How to Set Up Product Variants in WooCommerce: A Beginner’s Guide
WooCommerce is a powerhouse e-commerce platform, and one of its most valuable features is the ability to offer product variants. This means you can sell a single product in different options like sizes, colors, or materials, all from one product page. Imagine selling a t-shirt: you might offer it in sizes Small, Medium, Large, and colors Red, Blue, Green. This allows customers to easily choose exactly what they want.
This guide will walk you through how to set up product variants in WooCommerce, even if you’re a complete beginner. We’ll break it down step-by-step with real-life examples and explanations to help you understand the “why” behind each step.
Why Use Product Variants?
Before we dive in, let’s understand why product variants are crucial for your online store:
- Improved User Experience: Customers can easily find and select the exact product they want without navigating multiple pages. Think of it like shopping for shoes online; you expect to be able to select your size directly on the product page.
- Better Organization: Instead of creating separate products for each variation, you keep everything neatly organized under a single product listing. This is far easier to manage in the long run!
- Increased Sales: Offering more options can lead to more sales. Someone who wasn’t sure about the blue t-shirt might be tempted to buy the red one.
- SEO Benefits: Consolidating variations under one product can improve your SEO, as all the traffic and backlinks are directed to a single page.
- Inventory Management: WooCommerce’s built-in inventory management features make it easy to track stock levels for each variant individually.
- Attribute 1: Name: `Color`, Values: `Red | Blue | Green`, “Used for variations” checked.
- Attribute 2: Name: `Size`, Values: `Small | Medium | Large`, “Used for variations” checked.
Step 1: Creating a Variable Product
First, we need to create a “Variable product” in WooCommerce.
1. Log into your WordPress dashboard.
2. Go to Products > Add New.
3. Enter a product name and description. This is the name that will appear in the store. For example, “Premium Cotton T-Shirt.”
4. In the “Product data” dropdown menu, select “Variable product”. This is crucial!
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Step 2: Adding Attributes
Attributes are the characteristics of your product that will vary. Think size, color, material, or any other distinguishing feature.
1. In the “Product data” section, click on the “Attributes” tab.
2. Click the “Add” button to create a new attribute.
3. In the “Name” field, enter the name of your attribute. For example, “Color” or “Size”.
4. In the “Value(s)” field, enter the different options for that attribute, separating each with the `|` (pipe) character. For example, `Red | Blue | Green` or `Small | Medium | Large`.
5. Crucially, check the “Used for variations” checkbox. This tells WooCommerce to use this attribute to create variations.
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6. Click “Save attributes”.
Example:
Let’s say we’re selling our “Premium Cotton T-Shirt” in different colors (Red, Blue, Green) and sizes (Small, Medium, Large).
You would create two attributes:
Step 3: Creating Variations
Now that you’ve defined your attributes, you can create the actual product variations.
1. In the “Product data” section, click on the “Variations” tab.
2. In Read more about How To Change What Products You Sell In Woocommerce the “Add variation” dropdown menu, select “Create variations from all attributes” and click “Go”. This will automatically create all possible combinations of your attributes (e.g., Red Small, Red Medium, Red Large, Blue Small, Blue Medium, etc.).
 *(Example Image: Replace with your own screenshot)*
3. You’ll see a confirmation message that variations have been added. Click “OK”.
4. Now, you’ll see a list of all the variations that have been created.
5. For each variation, click the expand arrow to open its settings.
Step 4: Configuring Each Variation
This is where you set the specific details for each individual variant.
1. Image: Upload a relevant image for that specific variation. This is especially important for color variations.
2. SKU (Stock Keeping Unit): Assign a unique SKU for each variation to help with inventory management. For example, `TSHIRT-RED-S`.
3. Price: Set the price for this specific variation. It can be different from the base product price. This is where you can also specify a sale price.
4. Manage stock? Check this box if you want to track inventory for this variation.
5. Stock quantity: Enter the number of units you have in stock for this variation.
6. Shipping: Configure weight and dimensions if they differ between variations.
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7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 for each variation. This can be time-consuming, but it’s crucial to ensure accurate information.
Step 5: Save and Publish
1. Once you’ve configured all the variations, click “Save changes” at the bottom of the “Variations” tab.
2. Add categories, tags, and a featured image to your product.
3. Finally, click “Publish” to make your product live.
Example Code Snippet (Adding an attribute programmatically)
While you can manage attributes via the WordPress admin panel, sometimes you might want to add or modify them programmatically. Here’s a PHP snippet to add a custom attribute to a product:
<?php
function add_custom_product_attribute( $product_id, $attribute_name, $attribute_values ) {
$product = wc_get_product( $product_id );
if ( ! is_a( $product, ‘WC_Product’ ) ) {
return false; // Product doesn’t exist
}
$attribute_data = array(
‘name’ => wc_clean( $attribute_name ),
‘value’ => $attribute_values,
‘is_visible’ => 1,
‘is_variation’ => 1,
‘is_taxonomy’ => Check out this post: How To Set Up Woocommerce Elementor 0 // Set to 1 if using a global attribute/taxonomy
);
update_post_meta( $product_id, ‘_product_attributes’, array( wc_clean( $attribute_name ) => $attribute_data ) );
// Save the attribute in the Check out this post: Woocommerce How To Refund A Paypal Payment product object
$product->save();
return true;
}
// Example Usage (Replace values with your actual data):
$product_id = 123; // Replace with the actual product ID
$attribute_name = ‘Material’;
$attribute_values = ‘Cotton | Linen | Silk’;
$result = add_custom_product_attribute( $product_id, $attribute_name, $attribute_values );
if ( $result ) {
echo ‘Custom attribute added successfully!’;
} else {
echo ‘Failed to add custom attribute.’;
}
?>
Important Notes:
- Replace placeholders: Make sure to replace `123` with your actual product ID, and `Cotton | Linen | Silk` with your desired attribute values.
- Backup first: Before running any code directly on your live site, always create a backup of your database and theme.
- Use Child Theme: Always make modifications to your theme in a child theme to avoid losing changes when the parent theme is updated.
Troubleshooting Common Issues
- Variations Not Showing Up: Double-check that you have “Used for variations” checked for the attributes. Also, make sure you haven’t accidentally set the product type to “Simple product” instead of “Variable product.”
- Out of Stock Message Incorrect: Ensure you’ve correctly updated the “Stock quantity” for each variation. Consider enabling WooCommerce’s “Manage stock?” setting.
- Price Display Issues: Verify that you’ve set prices for each variation. If prices are showing as a range, it means you haven’t set prices for all variations.
Conclusion
Setting up product variants in WooCommerce is a vital skill for any online store owner. By following these steps, you can offer your customers a wider range of choices, improve their shopping experience, and ultimately boost your sales. Don’t be afraid to experiment and customize your product variations to best suit your specific needs and product offerings. Good luck!
