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Configurable Products

You can set up Products in CRM with configurable elements so that you can sell items with add-ons or options.

Configurable Products are different to Variable Products in that configurable ones have multiple different components that form an end product; whereas variable products require no configuration and just require the preferred variation to be chosen. Another way of thinking about it is that with configurable products, you end up with multiple SKU’s due to all the components and with a variable product, you’ll only end up with one SKU for the chosen variation.

In this example, we’re going to look at how to set up and sell a kitchen mixer that comes in a range of different sizes and has optional add-ons (a set of mixing bowls and a mixing pack with different attachments) that can be purchased with it.

Configurable Products are particularly useful if you are using CRM with an integrated WooCommerce cart for online orders as it means a customer can select an item to purchase and then specify the type they want – in this case they would select a mixer and then specify the required size and preferred attachments.

Create a Configurable Product

To make a Product configurable, you need to ensure the Is Configurable box is ticked, then Save & Close the record.

Once this option has been ticked, you will see two new tabs on the Product record – Optional Groups and Optional Products.

Add Optional Groups

Optional Groups are the categories or types of configurations that can be applied to a Product. In this example where we are setting up a kitchen mixer with:

A choice of 3 different sizes: Standard, Standard Mid or Large.
The option to purchase a pack of additional mixing bowls and/or a pack of mixing attachments.

I can set up my Optional Groups by navigating to the tab and clicking Add Optional Product Group. I then need to enter in the following information:

Name – add the name of the group.
Min Selection
- For the size group I have input this as “0” as the customer doesn’t have to select either the Standard Mid or Large size – they can just go with the Standard size that I’m using as my base configurable Product.
- For the optional add-on group I have input this as “0” meaning that the customer does not have to choose an add-on, but can if they want.
Max Selection –
- For the Size group I have input this as “1” meaning that the maximum number of size options that can be chosen is 1 i.e. the customer cannot select more than one size.
- For the optional add-on group I have input this as “2” meaning that the customer can potentially buy both add-ons if they want.
Is Active – ensure this is ticked. If you retire a group, you can untick this box so that it can no longer be selected for new sales.
Description – you can add text here to explain what the purpose of the group is.

Now that we have set up our groups, we need to specify which products will belong to them.

Add Optional Products

Optional Products are the underlying Products for your Optional Groups. In this step I’m going to link up all of my underlying Product options to the correct Optional Groups.

To complete this step you will need to already have Products set up in CRM that you can specify here as Optional Products e.g. in this case I already have records set up for the various mixer sizes and attachments. If you don’t already have these Products set up, you will need to add them before you can proceed.

I can set up my Optional Products by navigating to the tab and clicking Add Optional Product. I then need to enter in the following information:

Optional Product – search for the right Product (this must exist in CRM already).
Group – select the Optional Group to link the Product to.
Is Active – ensure this is ticked. If you retire a Product, you can untick this box so that it can no longer be selected for new sales.
Quantity – choose how many of the Product will be added to the order if selected. In this case my quantity is going to be “1” for everything as it doesn’t matter whether we’re talking about the size or add-on option, I’m only going to sell the customer one of each. But if you were selling something else like a table and the customer needed to choose the colour and material of the legs, your quantity would be 4 as for every table top you’d need to supply 4 legs to go with it.
Use Product Price – you can de-select this option and specify another Sell Price to apply e.g. if a customer is buying an option as part of a package, you may want to discount it rather than charge the full price of buying it separately. Otherwise if the box is ticked, the Product price will be used.
Use Cost Price – you can tick this box to sell the item at the cost price specified in the Product record.
Selected by Default – When a Configurable Product is added to a quote or sale, you can use this box to specify a default Optional Product to be populated.

Again, note that although the mixer comes in 3 sizes (Standard, Standard Mid or Large), my base Product is the Standard size and people can choose to upgrade it to either Standard Mid or Large, so I don’t need to add a 3rd option for Standard as this is the default starting point.

Selling Configurable Products

Now I’m going to create a Quote for a customer who is interested in buying a Standard Mid sized mixer with both of the optional add-ons.

When I add my configurable Product (in this case the KitchenPlus Stand Mixer) as an item, the system will automatically bring up additional boxes for my size and mixing add-on Optional Groups.

I can click on the green arrows on the right hand side of each group to expand it and see the underlying Products that can be chosen.

I can now tick the box on the left-hand side of the Product I’d like to select and then use the green arrows on the top right to collapse the group when I’m done.

If I don’t want the unused option that I haven’t selected to show on the Quote, I can use the red cross on the right-hand side of the item to remove it.

When I collapse the group, it now shows as “1 of 2 selected”.

I then need to repeat this process for the mixer-add on’s and select both of them for the customer.

When I preview the online Quote that I will send to the customer, I can see a breakdown of the items:

The base mixer (KitchPlus Stand Mixer).
The additional cost for the Standard Mid size.
The chosen add-ons for the bowl and mixer packs and their cost.

Note: You cannot add a Configurable product into an Item Group on Invoices or Quotes.

As Configurable products are essentially a group made of products, you cannot add a group within a group.

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