How To Set 2 Different Variation In Woocommerce

How to Set Up Two Different Variations in WooCommerce: A Comprehensive Guide

Introduction:

WooCommerce, the leading e-commerce platform for WordPress, offers incredible flexibility when it comes to selling products. A crucial aspect of this flexibility is the ability to offer product variations, allowing customers to choose the perfect fit based on their needs. While single variations (like size for a t-shirt) are common, you might need to offer products with two or more different attributes like “Size” and “Color.” This guide will walk you through the process of setting up two distinct variations in WooCommerce, empowering you to provide a richer shopping experience for your customers and ultimately boost your sales. We’ll cover everything from creating the attributes to assigning them to your products and troubleshooting common issues.

Main Part: Setting Up Dual Variations in WooCommerce

This section will breakdown the process into easy-to-follow steps, making sure you understand how to effectively implement two different variations for your WooCommerce products.

Step 1: Creating Product Attributes

Before you can create variations, you need to define the attributes your product will use. Think of attributes as characteristics like size, color, material, etc. In our example, we’ll use “Size” and “Color.”

1. Navigate to Products > Attributes: In your WordPress dashboard, go to Products and click on Attributes.

2. Add Your First Attribute (e.g., Size):

• In the “Add new attribute” section, enter “Size” in the Name field.
• You can leave the “Slug” field blank; WooCommerce will automatically generate one.
• Enable the “Enable archives?” option if you want to create archive pages for each size. This is optional.
• Select “Select terms” from the “Default sort order” dropdown. This is important to keep your variations in an order you want to see on the front end.
• Click “Add attribute.”

3. Add Terms to Your Attribute (e.g., S, M, L):

• After adding the attribute, you’ll see it listed on the right-hand side.
• Click “Configure terms” next to the “Size” attribute.
• Add each size (e.g., S, M, L) one at a time using the “Add new Size” form. Again, leave the slug blank if you wish.

4. Repeat for Your Second Attribute (e.g., Color): Follow steps 2 and 3 to create the “Color” attribute and its terms (e.g., Red, Blue, Green).

Step 2: Creating a Variable Product

Now that you have your attributes and terms, it’s time to create a variable product.

1. Add a New Product or Edit an Existing One: Go to Products > Add New (or edit an existing product).

2. Select “Variable product” from the Product Data dropdown: This is located in the “Product data” meta box.

3. Go to the “Attributes” Tab: In the “Product data” meta box, click on the “Attributes” tab.

4. Add Your Attributes:

• Select your “Size” attribute from the “Custom product attribute” dropdown and click “Add.”
• In the newly added “Size” section:
• Select “Select all” to add all available sizes.
• Important: Check the “Used for variations” checkbox. This tells WooCommerce to use this attribute to create variations.
• Repeat this process to add the “Color” attribute, ensuring you also check the “Used for variations” checkbox.

5. Save Attributes: Click the “Save attributes” button.

Step 3: Creating Variations

This is where the magic happens! You’ll now create the actual variations based on the attribute combinations.

1. Go to the “Variations” Tab: Click on the “Variations” tab in the “Product data” meta box.

2. Create Variations:

• Select “Create variations from all attributes” from the dropdown menu and click “Go.” This will automatically create all possible combinations of your attributes (e.g., Small/Red, Small/Blue, Medium/Red, etc.). If you only want to create a subset of combinations, select ‘Add variation’ and individually select the attributes you want.
• WooCommerce will display a message confirming the number of variations created. Click “OK.”

3. Configure Each Variation:

• You’ll now see a list of all the variations created.
• Click the dropdown arrow next to each variation to expand it.
• Configure the following for each variation:
• Image: Add an image that represents the variation (e.g., a red t-shirt for the Small/Red variation).
• SKU: Enter a unique SKU for each variation. This is crucial for inventory management.
• Manage stock?: Check this box if you want to track inventory for this specific variation.
• Price: Enter the price for this variation. Make sure to set a price for each variation, or it will not be purchasable.
• Sale price: If applicable, enter a sale price.
• Weight/Dimensions: Set the weight and dimensions if these vary between variations.
• Shipping Class: Assign a shipping class if applicable.
• Description: Add a description for the specific variation.

4. Save Changes: Once you’ve configured all variations, click the “Save changes” button.

Step 4: Publish or Update Your Product

Finally, publish or update your product to make the variations available to your customers.

Important Considerations:

• Pricing Strategies: Carefully consider your pricing strategy for different variations. Some variations might be more expensive to produce and should be priced accordingly.
• Stock Management: Enable “Manage stock?” on a variation level if you want to track inventory accurately. WooCommerce can alert you when stock levels are low.
• Images: Use high-quality images for each variation to accurately represent the product.
• Attribute Order: Pay attention to the order in which attributes appear on the product page. You can rearrange them in the “Attributes” tab. This is important for user experience.
• Empty Variations: Ensure all required fields (especially price) are filled for each variation. Empty variations will cause issues with adding to cart.

// Example code to retrieve variation price in a custom function

function get_variation_price( $product_id, $variation_id ) {

$product = wc_get_product( $product_id );

$variation = wc_get_product( $variation_id );

if ( $product->is_type( ‘variable’ ) && $variation ) {

return $variation->get_price();

}

return false; // Or handle the case where it’s not a variable product or variation is not found

}

// Usage:

// $price = get_variation_price( 123, 456 ); // Replace 123 with product ID and 456 with variation ID

// if ( $price ) {

// echo “Variation price: ” . wc_price( $price );

// } else {

// echo “Price not found.”;

// }

Conclusion:

Setting up two different variations in WooCommerce might seem daunting initially, but by following these step-by-step instructions, you can easily create a compelling and user-friendly shopping experience for your customers. Remember to carefully plan your attributes, configure each variation thoroughly, and regularly monitor your inventory. By offering product variations, you can cater to a wider range of customer preferences, improve your conversion rates, and ultimately drive more sales for your WooCommerce store. Good luck!