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Import WooCommerce Variable Products from CSV- Product Import Export Plugin

Last updated on November 2, 2023

The WooCommerce variable product helps to create multiple variations of a single product. This will save time and effort for store owners from creating variations from scratch. We can create variable products using product attributes. The Product Import Export Plugin for WooCommerce imports and exports variable products in a convenient manner. To import variable products:

  • Select the post type as Product.
  • Select an import method.
  • Map the import columns.
  • Use advanced options/ batch import and scheduling options.
  • Click on Import to finish.

Sample use case

Let’s consider we have a variable product ‘Men’s Cotton T-shirt’ with four variations. The two attributes for creating variations are –  Color (Blue & Red) and Size (M & S). The four variations are represented by SKUs as:

  • CTS1 (Red-M)
  • CTS2 (Blue-M)
  • CTS3 (Red-S) 
  • CTS4 (Blue-S)
Sample screenshot of variable products in CSV
Sample of variable products in CSV

Mandatory columns for variable products

Input the field meta only for the child products. Likewise, input the other three fields – attribute, attribute_data, and attribute_default only for parent products. Leave the default attribute field blank as it is optional.

Now, let us take a look at the column attribute_data with values displayed in the form of position | visible | variation.

  • position: Defines the position of the attribute in the front-end. For example: variations with 3 attributes and position value 0, will appear at the top of the variations list.
  • visible: Attributes visible at the front-end will dislay the value as 1. Otherwise, it will be 0.
  • variation: Attribute used for variation will display the value as 1. Otherwise, it will be 0.

Use the sample CSV of variable product and provide data only for the parent products rows for fields like attribute:size and attribute_data:size. The variations should not have any value for these columns.

Steps to import variable products

As a first step, install and activate the product import export plugin. Next, click on WebToffee Import Export (Pro) > Import menu from the WordPress admin panel.

  1. Select Products under post type.
  2. Select an import method: Quick import, Pre-saved template and Advanced import are the provided import methods.
  3. Map import columns: To map import columns. Here, you can map the commercial names to WooCommerce columns. Use Evaluation Field to fix/update the required value for a particular field.
    step3-import-products-suite
  4. Advanced Options/Batch Import: Provides advanced options to import and scheduling import.
    advanced-step-during-import-of-products

On successful import, the variable products will appear as:

successful-import-of-variable-product

Variable products in WooCommerce store

We can view the imported products in the WordPress admin panel and in the website of WooCommerce store.

  • To view the imported products in the WordPress dashboard, click on Products>All Products:imported variable product
  • To view its variations, click on the product and move to the Variations section of the respective product page.variations section of product page
  • The color variations in the product page will appear as shown below:color-variations-in-product
  • The size variations in the product page will appear as shown below:size-variations-in-product

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