Are you transitioning from a platform that only supports simple products? Or are you looking to streamline your inventory for e-commerce? Whatever the reason, we’re here to help you consolidate (or merge) your products into a more organized system.
What Is a Simple Product?
A simple product doesn’t have multiple options or variants. For example, a banana is likely a simple product—it’s straightforward and doesn’t come in different options.
Here’s an example of a simple product in Thrive:
What Is a Product with Variants?
A product with variants offers multiple options. An easy example is fountain soda, which is available in different flavors as seen here:
What Is a Product with Attributes?
A product with attributes also offers multiple options, but the options will overlap and combine. A classic example is a T-shirt available in different sizes and colors.
Here’s an example in Thrive:
Disclaimer: When using attribute set(s) to create your products, the end product will be new options or variants. Even though the end result is multiple variants, we wanted to differentiate the two because they display and work with our integrations differently.
How to Convert Simple Products to Products with Variants/Attributes
There is no way to consolidate or “merge” these items.
Below we’ll outline the two most popular options for consolidating your simple products into products with variants:
1. One-by-One Conversion
This method is great for building on existing simple products and works best if you only need products with variants. (Note: This method does not work if you want to create a product with attributes. To create attributes, continue reading the Bulk Upload option.)
Steps:
Choose which version of the simple product you’ll keep.
Manually add the variants to that product and transfer quantities.
This can be done in separate tabs to keep it organized on your screen.
Save the new version of the product you want to keep.
Delete the old version of the product to avoid confusion at checkout.
Note: Converting simple products into variants of another product will result in the loss of inventory history.
2. Bulk Upload
This option is ideal for creating multiple products with attribute sets quickly (e.g., for e-commerce).
Steps:
Once you create the new products with variants/attributes, identify and tag the products that will no longer be used by assigning them to a “TO BE DELETED” vendor (this will be helpful in step 5 😉).
Assigning vendors to products can be done from the Vendors page, or via an Edit variants Bulk Upload.
Using SKUs? Since Thrive does not allow duplicate SKUs, you won’t be able to create items with SKUs that already exist in Thrive. If that’s the case, you’ll need to delete the SKUs from the old items (or delete the items in general) before saving the new items or uploading the bulk upload sheet.
Generate a bulk upload file:
Use “Bulk Upload for Creating Products with Variants” for products with options.
Use “Bulk Upload for Creating Products with Attributes” for products with predefined sets of characteristics.
Verify the quantities, SKUs, Barcodes, etc. for the new products.
Submit the spreadsheet.
Delete the old version of the product to prevent confusion during checkout. If you have completed step 1, you can easily bulk delete any product with the "TO BE DELETED" vendor. Be sure to double-check the items on the list to ensure you aren’t removing anything you want to keep.
By consolidating your inventory, you’ll create a more organized and efficient system that’s easier to manage.