Variants are for controlling groups of items that are similar but have one or more varying factors. An example of Variants is Clothing where you can have multiple sizes and / or colours of an item.
Variants are especially useful on an e-commerce web store as we only need to show the main product and then select Size etc from a dropdown.
Each variance has its own part number for stock control, etc. but we also have a separate part number for the collective group of items. When the group item is selected you are shown the options for that group (normally by selecting an option from a drop-down list). This is especially useful on a web-store as you can display fewer items initially. It is also useful for creating all items in a group quickly or ordering items in a group.
In this example we are going to setup a Variant Group (Sizes - S,M,L), our Variant Options (Small, Medium, Large), our Variant Main Item (TSHIRTXX) and our Variant Items (TSHIRTXX-S, TSHIRTXX-M,TSHIRTXX-L).
Setting up a Variant
-
Navigate to Items\Stock Items
-
Select 'New', select the ‘Variant’ option and enter the Part Number of the main Variant item (without the size option)
-
Confirm the Description, Pricing, Category etc.
-
Select 'Save' (to ensure details are saved before creating Variant options)
-
Select 'Edit' and ensure the 'General' tab is selected
-
Select a Variant Group (If an appropriate one has not been setup see: Setting up Variant Groups and Options below)
-
Optionally, select a second Variant Group (as above)
-
To view or create the Variant options select the 'Items' button (This will show any items linked to this Variant Main Item)
-
To automatically create, select 'New' from the left menu
-
You will be prompted to create the variant items automatically
-
If you click ‘yes’ the system will generate part numbers for every combination of the selected variants
-
If you click no, you can create all the part numbers manually or select from existing stock
Setting up Variant Groups and Options
-
Navigate to items\Stock items
-
Select a Variant Main item and ensure the 'General' tab is selected
-
Click the ‘Groups’ button
-
Select New next to the dropdown menu at the top of the window
-
Fill in details eg: Name = Size (S,M,L), Display Name = Size
-
Select Save
-
Click ‘New Variant’ option on left hand menu
-
Fill in details for variant option e.g. Name = Small, Part No Code = S, Part No Separator = - (Note the Code and Separator determine how the part number is made up if created automatically eg: in this example if the Main Variant item has a part number of TSHIRTXX then this item would be TSHIRTXX-S)
-
Select 'Ok' to Save
-
Repeat for each variant option e.g. Extra Small, Medium, Large, Extra Large, etc.
-
Selling a Variant Item
-
Navigate to Sales
-
Enter your Variant Main Item part no into the sales or purchase order screen e.g. TSHIRTXX
-
You will then have a list of your variant options