Best configuration for apparel shop

[brandonmhill]

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I am looking to start a thread on the best way to configure an apparel shop.

My client has over 2800 individual SKUs which represent style, color and size attributes.

I recently built a B2B site by creating the following structure for each item:

1. Created parent item for each style and color attributes
2. Created child item for each SKU representing the size of each color attribute

So, on the product category pages it lists all the style colors separately, as their own product. Example:

Jacket Red
Jacket Blue
Jacket Green

When clicking into the Jacket Red product page for example, it shows each child item SKU (size) and quantity to add.

It's a perfect solution for the B2B site.

Now, I am also building a consumer apparel e-commerce site using the same SKUs.

What is the best way to configure this so that the product category pages don't show individual colors of each style? In other words, is it possible to have one color shown, and somehow add the ability to choose color and size on the product page? I need to be able to utilize the same SKU structure throughout both sites.

The inventory for each SKU will be automatically updated on a daily basis from the accounting software so it's important that I'm using each SKU correctly.

I have read a few threads on using custom fields to achieve what I'm looking for, and also some saying that you can only have the ability to retain the individual size SKUs by using child items.

Again, my desired outcomes are:

1. Create product pages with a generic product image and "dummy" SKU
2. have the ability to choose color as well as size (retaining the individual SKUs as they are being updated for inventory)

Inventory question: When a SKU runs out of stock, does the SKU become unavailable to order? For instance, if a Jacket Red, Size XL SKU is out of stock, will that be unavailable from the drop down list on the product page?


I would love to hear from others who have dealt with apparel items that have style, color and size variants.


Cheers,  Brandon

[brandonmhill]

After researching further, it would seem in this scenario that the two options would be:

1: Use custom fields for size attributes
2. Use Generic Child Variant for each product with a SKU attached to each variant

Does anyone have experience on the best case for the apparel scenario listed above?

Also, with having so many sizes of each item available, how is the best way to approach inventory?

Thanks in advance.

Brandon