A T-shirt that comes in three sizes and two colours is six different things on your shelf. If you record it as one product with one stock number, you'll know you have 40 shirts and not know that all the Mediums are gone.
Tabs handles this with options. You say what the product comes in, and Tabs makes one variant for each combination. Every variant has its own price, its own stock count and its own SKU.
The words Tabs uses
| Word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Option | Something the product comes in | Size, Colour |
| Value | One choice within an option | Medium, Red |
| Variant | One exact combination you can sell | Red / Medium |
A product with no options is a single item. It still has one variant behind the scenes, which is why stock pages talk about variants even for a bag of rice.
Setting up options on a new product
When you add a product, choose Several options on the Options step.
- Name the first option, such as Colour.
- Type its values. Press Enter or a comma after each one, or paste a whole list.
- Press Add another option if you need a second one, such as Size.
Tabs shows how many variants this makes as you type. Colour with Red and Blue, and Size with S, M and L, makes six.
The first option is the one your variants are grouped by in lists, so put the one you think in first. A clothes shop usually wants Colour first. A shoe shop might want Size. Drag options and values to reorder them.
You can add a photo for each value at this point. Give Red the red photo and every Red variant shows it.
Pricing many variants at once
On the next step, Tabs lists every combination in a grid, one row each. Each row needs a cost price and a sale price.
You don't have to type them one by one. Press Set for many and fill in a value for every variant, or only for those with a certain value. If every Large costs ₦500 more, set the price for all, then set it again for Large only.
You can do the same for stock, reorder levels and photos.
If there's a combination you don't sell, take its row out. It moves to a Removed list under the grid, and you can bring it back from there.
Leave the SKU column blank and Tabs makes a SKU for each variant. If you type your own and two match, Tabs tells you before you save.
A worked example
You sell a Classic tee at ₦9,500. It comes in Red and Black, in S, M, L and XL. XL costs you more, so you sell it at ₦10,500.
Colour: Red, Black. Size: S, M, L, XL. That's eight variants. Use Set for many to put ₦9,500 on all eight, then choose Size XL and set ₦10,500. Type the stock for each row, save, and you're done in about two minutes.
Working with variants afterwards
Open the product and go to its Variants tab. The four figures at the top cover the whole product: how many are in stock, the price range, and the average margin.
Change a price or stock count in place. Click the number, type the new one, and press Enter. Esc puts it back.
Find the ones that need attention. Use the filters for low stock, out of stock, missing cost and discontinued. Search by variant, SKU or barcode.
Change several at once. Tick the variants you want, then choose what to do: set prices, export them to a file, send them for repair, return them to a supplier, or remove them.
Edit one fully. Open a variant to give it its own photos, barcode, weight, reorder level and custom fields.
See its history. Each variant has a stock history, with a chart of its level over time, and a status history.
Changing the options later
Shops change. You start stocking a new colour, or you drop a size.
Open the product and choose Edit options. You can add values, rename them, remove them, or add and remove whole options. Double-click a value to rename it. A rename keeps the variant's prices, stock and history, so use it to fix a spelling.
Nothing is saved straight away. Press Review changes and Tabs shows exactly what will happen: which variants will be created and which will go. You confirm only when you're happy.
A few things Tabs asks about first:
- A new value makes new variants. They start at the prices of the variant they're based on, with no stock.
- Removing a value that still has stock. Tabs points it out so you don't lose track of goods.
- Removing a whole option can leave two variants looking the same. Red / M and Red / L are both just Red once Size is gone. Tabs asks which one to keep, and whether to add the others' stock to it or set it to zero.
Turning a single item into a product with options
You sold a mug in one colour, and now it comes in three.
Open the product and choose Add options. Add Colour with White, Blue and Green. Tabs asks which value is the one you have now. Say it's White. Your existing stock, SKU and prices stay with White. Blue and Green are created at the same prices with no stock, ready for you to count in.
When a variant is removed
A variant that has never had stock is simply deleted.
A variant that has ever had stock is kept as discontinued, with its stock and history. That way your past sales and your stock history still add up. You'll find discontinued variants under their own filter on the Variants tab.
A product must keep at least one variant that isn't discontinued.
Taking a variant off sale for a while
Sometimes an item isn't gone, it just can't be sold right now. Select one or more variants and choose:
- Send for repair. It stops being sellable while it's being fixed.
- Return to supplier. It stops being sellable and is recorded as sent back to the supplier you pick.
- Put back on sale when it's ready again.
Tabs asks you to say why, and keeps each change in the variant's status history. On the Products page, a product with four sizes on sale and one in repair shows both.
Very large products
A product with many options can make a lot of variants. Past about 2,000, Tabs creates them in the background. The product exists straight away and the variants arrive over the next moments. You can leave the page and it carries on.