Configurable Product in Magento 2

A configurable product in Magento 2 is a bit complicated version of a simple product. The difference is the following: each combination of product options has a personal SKU (Stock Keeping Unit), and it's possible to track stock inventory of every product variation.

For example, you sell t-shirts. Each t-shirt has a selection of sizes and colors. In the sample below, we've got 5 size and 3 color variations. All in all, you've got 15 variants. Creating simple products for each and every option can take lots of time. This is where a configurable product comes handy. Because it allows creating one product with several options instead of creating dozens of simple products.

How to Create Configurable Attributes

First thing you need to do, is to create Attributes for your products. Configurable products can't exist without configurable attributes (like color, size, storage, etc.).

Go to Stores - Attributes - Product, add a new attribute (if nothing suits your product offer) and configure its properties: default label, catalog input type, values required.

Add values of an attribute. For example, Color is an attribute, Blue is a value. Size is an attribute, M is a value.

Move to the Advanced Attribute Properties and configure the settings.

Go to the Storefront Properties and specify whether the attribute can be used in search, layered navigation or can be comparable on the storefront. When done, save the attribute, jump to the Stores - Attributes - Attribute Set section and add a New Attribute Set.

Go back to the list of available attributes and select the necessary one. Find the configurable attribute you've just created in the 'Unassigned Attributes' section and drag'n'drop it to the 'Groups' section.

How to Create Configurable Products

Go the Products - Inventory - Catalog, hit the 'Add Product' button and select the 'Configurable Product' type.

Fill in all the required details (the same as you do for a simple product). Specify the attribute set, product name, price, SKU, description, etc.

Move to the Configurations tab and hit the 'Create Configurations' button. This function allows automatically generate associated simple products for the configurable one.

Step 1. Create a new attribute or select from the list.

Step 2. Select the necessary attribute values.

Step 3. Choose bulk images, price and quantity.

Step 4. Summary.

Hit the 'Save' button to finish.

If you are not comfortable with the CMS management, you can choose a 3d party solution to create products with custom options for Magento 2