How to Add Variants in Magento: A Complete Guide

🎯 Understanding Magento Variants

Variants (or configurable products) allow customers to choose options like size, colour, or material from a single product page. Each combination creates a separate SKU while maintaining a unified shopping experience.

This guide walks you through creating variant products in Magento step by step.

📋 Before You Begin: Create the Parent Product

Start by creating a new product and completing the required fields:

🏷️ Product Name — The name customers will see

🔢 SKU — Your stock keeping unit (Magento auto-generates this from the product name — consider adding a suffix like "00" to keep it distinct)

💰 Price — The base price for this product

Save the initial product before proceeding to variant configuration.

⚙️ Adding Variant Configurations

Navigate to the Configurations panel within your product and click Create Configuration.

This launches the four-step configuration wizard.

Step 1️⃣ — Select or Create Attributes

The attribute screen allows you to choose existing attributes or create new ones for your variants.

To create a new attribute:

  1. Click Create New Attribute
  2. Complete the attribute information (e.g., "Colour" or "Size")
  3. Save the attribute

The new attribute will now appear in your available options. Repeat this process to add additional variant attributes as needed.

To proceed:

☑️ Select all the attributes you want to use for this product's variants

➡️ Click Next to continue

Step 2️⃣ — Add Attribute Values

With your attributes selected, you now need to define the specific values for each.

📊 How variants multiply:

The number of variant products created equals the combination of all values. For example:

  • 2 attributes × 5 values each = 25 variant products
  • Size (S, M, L, XL) × Colour (Red, Blue, Green) = 12 variants

Enter your values for each attribute:

🎨 Colour — Red, Blue, Green, Black, White

📏 Size — XS, S, M, L, XL

➡️ Click Next when all values are entered

Step 3️⃣ — Configure Images, Prices, and Quantities

This step lets you assign specific data to your variants efficiently, saving significant time compared to editing each product individually.

🖼️ Images

Choose how to assign images to variants:

📷 Apply unique images by attribute — Assign specific images based on attribute values (e.g., different images for each colour). This ensures the correct image displays when customers select that option.

🖼️ Apply single set of images — Use the same images across all variants

💡 Tip: Have all your variant images ready before starting. Editing images for each product manually afterwards takes considerably more time.

💰 Prices

Choose your pricing approach:

💷 Apply single price — All variants share the same price

📊 Apply unique prices by attribute — Different prices for different options (e.g., larger sizes cost more)

📦 Quantities

Set stock levels:

🔢 Apply single quantity — Same stock level for all variants

📋 Apply unique quantities — Different stock levels per variant

➡️ Click Next to preview your configuration

Step 4️⃣ — Review and Generate

This final step displays a preview of all variants before they're created.

✅ Review the variant combinations

✅ Verify attribute assignments

✅ Confirm image, price, and quantity settings

Click Generate Products to create your variants. They'll appear in your product catalogue ready for any final adjustments.

✅ Your Variants Are Live

Once generated, your configurable product will display on your storefront with selectable options. Customers can choose their preferred combination, and Magento handles inventory tracking for each variant SKU.

⏱️ The Challenge at Scale

This process works well for individual products. However, consider the time required when managing:

  • Dozens of configurable products
  • Hundreds of variant combinations
  • Regular updates to pricing or availability
  • New colour or size options added seasonally

Each change requires navigating Magento's admin interface and repeating these steps.

🚀 A Faster Approach: PIM Integration

A PIM system transforms variant management entirely:

📤 Bulk Upload — Create variant structures and push them to Magento automatically

🔄 Centralised Updates — Edit variant data in one place; changes sync to Magento instantly

🖼️ Organised Media — Manage all variant images in a central library with automatic assignment

⚡ Time Savings — What takes hours manually can be accomplished in minutes

🛡️ Consistency — Ensure accurate data across all variants without manual checking

With OneTimePIM's Magento connector, variant products are created and maintained from your PIM — giving you powerful editing tools while Magento handles the customer-facing experience.

Book a demo to discover how OneTimePIM can streamline your Magento variant management.

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