Product variants are products of identical design and functionality, but with some difference in size, color, and so on. For example, a base product T-Shirt has several color variants: black, red, and white. Each colored T-Shirt is offered in different size variants: large, medium, or small.
Let’s see how this is done:
First, you need to create a base product, a T-Shirt in our example, to hold common properties and indicate that it varies by color, by referencing the type Apparel Style Variant. Based on that structure, you can create variant products of different colors based on this same T-Shirt. Now, if color was the only differentiator between your shirts, you'd be done.
But not everyone is built the same, so you'll want to indicate that each color variant product is available in different sizes by having each one reference the type Apparel Size Variant. With this structure, you can create variant products of different sizes, each one based on one of the T-Shirt's color variants.
Each variant type is intended to cover a specific variation of a base product; for example, one variant type can determine color, another size, and another fit. As you have probably already noticed, variant types are defined in a specific order. A developer can help you create new variant types; for example, in apparel, say the base product Wetsuit references color variants, and these color variants reference size variants, which themselves reference fit variants. But whatever the order these variants are in, it's only the last variant products in this chain that appear in the storefront, correspond to a SKU (Stock Keeping Unit), and can be purchased. In this example, the SKUs are the fit variant products. In our first example the SKUs were size variant products – which makes sense because if you tried purchasing a color variant product, you wouldn't know what size it is. And you can’t purchase a T-Shirt without knowing both the color and size, right?
This is demonstrated in the following example.
Basic Variant Product – Model with Example
- The base product shown in the following image is Men’s short sleeve shirt (nonpurchasable but viewable)
- The intermediate style variant is red (still nonpurchasable)
- The final variant is size: small (purchasable item – small, red shirt)
Basic Variant Products in B2C Accelerator – Structure
In SAP Commerce Cloud, Variant Products are a product structure used in the Business-to-Consumer (B2C) Accelerator framework.
As shown in the following diagram, the base product named 1 has its variantType property set to the StyleVariantProduct type. That tells the system to expect that the two variant products referenced by its variants property will have a style property, used to identify the color. Variant products A and B have style property values of Red and Blue, respectively. Both tell the system that their variants properties reference items of type SizeVariantProduct.
If we look at variant product B, we see that it refers to three SizeVariantProduct items, labeled F, G, and H. Since, as we saw in the previous diagram, SizeVariantProduct extends StyleVariantProduct, products F, G, and H have both a style and a size property. Since they’re children of product B, all three have a style of Blue, and each has a different size property.
Variant products F, G, and H have a null variantType property, which indicates they are the last tier of the variance structure, and thus represent purchasable items. That is, they represent the actual Stock-Keeping Units (SKUs).
Only SKUs are assigned individual pricing and stock info.
Base and Variant Products in the Backoffice
The following image displays Base and Variant product information in the Product View of the Product Cockpit:
The highlighted box icon below the left image indicates that it's a Base Product: The T-Shirt Men Playboard Logo, whose identifier is M35364, located in the Staged catalog version. The image displayed is the red T-Shirt, which is simply for illustration purposes, since this base product isn’t red. In fact, it has no color.
The highlighted factory icon below the right image indicates it is a Variant Product: The T-Shirt Men Playboard Logo Red, whose identifier is M35364_R, located in the Staged Catalog Version.
Note
The variant product’s article number, M35364_R, denotes that it’s the red variant of base product M35664. This is merely an example of the kind of naming convention you may wish to use and has no functional effect on the relationship between base and variant products.
Quick Start Guide to Create Apparel Variant Products in Backoffice
- Create or select your product with basic information in the Product View of the Product Cockpit.
- Select the Variants tab, choose your product variants type from the dropdown (for example, Apparel Style Variant), and save it.
- Select + Create Apparel Style Variant, and provide all required data. The product you defined in step 1 is already preselected as the Base Product. Repeat this step for each style that you want to create. If your product only varies by style (which is to say, color), you are done. Otherwise, perform step 4.
- Repeat steps 1–3 for each style variant product, but this time, select Apparel Size Variant.
Example of an Apparel Variant Product in Backoffice
