Lightspeed | Product types and differences between composite/variant products

Lee Haskings

Modified on: Thu, 1 Aug, 2024 at 8:47 AM

On the Products page in the Catalog section of LightSpeed, you can add products, variant or composite products.

Single SKU Product (how to add guide)
- A product is a single SKU product with its own inventory.
Variant product (how to add guide)
- A group of similar products with different attributes like size or sales channel.
- Each variant is a unique SKU with its own inventory, housed under a parent product.
Composite product (how to add guide)
- a composite product can be utilised in two ways, neither of which holds stock.
- Option 1: a group of products made up of quantities of one or more that are sold together.
- Option 2: a fractional composite, which pulls inventory from a parent product.

Difference Between Variants and Composite Products

It's important to understand the differences between variant and composite products as both are used in LightSpeed. Within the Poolwerx Standard Product Catalog, variant products are typically used for retail items that come in different units of measure, such as purchase UOM and sell UOM. One key advantage of variant products is that you can perform stock takes on them directly.

On the other hand, composite products are predominantly used for field products within the Standard Catalog. These are a fractional composite of the parent product. Unlike variant products, composite products cannot have stocktakes taken directly on them. To manage inventory for composite products, you need to convert the stock back to the parent product before performing a stocktake. For example, the 'parent' product might be how you purchase the product, e.g., 20L, and the composite product will be how you sell the product, e.g., 1L. Therefore, the composite product is a 0.05 fraction of the parent product.

Key differences
Variant products	Composite products
Used for retail products with different units of measure. You can perform stock takes on them directly. Each product with variants can have up to 3 attributes and up to 200 unique combinations in total. Each unique combination forms one variant product. Can add product relationships.	Ideal for field/bulk products, multi-packs or bundles. Made up of specified quantities of existing products. Can be used for fractional stock. Single SKU but uses the inventory of the products within it. Cannot have stock takes taken directly on them. To manage inventory, convert the stock back to the parent product before performing a stocktake.

Tips on when adding

Ensure all product details are accurately entered into the system to maintain inventory accuracy.
Regularly review and update product information as needed.
Use the appropriate product type (single SKU, variant, composite) based on the product's characteristics and inventory management needs.
Standard products must remain in your system. For products you don’t utilise in your business, you can make the standard product inactive.