Creating a Configurable Product

Why do I want to make a configurable product?

Configurable products are used when a customer has choices when they buy the product and when you want to track inventory for those choices. Example: if you have a polo shirt in your store that comes in sizes small, medium and large and you want to track how many you have in stock in each size - you want to use a configurable product.



How to Create a Configurable Product

These are the basic steps. You will want to create configurable attributes before you begin. These are lists of size, sub-size, color and other options that make up your customer's choices for the configurable product.

From Store Operations >> Catalog Manage Products

1. Click New Product


2. Make your product type and attribute set selections:
   
   Product Class - Inventory
   
   Product Type -Configurable
   
   Select Attribute Set  


3. Select Configurable Attributes - I've selected basic colors and Adult XS-XL size
   
   
   
   

   

   Attribute Roles : I've defined my configurable options below with roles of color,size and sub-size - this collects those attributes into the combo lists you see below. It also causes sizes and sub sizes to appear in the clickable matrix instead of as a check-box list. This is optional but recommended for Clothing and Footwear retailers.
   
   
   

   

   
   
   Notice I've only select 2 colors and 3 sizes. These are the variations I intend to carry in my store.


4. Click Continue


5. Complete the New Product by entering a product name, SKU, cost, price, supplier, main category and so forth.


6. Click Save - the Configurable product is saved and it's simple variants are created automatically. In the current example 6 variants red:small,medium,large and green small,medium large are created.


7. If you set Sync to Magento = yes then all 7 items the configurable parent and 6 simple variants have been created on your Magento web site as well.

Things to Note

• Simple Variants are assigned SKUs automatically but you can change these in the Configurable items - Alternate IDs tab. You can also enter manufacturer UPCs on this screen for all simple variants as well.


• We automatically add the variant attribute options to the simple variant product description. So Nike Polo becomes Nike Polo-Small-Red and so forth.


• If your variants have different prices be sure to change the store price and web price for the simple variants.


• By default the simple variant products are set to Not Visible Individually - this setting is in the configurable product settings tab. It eliminates the many variants from the manage product list and only presents the single configurable parent. If this is not easier for you simply change the setting in the product record and the simple variants will become visible.
  
  

  

  
  


• Even when they are not visible the simple variants can be edited individually from the associated items tab you can change the cost and price and then use Save and Continue and Back to Parent buttons to jump back to the Configurable Item.