Difference between attribute and variation

  • Resolved SJW

    (@whitsey)


    7 years, 11 months ago

    I have been using WooCommerce for a while but i have just blindly setup attributes and variations without ever thinking – why?

    I did a google search and I got a suggestion for auto complete: “woocommerce difference between attributes and variations” which tells me it is a common search BUT, the results are unrelated.

    Why do I need to set it up twice?

    If I am selling shoes which have sizes – do I need it to be a variable product or can I just use attributes with a simple product somehow?

    As I said – I’ve just been doing the same thing over and over without thinking “Why” and now I’d like to know…

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)

  • Can you try it and let us know? This could save me a lot of trouble. I think I have to use variations anyway because my products are downloads, and the only way to have multiple downloads and product photos for each one is to go through variations.

    this helped me a bit in understanding how it should work: https://docs.woocommerce.com/document/variable-product/

    Plugin Support RK a11n

    (@riaanknoetze)

    A simple way to remember things:

    Variations NEED Attributes;
    Attributes alone DON’T NEED to used variations.

    Attributes can be used in two ways:
    * To give more information about a product (i.e. part number, ISBN number)
    * To be used in a variation where the user selects a variation.

    Why haven’t you tried figuring out earlier!

    Nevertheless,

    In your case, if you are selling shoes with different sizes, you can set it as a Simple Product. But if you have more quantity, it may not work well. So it would be appropriate to make it as a Variable Product.
    An Attribute is an information for the product which your customers see in the product page, where as a Variation is possible options the product will be available in and which can also be seen by your customer in the product description section. Basically, variations help to configure inventory, price, shipping class and other settings of each variation of the product.
    Attributes are necessary for creating variations and you have to set both variations and attributes for the product.

    Read more on how to manage a variable product and Setting attributes.

    • This reply was modified 7 years, 11 months ago by azhar04.
    Thread Starter SJW

    (@whitsey)

    Why haven’t you tried figuring out earlier!

    I’m sorry, Is there a time limit on asking questions?

    As for the rest of the answer – thanks, @riaan cleared that up with his similar answer.

    I would think you’d have searched for the answer sooner as well if you’ve been using it for a while like you say and it’s kind of important for your store to know the difference, given your products need variations.

    I like the way Azhar ironed it out too, it made it a lot more clearer than Riaan’s explanation…or rather complimented it perfectly so I understood it better.

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
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