Unleash the Power of Variables: A Beginner’s Guide to WooCommerce Variable Products
Want to sell products with different options like size, color, or flavor in your WooCommerce store? Then you need to understand variable products. They’re a fantastic way to avoid creating separate listings for every single variation of an item, keeping your shop organized and your customers happy. This guide will break down how to use variables in WooCommerce, even if you’re a complete newbie.
Think of it this way: imagine selling t-shirts. Instead of creating a separate product for “Red T-Shirt – Size Small,” “Red T-Shirt – Size Medium,” “Blue T-Shirt – Size Small,” and so on, you can have one “T-Shirt” product and let customers choose their desired size and color from dropdown menus. That’s the power of variable products!
Why Use Variable Products?
Here’s why variable products are a game-changer:
- Improved User Experience: Customers can easily find and select the exact variation they want without having to browse through multiple pages.
- Better Organization: Keeps your WooCommerce store tidy and manageable. Fewer products mean less clutter in your dashboard.
- Accurate Inventory Management: You can track stock levels for each specific variation. No more accidentally selling out of a size!
- SEO Benefits: Consolidate product information and reviews under a single product page, boosting its search engine ranking.
- Go to Products > Add New in your WordPress dashboard.
- Enter a name for your product (e.g., “Premium T-Shirt”).
- Add a product description, images, and any other relevant details.
- In the “Product Data” section, you’ll typically see “Simple product” selected. Click the dropdown and choose “Variable product”.
- Color: Red, Blue, Green
- Size: Small, Medium, Large
- Flavor: Chocolate, Vanilla, Strawberry
- Go to the “Attributes” tab.
- In Read more about How To Add Fields To Checkout Woocommerce the dropdown, you can either choose from existing attributes or create a “Custom product attribute.” For this example, let’s create a new attribute for “Size.”
- Type “Size” in the “Name” field.
- In the “Values” field, enter your available sizes, separated by the pipe symbol `|` (Shift + Backslash). For example: `Small | Medium | Large`
- Important: Check the “Used for variations” box. This is crucial!
- Click “Save attribute“.
- Go to the “Variations” tab.
- In the “Add variation” dropdown, choose “Create variations from all attributes” and click “Go“.
- WooCommerce will display a confirmation message like “3 variations added”. Click “OK“. (The number will depend on how many attribute values you used.)
- Image: Upload a specific image for that variation (e.g., an image of the red t-shirt in small).
- SKU: Enter a Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) for inventory tracking.
- Manage stock?: Check the box if you want to track inventory for this specific variation. Set the stock quantity.
- Regular Price: Enter the price for this specific variation.
- Sale Price: Optionally, set a sale price.
- Weight Explore this article on How To Add Handling Fee To Woocommerce With Divi Theme & Dimensions: Enter the weight and dimensions if they vary between variations.
- Upload a picture of a red t-shirt in size small.
- Enter an SKU like `TSHIRT-RED-S`.
- Check the “Manage stock?” box and set the stock quantity to `20`.
- Enter the regular price as `$25`.
- Save the changes.
Step-by-Step: Creating a Variable Product in WooCommerce
Let’s get hands-on. Follow these steps to create your first variable product.
1. Create a New Product:
2. Select “Variable product” from the Product Data dropdown:
3. Create Attributes:
Attributes are the *characteristics* that differentiate your variations. Think of them as the building blocks of your options. Common attributes include:
You can repeat this process for other attributes like “Color” (e.g., Red | Blue | Green).
4. Create Variations:
Now, you’ll combine your attributes to create actual variations of your product.
5. Configure Each Variation:
WooCommerce will now show a list of your variations (e.g., “Any Color, Small”, “Any Color, Medium”, “Any Color, Large”, “Red, Small”, etc.). You need to click the small arrow on each variation to expand it and configure its details.
Don’t forget to save the variations after editing each one.
Example:
Let’s say you have a “Red, Small” variation. You would:
Repeat this process for Discover insights on How To Edit Woocommerce Storefront Theme *every* variation.
6. Save and Publish:
Once you’ve configured all your variations, scroll up and click the “Publish” button (or “Update” if you’re editing an existing product).
Example in Code: Showing Different Content Based on Variation
Sometimes you might want to display different content depending on the selected variation. You can achieve this with a little bit of PHP code in your theme’s `functions.php` file or a custom plugin. Always backup your site before editing these files!
<?php /**
if ( is_product() && $product->is_type( ‘variable’ ) ) {
// Get the selected variation ID.
$variation_id = $_GET[‘variation_id’] ?? 0;
if ( $variation_id ) {
// Get the variation object.
$variation = wc_get_product( $variation_id );
if ( $variation ) {
// Example: Display a specific message for the “Red” color variation.
$color = $variation->get_attribute( ‘pa_color’ ); // Assumes “pa_color” is your color attribute slug
if ( $color === ‘red’ ) {
echo ‘
‘;
}
// Example: Display a specific message based on size
$size = $variation->get_attribute( ‘pa_size’ ); // Assumes “pa_size” is your size attribute slug
if($size === ‘large’){
echo ‘
‘;
}
}
}
}
}
add_action( ‘woocommerce_single_product_summary’, ‘custom_variation_content’, 25 ); // Adjust priority as needed
?>
Explanation:
- This code snippet checks if it’s a single product page and if the product is a variable product.
- It then gets the `variation_id` from Discover insights on How To Use Woocommerce Template In X Theme Icon the URL (this is how WooCommerce identifies the selected variation).
- It retrieves the variation object using `wc_get_product()`.
- Finally, it checks the value of the ‘color’ attribute and displays a specific message if it’s ‘red’.
- Important: Replace `pa_color` and `pa_size` with the *actual slug* of your attribute. The slug is usually a lowercase version of the attribute name with hyphens instead of spaces (e.g., “My Custom Attribute” would have a slug of “pa_my-custom-attribute”). You can usually find the slug in the attributes list in the admin area.
- The function is hooked into the `woocommerce_single_product_summary` action, which means it will display the content within the product summary section. You can adjust the priority (25) to control where the content appears.
Best Practices and Tips
- Use clear and descriptive attribute names and values: Make it easy for customers to understand the options.
- Use high-quality images for each variation: Visuals are crucial!
- Optimize your product descriptions for SEO: Include relevant keywords.
- Monitor your inventory closely: Avoid overselling.
- Consider using WooCommerce plugins to enhance variable product functionality: There are plugins for things like swatches, enhanced variation galleries, and more.
By following these steps and tips, you’ll be well on your way to mastering variable products in WooCommerce and creating a more engaging and user-friendly shopping experience for your customers. Good luck!
