Product variations & combinations

Updated Jun 3, 2026 Products & Catalog

Variations let you sell one product in several versions — a T-shirt in Small, Medium and Large, or a mug in three colours. TitanCart builds variations on top of attributes, and it gives you two ways to do it depending on whether the versions should share a single listing or be managed as separate products. This article shows how to set up both.

Note: Variations are built from variation-purpose attributes — they are not the same as Options. An Option (gift wrapping, engraving) adds a charge to the same product; a variation is a genuinely different version of the product. If all you need is a paid add-on, see Options vs. Attributes instead.

1. The two variation modes

When you create a variation attribute you pick one of two purposes, and that choice decides how the versions behave:

Variations (shared product) — one product page where the shopper picks options (Color, Size). Every choice shares the same product code, price and stock. Best when the versions are interchangeable and you track stock as a single pool.
Variations (separate products) — each combination (for example Red / Large) becomes its own product with a unique product code, price and stock. TitanCart links them together with a Product Group so the storefront still shows one page with selectors. Best when each version needs its own price or its own stock count. This is the mode the Options vs. Attributes guide refers to.

Tip: Decide up front. Ask yourself: do these versions need their own stock count or their own price? If yes, use separate products. If they are the same item in a few interchangeable flavours, use a shared product.

2. Step 1 — create a variation attribute

Both modes start the same way, by defining a reusable attribute. Go to Products → Attributes and add an attribute (for example Color or Size). Set its:

Purpose — choose Variations (shared product) or Variations (separate products), depending on the mode you picked above.
Display style — how the choices appear on the storefront: Color Swatches, Product Images, Size Pills, or Dropdown.
Choices — the values shoppers pick from (Red, Blue, Green). For Color Swatches you can give each choice a hex colour for its swatch dot.

Attributes are reusable, so you define Color once and apply it to every product that comes in colours. You can also scope an attribute to specific categories so it only appears where it makes sense.

Tip: Use Color Swatches for colours (with a hex per choice), Size Pills for sizes, Product Images when each choice should swap the product photo, and Dropdown for long lists.

3. Shared variations (one product)

For a Variations (shared product) attribute, everything happens on the product’s Attributes tab — no Product Group needed:

Open the product and go to the Attributes tab.
Find your variation attribute and tick the choices that apply to this product (for example Red, Blue, Black).
If the attribute uses the Product Images display style, assign an image to each checked choice — picking that choice on the storefront then swaps the product photo.
Save.

There is one product, one product code and one stock figure. On the storefront the shopper simply chooses which version they want, all on the same page.

4. Separate-product variations with a Product Group

When each version needs its own price, stock or product code, use a Variations (separate products) attribute together with a Product Group. The Product Group tab appears on a product after it has been saved once. The flow:

On the parent product’s Attributes tab, set this product’s own value for the variation attribute — for example, this is the Red one. Save the product.
Open the Product Group tab and click Create variations.
Tick the other choices you want to generate (Blue, Green). If you have more than one variation attribute — say Color and Size — tick choices on each, and TitanCart previews every combination.
Click create. TitanCart generates a new product for each combination — Color × Size produces Red / Small, Red / Medium, Blue / Small, and so on. Each new product is cloned from the parent as a starting point (it copies the price, stock, weight, shipping setting and categories) and is given a fresh unique product code. Each is named after the parent plus its combination, like Cotton Tee – Blue / Large, and the parent itself is renamed to include its own combination label.
Open each generated product and set its real price and stock wherever they differ from the parent.

From the same tab you can also Add existing products to the group, or Remove a member. Each group has a group code you can edit.

Note: What Create variations does — and doesn’t. It clones the parent as a convenient starting point; it copies the price, stock and weight rather than splitting them, so all the new versions begin identical — that is why you then edit each one. And removing a product from the group only unlinks it; the product itself is not deleted.

Note: The Product Group workflow is built in, controlled by the Product Variations toggle under Extensions → Installed Extensions. It is on by default. If the Product Group tab is missing, confirm that toggle is enabled and that the product has been saved at least once.

5. What the customer sees

On the storefront a Product Group is shown as a single product page with variation selectors — colour swatches, size pills or a dropdown, matching the attribute’s display style. Choosing a combination switches the page to that member product and updates its price, stock status and product code. A shared-variation product shows the same kind of selectors but stays on one product the whole time.

Troubleshooting

Create variations is empty / lists nothing. It only offers attributes where this product already has a saved variation value. Set the attribute’s value on the Attributes tab and save the product first, then reopen the Product Group tab.
I see “This product has no saved value for…”. Same cause — go to the Attributes tab, choose this product’s own variation value (for example Red), save, then try Create variations again.
My new variations all have the same price and stock. That is expected — Create variations clones the parent as a starting point. Open each generated product and set its own price and stock.
The Product Group tab is missing. It appears only after the product has been saved once, and only when the Product Variations toggle is enabled under Extensions → Installed Extensions.
I want a paid add-on, not a separate version. That is an Option, not a variation — see Options vs. Attributes.