You may wonder why you need to understand the difference between Magento 2 custom options vs configurable products.
Well, in fact, there are almost no stores selling only simple products with one option. Especially for online businesses, the need to provide customizable options for a product is indispensable.
Unlike offline products, it’s very easy for customers to switch between stores and compare the quality, variations, and even prices of online ones. This is typical in modern shopping these days and ages.
If you can’t offer your customers the best quality and satisfaction, they will not stay with your store.
However, we realize that many shop owners (including you, probably) still make mistakes between Magento 2 simple products with custom options and Magento configurable products.
We’ve summarized every vital information in this article to help you clearly identify and make the best use of these Magento 2 addons. That’s why we tried to make it as clear and short as possible. We hope that it’d be helpful.
Wait no more; let’s jump in!
Magento 2 Custom Options vs. Magento Configurable Product – Definition
Table of Contents
Magento 2 custom option (or customizable option) is a feature that allows creating product variations without depending on attributes. By adding custom options to a product, the admin can easily create various different types, such as text field, text area, file, drop-down, multiple select, radio buttons, checkbox, date, date & time, time, etc.
The custom option is ideal when the inventory needs are simple. By default, Magento tags the custom options SKUs to the main products SKU. For example, if a product’s SKU is the main SKU and one of its custom options option1SKU. When a customer purchases this product with option 1 selected, the SKU will be displayed as the main SKU-option1SKU.
Therefore, all options are included in 1 simple product only. Imagine the simple product as a birthday cake and its custom options as decoration. You cannot track the inventory for the custom options but for the simple product. The variety of customization when adding new options is the greatest strength of the custom options.
CHECK OUT Magento 2 Custom Options to know how to create and take advantage of them!
Meanwhile, a Magento 2 configurable product has multiple attributes for you to choose from. It’s just like a single product with options for each variation.
Each option is a separate simple product with a unique SKU, which makes it possible to track inventory for each product variation.
Magento configurable products are best suited for complex items. These items also require complicated inventory management.
The custom option in simple products can’t help you with this, but with Magento configurable one, everything is updated automatically since the child products’ inventories are independent.
Magento 2 Custom Options vs. Configurable Products – The Differences
Both Magento 2 custom options for simple products and Magento 2 configurable products offer admin solutions to create product variations. However, each has its approaches.
While Magento configurable products create an associated product based on the attribute (for example, color, size, etc.), a simple product with custom options creates variations by adding customizable options to a product.
This leads to certain differences that we’ll dig in deeper.
Price
Why is there a price difference? Isn’t the price supposed to be the same for a product? The secret is the amount is still the same, but we can break them down for easier management.
For a Magento 2 simple product with custom options, a product’s price is the combination of the base price of the simple product with the extra cost of custom options. Your customers will only see the price after choosing the alternative.
At the same time, a Magento 2 configurable product doesn’t have a fixed price. Each child product has its price and the value is shown on the product page. Shoppers can easily compare and make purchasing decisions.
Inventory
Inventory management is one of the most significant differences between Magento 2 custom options and Magento configurable products.
As we mentioned above, when a customer order product with custom options, the SKU of the product will be the combination of the main product and the selected custom options. For this reason, the system can’t track inventory data on such a product correctly, and you have to update the inventory manually.
If your inventory needs are simple, this isn’t too much of a burden. However, consider switching to Magento configurable products if your products are complex.
Why do I say so? Since a configurable product is a “parent” of many child products, each child product is a simple one, and they’ve got its own value. The importance is that simple child products can automatically update their inventory when customers place a purchase.
So either you have too many products in hand to manage, or your products are too complex, I strongly recommend Magento 2 configurable product grid view extension. It’s more about the long-run benefits.
Display Options
There are many display types available in terms of the simple product with custom options. You can choose among text, selection, date, or file uploading. However, note that Magento doesn’t support uploading images for each option.
CHECK OUT 3 Cases Of Using Custom Option Image to take a deep insight of using images for custom options in your store!
On the contrary, you can’t change the display option with Magento configurable product. This is because the product is created based on attributes, not alternatives. However, this should not be a minus point because each simple product has its image and features.
How about Magento change simple product to configurable ones? No more limitations of display option, configurable products now can also contain custom options. Thanks to Magento 2 Simple Details on Configurable Product extension, you can take product customization to the next level.
Don’t worry that Magento 2 converting simple product to configurable can’t show enough information to your customer. This module has been optimized to assist Magento store owners in streamlining the appearance of their configurable items. It creates customizable products by giving each one a distinct identity and showing information about each child item on a single page.
Customers can view all information for one selected option without reloading the page thanks to this Magento 2 configurable product extension.
Six attributes help generate distinctive product identities:
- URL and metadata
- Name and SKU
- Price, special price, and tier price
- Images
- Short description and Full description
- The “More information” tab
- Stock status and quantity
>>> Check out Magento 2 Simple Details on Configurable Product extension now!
Separated child product selling
It’s not available for a simple product with custom options. The custom options are just added options for a product, so they are not included in the filter, search, or navigation tool. In short, they aren’t considered a product and can’t be sold separately.
Meanwhile, you can totally sell child products separately in a Magento configurable product. Customers can even look them up on the search tool as an independent product isn’t included in a configurable one.
SEO friendly
Last but not least, we cannot skip the plus point of Magento configurable products in SEO. This is a huge advantage when comparing Magento 2 custom options vs configurable products.
Again, since custom options in the simple product are not independent, they offer nothing to SEO. On the other hand, Magento configurable products allow each child product to have its URL and meta description. This is a great way to boost SEO and click rate, accessing the parent and child products.
Wrap Up
In brief, both Magento 2 custom options vs. configurable products provide their pros and cons.
You can choose a suitable method for your business depending on your target. Magento 2 simple products with custom options are ideal when you want to offer customization service for the customer, for example, selling a T-shirt that customers can print any text on.
However, if you want to sell a T-shirt with different colors and sizes, Magento 2 configurable products are a better solution.
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