enable a sale on particular variant, and much like in the Product Price settings, you can set the sale price and the date range for the sale.
If the product uses tiered pricing, variant prices are managed using a price modifier instead.
A price modifier increases the product's price compared to the base tiered pricing that is set up in the Product Pricing settings. You can learn more about configuring tiered or regular pricing in the Product Price and Inventory article.
For example, if a special color should cost more, you can add a positive modifier to those variants.
SKU
Each variant has its own SKU.
If a product-level SKU exists before variants are created, variant SKUs are generated from that SKU using numbered endings, such as:
- GENERALSKU-1
- GENERALSKU-2
- GENERALSKU-3
If no product-level SKU exists, SKUs may be generated automatically. You can manually edit variant SKUs as needed.
Inventory
The inventory field depends on the selected inventory management type.
If Stock Status is selected, each variant has an In Stock / Out of Stock dropdown.
If Track Inventory is selected, each variant has a quantity field.
Weight
Use the Weight field to set a variant-specific weight.
This is useful when different variants have different shipping weights.
Dimensions
Use the Dimensions field to set variant-specific dimensions.
This is useful when different variants have different package sizes.
Visibility
Use the Visibility toggle to control whether a variant is available to customers.
Hidden variants are not purchasable on the storefront, but the overall product can still remain visible.
For example, if the Blue | Small variant is hidden, customers can still view the product. However:
- If they select Blue, the Small option will no longer be available.
- If they select Small, the Blue option will no longer be available.
This prevents customers from selecting a hidden or unavailable variant combination.
Bulk Editing Variants
You can use the checkboxes on the left side of the variant table to select one or more variants.
Bulk actions apply only to the selected variants.
Available bulk actions include:
- Edit Price or Edit Modifier
- Edit Inventory
- Weight
- Dimensions
- Edit Visibility
You can combine filtering and selection to quickly update a specific group of variants. For example, you can filter to all INK colored variants, select them all using the top right checkbox, and then bulk edit their price modifier, inventory, weight, dimensions, or visibility.
Saving Variant Changes
After making changes in the Edit Variants modal, click Apply.
Your changes WILL NOT be saved if the Apply button is not pressed.
If required information is missing, the modal will not allow the changes to be applied until the required fields are completed.
That's everything you need to know about Product Variants. In the next article, we will cover Search Engine Listing Preview.