Managing product variants: size, colour and style
A T-shirt in five sizes and four colours is one product for the customer and twenty items for the warehouse. Each has its own stock, often its own SKU, and sometimes its own price. Variants are where catalog data gets complicated, especially when the information comes from suppliers who all structure it differently.
One product or many?
The first decision is how variants are grouped. A common rule: if the customer chooses an option on the same page (size, colour), it is a variant. If the items are different enough to compare side by side (a different model or material), they are separate products.
How suppliers deliver variants
- One row per variant, with a shared model code that links them. The most common and easiest to work with.
- One row per product with sizes or colours listed in one field, sometimes with stock per option in another.
- Nested XML, where variants sit inside a parent product element.
- No variants at all, just separate products whose names differ by size or colour.
Each format needs its own mapping to your structure.
Get the essentials right
A unique SKU per variant
Stock and price updates go to the right variant only if each one has a stable identifier.
Consistent option values
"XL", "Xl" and "extra large" should be one value. The same goes for colours. Inconsistent values break filters and confuse customers.
Stock per variant
A product "in stock" with every popular size sold out is a frustrating experience. Show availability per option.
Images per variant
Customers expect the photo to change when they pick a colour. Map variant images where suppliers provide them.
Size charts
Sizes differ between brands. A size chart per brand reduces returns more than almost anything else in clothing and footwear.
Common mistakes
- Creating every variant as a separate product, which floods the catalog and search results.
- Grouping items that should be separate, so the price shown is misleading.
- Keeping sold-out variants selectable.
Variants and supplier data in YfiFX
In YfiFX, prices and stock are calculated per item in the Master price list, so each variant that has its own code in the supplier's price list gets its own purchase price, markup and stock. Supplier fields for size, colour and other options are mapped to your attributes once, which keeps values consistent across suppliers. The result is exported to your store or feed with the rest of the catalog.
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