Variants and Product Status

Product variants let you sell different versions of one product (for example another colour or size) without creating separate products. This guide shows how to manage variants right inside the product.

Path: Catalog › Products › All Products › [Your product] › Variants tab

What variants are and when to use them

Use variants when a product is available in different versions:

• Colours — red, blue and green versions of one T-shirt
• Sizes — XS, S, M, L, XL of the same garment
• Weights — 250 g and 500 g packs of the same product
• Material — cotton or polyester version of the same shirt

Each variant has its own SKU, stock quantity, price and attribute values.

The Variants tab in the product

You manage variants right in the product editor — in the Variants tab. The number next to the tab name shows how many variants the product has. You do not have to go to another page and the table refreshes itself after every change.

At the top is an overview of the product's options (e.g. Color: Red, Blue; Size: S, M, L) with an Add more options link that opens the variant generator. Below it is the variant table.

Columns: thumbnail, Variant (attribute values), SKU, Price, Sale Price, Cost Price, Stock, Status and actions. The Labels and Tags columns are hidden by default — switch them on (and change the column order) with the Columns button; your browser remembers the setting.

The Open full page link above the table opens the same variants on a separate Product Variants page — handy for products with many variants. Its header has the View Product, Create Variant and Generate variants buttons.

Editing right in the table

You edit SKU, Price, Cost Price and Stock directly in the table: click the cell, type the new value and confirm with Enter or the tick button (press Esc or the cross to cancel). Clicking the variant name or the sale price opens the edit panel with the other details. Switch the Status (active/inactive) with one click on the status dot. Remove a variant's sale with the cross that appears next to the sale price on hover (Remove sale).

Inactive variants are hidden by default — above the table there is a Show hidden variants switch with their count (back with Show only active).

If the product has no variants yet, the tab offers the Create Variant and Generate variants buttons.

Generating variants (in bulk)

The fastest way to create variants is the Generate variants button (on a product that already has variants, the Add more options link). A window opens where you create all combinations at once:

1. Expand the attribute you want to combine (e.g. Size, Color) and tick its values. Attributes the product already varies by are expanded automatically; the others are collapsed so you do not get lost.
2. The Combination preview immediately shows every future variant with an automatically suggested SKU, price and stock. The header shows how many variants will be created (and how many skipped).
3. Enter the Base price and Base stock (prefilled from the product) — they apply to every row and each can be overridden right in the preview.
4. Click Create variants (N).

How the generator makes your work easier:

• Skips existing ones — combinations that already exist are marked ("already exists") and are not created again. You can safely run the generator later — after adding a new attribute value it only adds the new combinations.
• SKU check — two rows with the same SKU are highlighted and block saving.
• Value search and a Select shown button for attributes with many values (undo the selection with Clear selection).
• At most 200 variants can be created at once.

INFO

If you have no attributes with values yet, create them first in Attributes.

Creating or editing a single variant

The Create Variant button or the pencil icon (Edit variant) next to an existing variant opens the edit panel — a window over the table, not a separate page. In one place you set:

• Variant Attributes — the values that set the variant apart (e.g. Color = Red). With the Show other attributes link you can add attributes the product does not vary by yet.
• codes — SKU, Barcode, EAN, GTIN, UPC
• Pricing — regular price, discount (fixed/percentage) with a live calculation of the sale price, cost price and the sale period (sale start/end)
• Inventory — stock quantity, the Allow orders into negative stock option (the variant can be bought even with zero stock) and the delivery policy (see below)
• Physical Properties — weight, dimensions, Requires Shipping
• Variant Images — the variant's own images, or the Use main product images switch
• Labels and Tags — including creating a new label/tag right from the panel

Save your changes with Save; the panel closes and the table refreshes without leaving the page. If you close the panel with unsaved changes, the system asks whether you want to discard them.

What happens with the first variant

When you create the first variant, the system switches the product into variant mode: the price, stock and codes from the product level move to the variant (the store reads them from there from now on) and the Stock tab disappears from the product — stock is now kept per variant. You can undo this with the Revert Variant to Product action (below).

Delivery per variant

Each variant can have its own delivery policy (number of working days when in stock and when not). Set it in the variant's edit panel; empty fields = the variant inherits the values from the product (and the product from Stock Settings).

Variant actions

At the end of each variant row:

• Edit variant (pencil icon) — opens the edit panel
• ⋯ menu › Duplicate — creates a copy of the variant (SKU with a "-copy-…" suffix, status Draft)
• ⋯ menu › Revert Variant to Product — moves the variant's price, stock and codes back to the product and clears them on the variant
• ⋯ menu › Delete — removes the variant permanently

Bulk actions: tick several variants (or all of them with the checkbox in the header). A bar appears above the table where you choose a Field (Price / Sale Price / Cost Price / Stock / Status), enter a Value and click Apply to selected. Delete selected is available too.

Variant statuses

The Status column shows the current status of the variant:

• Active — the variant can be purchased
• Inactive — the variant is not shown in the store
• Draft — a work-in-progress variant (e.g. freshly generated or duplicated), not shown in the store
• Out of Stock — the variant has no stock and cannot be purchased

Archiving a product

Instead of deleting a product we strongly recommend archiving it:

• The product URL stays live — no 404 errors for customers or search engines
• The product is hidden from search results and product listings
• It remains reachable through a direct link if needed

Why archive instead of delete?

If the product was already indexed by search engines or generated sales, deleting it causes 404 errors. Archiving prevents that and protects your SEO ranking.

Featured products

Any product can be marked as Featured. Featured products are shown in higher positions in the product listing and so get better visibility.

Shareable variant links

When a customer selects a variant on a product, the choice is stored in the page address (URL) — for example ?12=red&15=xl. That makes a specific variant shareable and bookmarkable: when someone opens such a link, the product detail preselects that variant. The link also works from a product card in the listing. Other parameters (e.g. utm) are kept.

For search engines the product's canonical address stays without these parameters, so variants do not hurt SEO (no duplicates are created).

Important notes about variants

Inheritance from the main product

Variants inherit some information from the main product: name, description, image gallery (unless you set their own), categories, labels and tags.

Automatically generated names

Variant names are created automatically from the attribute values. For example a product "T-shirt" with Color = Red, Size = M is named "T-shirt - Red - M".

Check the SKUs

Each variant must have a unique SKU within the product. Both the generator and the edit panel warn you about duplicates before saving.

Variant images

Best practice is specific images for each variant (e.g. different photos of the red and the blue T-shirt). If all variants look the same, use the Use main product images switch.

Recommended workflow

1. Create attributes (e.g. Color, Size) — see Attributes.
2. Create the main product and assign these attributes to it.
3. Open the Variants tab in the product and click Generate variants — tick the values and create all combinations at once.
4. Fine-tune prices and stock right in the table, images and other details in the variant's edit panel.

More information

• How to create attributes: Attributes
• How to set stock: Creating Products
• How to manage categories: Categories