# Variant

> A variant is one buyable version of a Shopify product, such as the blue medium. Stock, price and barcode all live on the variant.

- Source: https://storestandards.com/glossary/variant/
- Updated: 2026-08-14
- Author: Tom Beckwith, Engineer, Store Standards

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Everything you count, price or scan hangs off the variant, not the product
above it.

## What lives on it

- The [SKU](https://storestandards.com/glossary/sku/)
- The barcode, in the [barcode field](https://storestandards.com/glossary/barcode-field/)
- The price and the compare-at price
- The stock level, per location
- Weight, and whether it needs shipping

A product with no options still has one variant underneath it. Shopify creates
it for you and hides it in the admin, which is why a simple product still has
a SKU field.

## The limit that bites

A product can hold 100 variants and three options. Sizes times colours times
lengths gets there faster than anyone expects: 10 colours by 6 sizes by 2 leg
lengths is 120, and the product cannot be saved.

The fix is usually to split it into two products rather than to argue with
the limit.

## Where it goes wrong

Stock gets set on the product in a spreadsheet import, with one quantity for
all the sizes. Shopify has nowhere to put that, so it either lands on the
first variant or on none of them.

The other one is deleting a variant to tidy up. Its sales history, its
[inventory item](https://storestandards.com/glossary/inventory-item/) and every report that referenced
it go with it. Set it to zero and archive the product instead.

## Related terms

- [Product option](https://storestandards.com/glossary/product-option/): A product option is one axis a customer chooses along, such as size or colour. Shopify allows three, and their combinations make the variants.
- [Inventory item](https://storestandards.com/glossary/inventory-item/): An inventory item is the countable half of a variant. Stock levels attach to it, one per location, not to the variant itself.
- [SKU](https://storestandards.com/glossary/sku/): A SKU is your own code for one exact thing you sell, down to the size and colour. You invent it, and only your shop uses it.