A multiple product with variations is a product that has one or more ways it can be varied and sold to shoppers on your store. For example, it is common for computer game publishers to create a multiple product with variations for games that run on both Macintosh® and PC. This allows them to offer shoppers a choice of which variation to buy.
Multiple products with variations are comprised of a base product and the variations of that base product. When you create a product in the Product Wizard, you are really creating the base product, which serves as a container for attributes shared between variations (you should always have more than one variation, otherwise you should create an Individual Product).
The Base Product
The base product can be thought of as the source or origin for all of the variations in a multiple product. Base products cannot be purchased on your store. They are simply a "container" or "parent" for the variations you will sell on your store.
Base products are created first and from those the variations are created. Base products should contain those attributes that will be shared by the variations because as variations are created, they take on the attributes and settings of the base product they are created from. This allows you to set those attributes you know will be common among all the variations (in the base product), so that when you create a variation you only have to change what makes the variation unique to be done. For example, if two variations of a base product will use the same product images you would add those images to the base product before creating your variations.
Variations
Variations are different versions of the same product. For example, a software product can have two different variations, one for the Macintosh® version and one for the PC version.
When you create a product with variations, you first define the "base" attributes for the product (and variations). This includes supported locales, delivery types, store images, and so on. When you create a variation, the base attributes are copied to the variation and if you do not define some attributes before you create a variation, the variation will not have those attributes. You should define as many base attributes as you can before you create your variations.
After you create a variation you should change those settings and attributes that are unique to the variation (like how the variation varies from the base product) and possibly other setting or attributes such as Site Product Name or the price. You can change nearly anything about a variation so that it differs from the base product but you should only change those settings or attributes that are unique to the variation. The rest of the product setup should be done in the base product before you create the variations.
Tip: When you create a multiple product with variations, you should only enable a setting for a variation if that setting is how the variation will differ from the base product. This includes settings such as Preorder, Physical on Demand, Download, and so on. This will reduce the amount of rework with your base product and variations.
Variations and Locales
When you create variations for a product that supports multiple locales, all of the variations you create will be copied to each locale, and vice versa. For example, if you created physical and download variations for your base US product, the French and German locales will automatically have physical and download variations too.
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