Sometimes price modifiers and additional images are not enough to differentiate your products. Product variations can help you assign different images for product options in your store as well as to track the stock of options like sizes.
Check out a video about variations setup:
Understanding variations
Each possible set of options for a particular product is a variation for that product.
For example, a t-shirt that comes in two sizes (small and medium) and two colors (yellow and gray) has four variants:
Using variations
Variations help organize your store into separate nested products. With the help of Product Variations you can:
- upload separate images to each variant of a product (frequently used for apparel and shoes);
- automatically adjust prices upon customer selection since variations can be individually priced;
- assign unique UPC (EAN) codes to every variation, for example, to product sizes;
- track inventory of product sizes/colors/etc. by setting SKUs and stock levels to variations;
- adjust weight to get more precise shipping rates at checkout.
Creating variations
Step 1 - Create product
Choose or create a product that should come in different colors, sizes, shapes, etc.
Start by adding a new product in Ecwid Control panel → Catalog → Products, + Add new product.
Step 2 - Create options
Add options like colors and sizes to this product so that customers can choose them on the product page.
- Click on a product to edit it.
- Switch to the Options tab and create two options (size and color) by clicking Add new option. Use Drop-down menu and Radio button options to create variations.
- Add values to every option by clicking Add New Value. In our example we add "Small" and "Medium" for the "Size" option and "Yellow" and "Gray" for "Color":
Step 3 - Create variations
Combine options into variations so that you can assign to these variations their own price, SKU, stock quantity, image, weight, volume discounts, sale prices and UPC codes.
- Switch to the Variations tab.
- Click + New Variation:
- Select the color and size for this variation:
- Set the SKU, Price and Weight for the variation.
- Set the stock of the product variant. Click Manage, set the number in stock and the quantity for the low stock notifications:
- Click OK.
- Repeat the steps for all necessary variations:
- Set the stock of the base product to Unlimited:
- Click Save.
- On the product page, click + Add more product features.
- Select Product Variations.
To generate all the possible variations, click on the three dots in the right upper corner → Generate Variations. - Click Add New Variation.
- Select the color and size for this variation and click Create Variation:
- Click on the created variation to set its SKU, price, weight, and stock.
- Disable the stock control for the main product:
Customers can now choose from options and see corresponding pictures while browsing. This is how variations look in the storefront:
You can find another example of a product with variations set up in our demo store here.
F.A.Q. about variations
Here is a short list of answers to frequent questions along with some tips to use variations effectively in your store.
If I add a variation to a product, does that count as an additional product?
No. You can add as many product variations as you need, they don't count towards product limits. Ecwid counts products based on the number of products shown on the Products page in your Ecwid Control Panel.
Can I have different stock for each product size?
Yes. An item should have its own SKU and stock quantity so that its stock level can be automatically reduced upon sales. You can set a separate SKU and quantity in stock for every product variation in your store, i.e. for every combination of different options (usually it’s a combination of color and size).
Let’s say, you sell shoes and offer them in certain colors (Black, Red) and sizes (5, 5.5, 6, 6.5 7, or Large, Small, Medum, etc). You want to track inventory level of every variation of the product (e.g., Red 7) to know when it’s time to replenish its stock and make this variation unavailable for online purchase when its stock reaches zero. For this, first, add options Color and Size to that product and create Color + Size variations out of these options’ values, then assign a unique SKU and specify stock quantity for every product variation.
Learn more about managing stock of products with options (variations).
What if variation options differ between products?
There may be cases when you do not have consistent options across variations. For example, you have gray t-shirts in sizes XS, S, M and L and yellow t-shirts only in size S and M. You need to make sure your customers do not order yellow t-shirts in XS or L sizes.
For such situations we recommend that you create the variations for unavailable combinations of product options (for yellow t-shirts in XS and L in our example) and mark them as "Out of Stock":
Here is how it looks in your Control Panel:
Here is how it works when customers try to choose such variations in your store-:
Is it possible to use the same SKU for the base product and its variations?
Yes, you can use the same SKU for a product and its variations if you don't need to track inventory for variations separately. However, Ecwid will prompt you to set a unique SKU once you change a variation stock, price, or weight. Once the variation is treated as a separate item, it should have its own SKU.
How to set the default variation?
A default product variation will show in the product details page based on the product's default set of options. For example, if "Gray" is the default option for "Color" and "Small" is the default for "Size", the variation "Gray, Small" will be this default variation. Your clients will see this when visiting your product details page for the first time:
If you do not need any preselected defaults, just tick the setting Do not preselect default value for product options in the Options tab where you edit product details:
Can I assign unique UPC/EAN codes to product sizes?
Yes, you can assign unique UPC values to product variations, like colors and sizes:
1. Go to Ecwid control panel → Catalog → Products page;
2. Create or select a product with variations;
3. Go to Options, then Variations tab in the product editing page;
4. Click on Manage link under the Stock column;
5. Add the UPC value for this variation in the UPC field: 
6. Save the changes.
Repeat these steps with other product variations.
Is it possible to use bulk discounts for variations?
Yes, you can offer tiered pricing for each variation based on quantity tiers. You can find the detailed instruction here: Bulk discount pricing.
How to manage variations in bulk
You can update values like stock quantities or prices of existing product variations in bulk by using the built-in import tool in your store.
Besides, the Bulk Product Editor app helps you to manage your product variations in bulk:
- update all your products in bulk or filter those you’d like to change
- update properties like price, weight, quantity, and more
- add and remove options
- add and remove option selections
- enable and disable products in bulk
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