[LSX] How to Create Variant Products via Import

This article will walk you through the process of creating variant products in LSX via importing.

Please note that you can have up to three variant options for products in Lightspeed Retail X Series.

Variant options can be things such as size, color, etc.

In this article, we will be going through utilizing two variant options for size and color.

It will be easier to export your current product list from Lightspeed Retail X Series, delete all product data so that you only have the headers for the fields of data remaining, and save the template for your use going forward.

This article is separated into three sections listed below.

• Download a Product Import Template From Your LSX Account
• Make a Copy of the LSX Product Import Template and Enter the new Variant Products for Import
• Import the Prepared Variant Product Spreadsheet Into LSX

Download a Product Import Template From Your LSX Account

1.  Log into your LSX account.
2. In the left hand window pane, click "Catalog".

3. In the main window pane named "Products", click "Import".

4. In the main window pane named "Import products", click the link named "Need help?".

5. In the main window pane named "Import Products", click the link named "download a spreadsheet template".

6. A product template will be downloaded to your "Downloads" folder that will include specific information for your LSX account and your location(s).

Make a Copy of the LSX Product Import Template and Enter the new Variant Products for Import

1. Go to the location that you saved the newly created "Vend product import template" and copy and paste it so that you now have a copy of the template as shown below.

2. Rename the copy that was just made that will be used to import new variant products.

3. Open the new variant product import spreadsheet that was just created.

4. Click this icon to select all content in the spreadsheet.

5. With all content selected, right click "Format" and then click "AutoFit Column Width" to expand all column headers.

6. All columns will be expanded to their maximum width based upon the data currently in the spreadsheet.

7. Select and delete columns "D" through "F" since they are composite product fields.

8. We will have three sizes (9,10,11) and three colors (red, white, blue) for this variant product and that will be a total of 9 variants.
9. Each variant product that you will create via import must have the same name across all variants.  For example: We are going to create a variant product that is a pair of shoes that has different sizes and colors and we will name them all "ABC Shoes".
10. In rows "2" through "10", enter the product name of "ABC Shoes" in column "D" as shown below.

11. In cells "G2" through "G10" we will enter the name of the first variant that will be used and it will be "Size".

12. In cells "I2" through "I10", we will enter the name of the second variant that will be used and it will be "Color".

13. Now we will enter the values for the variant type named "Size" in cells "H2" through "H10".  There will be three that will be "Red", three that will be "White", and three that will be "Blue".

14. Now we will enter the values for the variant type named "Color" in cells "J2" through "J10".  There will be three that will be "9", three that will be "10" and three that will be "11".

15. The variant specific information that is required (variant option names and variant option values) have been entered into the spreadsheet for the products that we will import.

16. Enter all data for the required fields of data for the new variant products that will be created.
17. Once all information has been entered into the spreadsheet, save the spreadsheet.

Import the Prepared Variant Product Spreadsheet Into LSX

1. Log into your LSX Account.
2. In the left hand window pane, click "Catalog".

3. In the main window pane named "Products", click "Import".

4. In the main window pane named "Import products" either drag and drop the file that you wish to import or click "Select file to upload" and select the file manually.

5. Go through and make sure that all of the needed data mappings are completed and then click "Next" to proceed.

6. It will check for any issues and let you know.  In this example we did not enter any SKUs for the new products since we will let Lightspeed Retail X Series automatically generate the SKUs for the new products.  Once you are ready to start the import, click "Continue anyway".

7. The variant product import will start and it will let you know once the import has completed via the bell icon in the upper right corner of the screen.

8. Click the bell icon to see the results of the import.

9. We will see that there were 9 new products added, with 0 existing products updated, and that there were 0 products that didn't import.
10. Close the Notifications window by clicking the "X" icon.
11. You will be taken back to the "Products" page.
12. Click in the search bar and enter the variant products name that were just created and then click "Search".

13. Here we will see that there is one product named "ABC Shoes" and that it has 9 variants.

14. Click the pencil icon to edit/view the new variant product.

15. In the main window pane for the variant product, scroll down until you get to the section named "Variants" where it will show you the 9 variants that were created as shown below.

16. You have now successfully created a new variant product by preparing and importing a spreadsheet.