There are many options to choose from when it comes to picking a product for your store. However, simple products form the foundation of all other types of products available in Magento. Whether you want to add configurable products or grouped products to your store, you need to set up a simple product page first.
Simple Products in Magento
It is a very basic and the most frequently used feature by store owners and retailers. However, a simple product does not come with any selectable variations. These are products that stand alone on the front end of an e-commerce store.
A simple product that comes with custom settings is called a mixed product. You can complete the advanced settings only after you have completed the basics of a simple product set-up. Let’s discuss the steps to building a simple product page.
Setting up a Simple Product Page
Step 1 – Choosing the Product Type
Step 2 – Selecting the Product Template
Choosing a template for your product page is entirely optional, and you may decide to omit the step if you wish to.
To select the product template, you will need to do one of the following steps –
Step 3 – Fill the Required Fields
You need to mention the following in the Product Details –
Step 4 – Completing the Remaining Product Details
You will notice two types of Tax Class – None and Taxable Goods. Select one type to set your Tax Class.
In case if want to add a product image, here are some steps that you can follow –
To assign the product to a particular category, follow the steps –
Step 5 – Publishing Your Product
It’s the final stage after which your product will get displayed on the store front.
Step 6 – Viewing Your Product Store
You can see your product store by selecting the ‘Customer View’ option located in the upper right corner of the admin panel.
There You Have It!
A complete guide to setting up a simple product store. From here, simple products can be associated to form configurable product type. Or, you can add multiple custom options to the simple product store.
At the front-end, both entities might look the same. However, both are different from many aspects. Let’s look into detail to learn what differentiates simple products with custom options from configurable products with associated simple products.
Simple Products with Custom Options
In the case of simple products with custom options, you can add as many options as possible in the Custom Options tab. You can choose the options of your type. However, for the best product combination, choose the ones that fit the best.
You can also include other product information such as the SKU, product title, extra cost depending on the fixed or percentage of the product’s leading price.
Configurable Products with Simple Product Association
Configurable product store is comparatively more complicated than simple product stores. It acts as one parent page that forms the source of information of all the individual simple products, which could have otherwise been sold individually.
You can manage a configurable product store from the Associated Products tab located in the edit products form.
Other Differences between Configurable Products and Custom Options
Inventory management of custom option variants is not possible. However, in the case of configurable products, it is possible since each variation consists of separate simple products and their respective inventory.
In the case of several custom options, it is not possible to have control over the variations. But configurable products have complete flexibility and control over the variations, which include SKU, pricing, etc.
In the case of custom options, it is easy to work if you have limited number of variants. However, in the case of configurable products, it is not so. That’s because configurable products offer you the ease of working even with big amounts of product variations.
Creating simple products with custom options is easy. But creating configurable products is quite a complex task, and you might need to add specific data in that case.
Bottom Line
Both have its advantages and disadvantages. Even though custom options are easier to configure, it is important to note that configurable product options make it easier to add a multiple number of product variants. And since every variation is a separate product with individual SKU, configurable products are much better from SEO point of view.
It’s up to you which one you would want to set up. Hopefully, you know a lot after reading this article and know which one would suit your business the best. Need help to set up your Magento Product Store? Give us a call!
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