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

  1. Navigate to Items\Stock Items
  2. Select 'New', select the ‘Variant’ option and enter the Part Number of the main Variant item (without the size option)
  3. Confirm the Description, Pricing, Category etc.
  4. Select 'Save' (to ensure details are saved before creating Variant options)
  5. Select 'Edit' and ensure the 'General' tab is selected
  6. Select a Variant Group (If an appropriate one has not been setup see: Setting up Variant Groups and Options below)
  7. Optionally, select a second Variant Group (as above)
  8. To view or create the Variant options select the 'Items' button (This will show any items linked to this Variant Main Item)
  9. To automatically create, select 'New' from the left menu
  10. You will be prompted to create the variant items automatically
  11. If you click ‘yes’ the system will generate part numbers for every combination of the selected variants
  12. If you click no, you can create all the part numbers manually or select from existing stock



Setting up Variant Groups and Options

  1. Navigate to items\Stock items
  2. Select a Variant Main item and ensure the 'General' tab is selected
  3. Click the ‘Groups’ button
  4. Select New next to the dropdown menu at the top of the window
  5. Fill in details eg: Name = Size (S,M,L), Display Name = Size
  6. Select Save
  7. Click ‘New Variant’ option on left hand menu
  8. 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)
  9. Select 'Ok' to Save
  10. Repeat for each variant option e.g. Extra Small, Medium, Large, Extra Large, etc.
  11. Selling a Variant Item
  12. Navigate to Sales
  13. Enter your Variant Main Item part no into the sales or purchase order screen e.g. TSHIRTXX
  14. You will then have a list of your variant options