Configure product variants

When products offered for rental have variants (such as sizes or colors) so that your customers can choose the variant that suits them, you need to create one product for each available variant. On the back-office platform, these variants will appear individually as standard products in the context of a standard rental. This may also be the case on the front-end. However, to improve the customer experience, you have the option to manage these variants differently, and to group the variants under a single product on the front-end. The "grouped" management of variants will also be beneficial in the context of renting product packs if a variant must be chosen for one of the products.

Managing variants for your front-end. To display variants in a grouped manner under the same product, and allow your customers to choose the variant that suits them from a dropdown list, as shown in the image below, you must first create one product per variant. Then go to the product list, under the Catalogue - Products menu. For our example, we will offer a diving vest in 2 different sizes: S and M. We have therefore created 2 "Diving vest" products, and differentiated the sizes by giving them two different references. Click on the product that will be offered by default, to enter the product page. Click on 'Edit'.

Then on the "Product variants" tab. The search field allows you to find the products created for the variants. Select the product(s) to group as a variant with the default product.

Modifying the display of products in the list. What will appear in the dropdown list shown in step 1 is the product name. As it stands, the list would appear like this on the default product. Note that individual products will not have the dropdown list; the option will only be present on the default product. It is therefore necessary to improve the user experience for your customers. Always with clarity and fluidity for your customers in mind, you have the option to choose the text that will be displayed in the list by clicking on the pencil icon located to the right of the product name. You can now edit the product name. Here we chose to enter the size for this product. This operation only modifies the product name for its display in the dropdown list on your front-end. We therefore entered "Size S" for this variant.

Then saved. Then "Size M" for the second variant. And saved again.

Optional - You can add an invitation text for the selection. This text will be displayed on the front-end at the top of the variant selection dropdown list, and will force your customer to choose a variant in order to continue. If you do not configure any text, the default product will be selected by default in the dropdown list. Optional - You can define a default product name. This product name will be displayed on category page lists and on the default product page on the front-end, instead of the product name defined in the back-office. For example, if your default product is called "Diving vest size S", you can choose to display "Diving vest" instead so that your customer understands that size S is not imposed on them. When you have finished your configuration, click "Save", below the variants block, to confirm.

Displaying variant products on the platform (back end). To create a rental for a variant product in the back end, the procedure is the same as for any other product. Select the category in which it is located. Search for the product. Select the version that suites you.

In the context of renting a pack, a variant product will also require a choice to be made. Here is an example of a pack display containing a product with variants. For a rental subscription made on the back-end platform, it is at the cart step that you will be able to select the variant to include in the pack. Click on "Choose another product variant".

Select the desired variant. With the arrival of product duplication, creating variants can be made easier. Find out how in this article.