This guide takes you from installing SA Variants to seeing swatches on your store. Most stores are set up in about 15 minutes.
Prefer us to set it up? Setup help is included with every plan. Hit the chat button and our team will do it with you.
Step 1: Install the app
Install SA Variants: Combined Listings from the Shopify App Store. Shopify shows you the permissions the app needs, then asks you to click Install.
Step 2: Choose a plan
The first screen you see is Choose a plan. Pick Standard or Pro and click Start 30-day trial. You can change plans later from the Pricing page.
The price shown on each card is the price for your Shopify plan. It goes up or down if your Shopify plan changes.
Shopify then asks you to approve the subscription.
The approval screen shows a spending limit, not your price. For example, it may say you can be charged up to $199.90 every 30 days on Pro. That is the most the app is allowed to charge. What you actually pay is the price you saw on the plan card, and nothing is charged during your 30-day trial.
→ Plans, prices and the approval screen explained: [SA Variants] Pricing
Step 3: Pick your path
After approval you land on the home page. The Get started card asks what you want to do.
Choose Group Products if you already sell each color, material or style as its own product and want to connect them as swatches.
Choose Split Products if one product holds many variants and you want each one to become its own product, with its own page.
You can do both. Pick the one you need first.
Path A: Connect products you already have
1. Create your first product group. Click Create group in Get started. Then:
Give the group a Group name. Only you see this.
Add an Option name, such as Color. Shoppers see this above the swatches.
Click Add product and choose the products to connect.
Give each product a value, such as Navy or Olive. Shoppers see this for that swatch.
Under Swatch image source, choose what each swatch shows. First product image works well for most stores.
Leave Status on Active and save.
Have a lot of products? The app may already have suggested groups for you in the AI suggested tab on the Product groups page. You can also ask Shopify Sidekick to create a group, then review it and save it.
2. Personalize the style. Click Customize styles in Get started to choose how the swatches look. Several styles are ready to use, so you can skip this and come back later.
3. Activate the app. See Step 4 below.
→ Everything about groups: [SA Variants] Product groups
Path B: Split one product into several
1. Select products to split. Click Split product in Get started. Choose an option, such as Color, then the products to split.
2. Set up and publish. Choose how the new products are named and which images they get. They are created as drafts. When you are ready, open the split from the Ready to publish tab, copy the inventory across and click to publish them as a group.
When you publish, the app archives your original product. It is not deleted, and you can set it back to Active in Shopify if you need it.
3. Personalize the style, then 4. Activate the app (Step 4 below).
→ Every split setting explained: [SA Variants] Split products
Step 4: Switch the app on in your theme
This step makes everything visible to shoppers. Until it is done, nothing from SA Variants appears on your store.
Click Enable app embed in Get started. Your theme editor opens on the App embeds panel.
Turn on SA Variants.
Click Save in the theme editor.
Back on the home page, App status now says Published.
If you change your theme later, or update to a new version of it, turn SA Variants on again in that theme.
Step 5: Check your store
Open one of the products in your group on your live store. You should see the swatches below the variant picker. Click one to move to that product.
To move the swatches somewhere else on the page, click Manage app block on the home page and drag the Product groups position block in your theme editor.
Not seeing swatches? Check that App status says Published and that your group's status is Active. If your store is password protected, view it while logged in, or add the password on the home page so our team can check it for you. The full checklist is in [SA Variants] Dashboard Walkthrough.
What to read next
[SA Variants] Dashboard Walkthrough — a tour of every page in the app
[SA Variants] Customize styles — make the swatches match your brand
[SA Variants] Full Feature Breakdown — everything the app can and cannot do
Need help? Our support team is always here. Hit the chat button and we will get you sorted.