Shopping cart

Help Center

Variable Product

Variable products are a product type in WooCommerce that lets you offer a set of variations on a product, with control over prices, stock, image and more for each variation. They can be used for a product like a shirt, where you can offer a large, medium and small and in different colors.

 

Adding a Variable Product

Step 1. Set the Product Type

To add a variable product, create a new product or edit an existing one.

  1. Go to: Seller Dashboard > Products.
  2. Click Add Product button or Edit an existing product. The Product Data displays.
  3. Select Variable product from the Product Data dropdown.

Step 2. Add Attributes to Use for Variations

In the Attributes section, add attributes before creating variations — use global attributes that are site-wide or define custom ones specific to a product.

Global Attributes

To use a global attribute:

  1. Create global attributes.
  2. Select one from the dropdown and click Add.
  3. Choose Select all to add all attributes to the variable product (if applicable).
  4. Enable the Used for variations checkbox to tell WooCommerce it’s for your variations.
  5. Click Save attributes.

 

Adding a global attribute

Adding global attribute values

Step 3. Add Variations

To add a variation, go to the Variations Tab

Manually Add a Variation

  1. Select Add variation from the dropdown menu, and select Go.

2. Select attributes for your variation. To change additional data, click the triangle icon to expand the variation.

4. Edit any available data. The only required field is Regular Price.

5. Click Save changes.

Creating All Possible Variations

Select Create variations from all attributes to have WooCommerce create every possible combination of variations and click Go:

It will create a new variation for each and every possible combination of variation attributes (max 50 per run). If you have more possible combinations you can run it again.

If you have two attributes – color (with values blue and green) and size (with values large and small) it creates the following variations:

  • Large Blue
  • Large Green
  • Small Blue
  • Small Green

 

Adding Variation Data

Each variation can have the following properties.

General

  • Enabled – Enable or disable the variation.
  • Downloadable – If this a downloadable variation.
  • Virtual – If this product isn’t physical or shipped, shipping settings are removed.
  • Regular Price (required) – Set the price for this variation.
  • Sale Price (optional) – Set a price for this variation when on sale.
  • Tax status – Taxable, shipping only, none.
  • Tax class – Tax class for this variation. Useful if you are offering variations spanning different tax bands.
  • Stock quantity – Shows if Manage stock? is selected. Allows to set the current stock level for the variation.
  • Allow backorders? – Shows if Manage stock? is selected. Allows to set if backorders are allowed for the variation; if enabled, stock can go below zero.
  • Low stock threshold – Shows if Manage stock? is selected. When the stock for the variation reaches this level you will get a notification email. If not set, the product-wide threshold will be used (see Inventory Management below).