Categories & variants
Categories group products so people can browse. Variants are the versions of one product - small, medium, large; black or white.
Categories
Manage them in Shop > Categories. Each has a name and a slug, and a product belongs to one category. Categories become the filters and browse links on your shop pages.
Keep them shallow and few. Shoppers scan a handful of clear groups; twenty overlapping ones are worse than none.
Variants
A variant is the same product in a different form - not a different product. Use variants when the name, description and photos are shared and only an option differs.
On the product, use Generate variants: define your options and their values, and every combination is created for you. Each combination can then carry its own:
- price
- SKU
- stock quantity
So "T-shirt" is one product with a Size option, not three products.
Which one do I want?
- Two colours of the same mug - one product, a Colour variant.
- A mug and a tote bag - two products, both in a "Gifts" category.
- A mug sold alone and in a gift set - two products, and the set uses Bundle contents.
Stock with variants
With Track stock quantity on, each variant counts down separately - selling out of Medium does not affect Large. The product itself is out of stock only when every variant is.