Need a quick way to access different variations of a product?

If you sell a product in different sizes, flavours or with any other variable attribute then setting up Product Variants is for you. When these Variants are shown on the POS they will appear under the same product button - keeping your POS looking organised and maximised for speed.

Often used for:

• Wine variations: By the bottle or By the glass 
• Coffee variations: Small or Regular or Large 
• Flavours of gelato: Vanilla or Chocolate or Pistachio or Strawberry 

Each Variant becomes its own product - able to have different sell prices, cost prices, barcodes, SKU, stock levels, purchasing and, recipes.

What’s in this guide?

Setup Product Variants
Add Product Variants to an order
Remove a Product Variant from an order
Frequently Asked Questions

Setup Product Variants 

1. Under Products from the Lightspeed Back Office, select the product for which you'd want to set up variants. If this is for a new product, add the product first.

2. Next, open the product settings page by selecting the cogwheel.

3. Before we can add in our variants, we'll need to first create a product template. To do this, select the Variants tab and type in an attribute such as 'Size' or 'Type' or 'Flavour' (the attribute is purely used to describe the variant and is not visible on the POS. ) then select Add 

Note -  Attributes should be general like Size or Flavour or Colour. 

4. Once the attribute is added, it should look like this:

5. Next select 'Save' at the bottom of the page and hit Yes on this dialogue box to create the product template:

6. You can now start adding your Variants by selecting the Add a new Variant button

7. Fill in the fields:

Value - On the POS or menu, this will be part of the Variant products name.

Sell price - Each Variant can have its own sell price - enter the price for this Variant now.

NOTE - Variants are named after the Product Template and the Value. Refer to these examples:

8. Select Add Variant and the Variant will be included in the list like so

Add Product Variants to an order

You can now take an order with your Variants!

1. Go to your Lightspeed Point-of-Sale

2. When you select your Variant during an order on the POS you will be prompted to now see your Variants

Pro Tip - The layout of the Variants can be changed similar to how you rearrange the layout of regular products.

Note - the elegant & power-saving dark mode is now available on Lightspeed POS. Check out this guide on how you can activate it.

3. Select which Variant and this will be added in the order summary

Remove a Product Variant from an order

You can remove a Variant from an order, just like a regular product.

1. Select the product Variant from the order summary to open the edit screen and select Remove

Frequently Asked Questions

Option sets and Variants - are they the same thing?

Variants are products since they are the same product in different sizes, colours, flavours, and other attributes.

Meanwhile, Option Sets are add ons to the product presented as a series of options or modifiers.

We outline the differences between Variants, Option Sets and Modifiers in more detail in this guide

Can Variants be created in bulk using a CSV import?
Variant products cannot be created through a csv import, they must be created in Back Office first. Once you have created your variants in Back Office, each variant can be then updated in bulk through a csv import. 

How do I reorder Product Variants on the POS?

Product Variants are still considered products and can, therefore, be rearranged or reordered on the POS in the same way as regular products. Learn more about how you can rearrange products on the POS. 

What's my next step?

Maximise the full power of Lightspeed Lightspeed menu tools! 

• Make sure customers get exactly what they ordered. Record item changes, such as no salad or extra bacon, in just a few taps using Product Modifiers.
• Enable your staff to add or remove ingredients or create combo meals. Prompt your staff to upsell. Or maybe you just need to organise your product modifiers to make menu navigation easier. Lightspeed’s Option Sets makes this all possible. Option Sets allows you to customise your menu workflow for maximum efficiency.
• Need flexibility in entering quantities and prices at the POS - like when selling by the ounce or kilo? Now you can set specific products to automatically ask staff to enter a quantity or price using Variable Quantities and Prices.
• Need to add product description, tags, barcodes, and the like? Check out advanced product settings!