What are variants?
If you are unsure about what variants are, please look at our article on adding variants before reading the following content.
Variants allow you to add many different versions of the same item really quickly and enable visitors to view the version they want with ease. And you can now give customers even more detail by inserting the exact stock level for each variant of an item, meaning that customers can know when a certain size of dress, for example, is running out of stock. Knowing how to manage stock levels for variants therefore allows you to give users more detail and makes your website look far more professional.
ecommerce, online shop, items, variants, stock,Follow Step-by-Step
If you are unsure about what variants are, please look at our article on adding variants before reading the following content.
Enter an item by clicking on the blue Edit button.
In the boxes on the right hand side, type in the stock level for each variant accordingly.
You can either use the mini arrows to incrementally change a variant's stock levels or simply type in the exact value.
The variant with the asterisk is the one whose price, image and stock level is presented as the default option when someone loads this item.
You can add this asterisk manually when typing in the values for this variant, or you can do this during the bulk spreadsheet upload.
If you don't know about the bulk spreadsheet upload feature, read this article.
If you leave a variant's stock level field blank, that variant will be recorded as having no stock, so be careful to enter the stock levels for every variant.
Use this section to type in the name of the item whose variant stock levels you want to edit.
In the dropdown, select the Individual stock for each variant to manage stock levels for every variant of that particular item.
Choose the One stock level for every item option if you don’t want to manage stock for individual variants.
Use these fields to manually edit stock levels for each variant, just like when you were inside the item.
The stock levels for each item variant are updated automatically when customers make an order for that variant.
You should only select Yes on the Allow zero stock sales option if you have additional levels of stock for this item that are not accounted for on this system.
Generally, you will want to select No, as this will block users from purchasing an item when its stock level reaches zero.
If an item variant's stock level is 5 but I try to purchase 6 units, I will be denied the sixth unit - as shown by the item thumbnail jumping and shaking.
This means that the purchase of the sixth item has been blocked.
If two people both try to buy three units of this item variant when there are only five in stock, the system will allow both of them to add three units to their basket.
In the payment stage, the system does another check of stock levels before sending users through to post-checkout.
The customer who is second to complete payment is returned to the basket, and you will receive an email suggesting you increase stock levels for this item.
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