Adding Simple Products in Magento: A Complete Guide
📋 Before You Begin: Attribute Sets
Before creating a simple product, you'll need an existing attribute set configured in Magento. This guide uses the "Default" set with a few additional attributes added.
Attribute sets determine which fields appear when you create a product. If you haven't set these up yet, see our guide on creating attribute sets in Magento.
✏️ Creating Your Simple Product
Navigate to Catalog > Products and click Add Product. Select your attribute set, then complete the following fields.
🏷️ Name, SKU, and Price
These three attributes are essential — indicated by the red asterisk next to each field.
📝 Name — How customers will identify your product. Make it clear and descriptive.
🔢 SKU — Your stock keeping unit for inventory tracking. Magento auto-generates an SKU from the product name, but you can edit this to match your existing naming conventions.
💰 Price — The displayed price for customers. Even free items need a price entered (£0.00) so customers know what to expect.
📦 Quantity and Stock Status
These fields control whether your product appears on your website:
🔄 Quantity — The number of units available. When this reaches zero, Magento automatically sets the product to "Out of Stock".
✅ Stock Status — Must be set to "In Stock" for the product to display. Products with no quantity or "Out of Stock" status won't appear to customers.
⚖️ Weight
Weight determines how Magento treats shipping for this product:
📏 With Weight — Product is treated as a physical item requiring a shipping address at checkout.
☁️ No Weight — Product becomes a "Virtual Product" (like a digital download) with no shipping required.
For physical products like a T-shirt, always enter a weight value.
📂 Categories
Assign your product to one or more categories to help customers find it:
🗂️ Select from your existing category structure. For a T-shirt, you might choose "Clothing > Shirts" or similar.
Products can belong to multiple categories if appropriate for your store navigation.
🖼️ Images and Videos
Upload product images by dragging and dropping files or browsing your computer's directories.
Once uploaded, assign each image to a specific role:
🖼️ Base — The main image on the product details page. Use your largest, highest-quality image. Customers can click to zoom if the image exceeds the container size.
📷 Small — Appears on homepage, category pages, search results, and new product lists.
🔲 Thumbnail — Displays below the base image in the product gallery, next to the product in the shopping cart, and in related items sections.
🎨 Swatch — Used in configurable products to show variant options (e.g., different coloured shirts).
💾 Saving and Viewing Your Product
With the basic product data and images complete, save your product. It should now appear in your store.
Your product will also appear in the Catalog > Products grid, showing:
- Product image
- Name and type
- Attribute set
- SKU and price
- Quantity
- Store visibility
⏱️ The Time Challenge
These steps work well for adding individual products. However, repeating this process for hundreds or thousands of products becomes extremely time-consuming.
Consider:
- Each product requires navigating multiple sections
- Image uploads must be done individually
- Attribute data must be entered manually for every item
- Errors are easy to make and tedious to correct
🚀 A Better Solution: PIM Integration
For businesses with substantial catalogues, a PIM system transforms this workflow entirely:
✅ Bulk Data Management — Enter and edit product data across your entire catalogue efficiently
✅ Centralised Media — Manage all product images in one organised library
✅ Automated Sync — Push product data to Magento automatically
✅ Error Reduction — Validation rules catch mistakes before they reach your store
Discover how OneTimePIM's Magento connector can streamline your product management workflow.