Product variants vs siblings

A common decision to make when setting up products in Shopify, is whether to set up product colors as variants or as siblings (separate products). The decision will depend on your preference with regards to user experience, product management and product inventory management. This guide is designed to help with this decision.

Variants

• Colors will not display separately on collection pages (only the default color will display)
• Swatches can be displayed on collection pages (if product swatch data exists)
• Variant image swiping can be used on collection pages (if all variants have a featured image)

Siblings

• All colors will display as separate product cards on collection pages
• Swatches will not display on collection pages
• Variant image swiping cannot be used on collection pages
• On the product page, the “Cross linked products” block must be used to link between product siblings. This feature requires additional metafield data to be added to all products. For further information on the set-up of this feature, refer to our product template guidelines.