Product Types: Parent Products, Product Variants and Standalone Products

In this article we cover the differences between parent products, product variants and standalone products. We also explain actions that can be performed with each of the product types.

Parent Products

• Parent products act like folders, or containers, that hold one or more variant products
• Parent products display the number of variants inside of the folder when in the dashboard product list

• Parent products can be expanded or collapsed by clicking the parent product when in the dashboard product list. You can also choose to display all parent products as either expanded or collapsed by selecting the desired option from the dropdown menu in your product list filters 

• The parent product Basic Information dictates the category, brand and tax group associated with all variant products contained within it

• Parent products cannot be imported from a provincial wholesale product catalog
• Parent products can have an image assigned to them. To assign a image to a parent product, click the Upload shown below

• Parent products do not require a SKU unless you are using a 3rd-party integration like WooCommerce. *Please note: The WooCommerce integration has been deprecated and is no longer actively supported
• Parent products cannot have a wholesale cost or a retail price assigned to them
• Parent products cannot have inventory assigned to them
• Parent products cannot be sold from the POS

Variant Products

• Variant products live within a parent product folder, or container
• Variant products can be imported from a provincial wholesale product catalog if they already exist in Greenlines product catalog database *Please note: Not all provinces or territories maintain a provincial product catalog. If your province or territory does not maintain a master product catalog then all products must be created manually

• Variant products contain product information such as wholesale cost, retail price, product description, cannabinoid profile, strain type, etc
• Variant products contain the equivalent cannabis and net product weights *Please note: The equivalent cannabis weight is used to calculate the 30g cannabis purchase limit at the POS

• Variant products can have an image assigned to them. To assign an image to a variant product, click the icon shown below. *Please note: Variant products will default to the assigned Parent Product image, if there is one, but can be changed individually if desired
  
  
  
• Variant products can have inventory assigned to them
• Variant products can have location-specific pricing assigned to them 
• Variant products can have location-specific cannabinoid profiles and values assigned to them
• Variant products cannot have the Free pricing retail price option applied to them
• Variant products can have product Tags assigned to them
• Variant products can be sold from the POS

Standalone Products

• Standalone products are variant products that do not live inside of a parent product folder, or container
• Standalone products can be imported from a provincial wholesale product catalog if they already exist in Greenlines product catalog database *Please note: Not all provinces or territories maintain a provincial product catalog. If your province or territory does not maintain a master product catalog then all products must be created manually

• Standalone products contain all product information such as wholesale cost, retail price, product description, cannabinoid profile, strain type, etc
• Standalone products contain the equivalent cannabis and net product weights *Please note: The equivalent cannabis weight is used to calculate the 30g cannabis purchase limit at the POS

• Standalone products can have inventory assigned to them
• Standalone products can have location-specific pricing assigned to them
• Standalone products can have location-specific cannabinoid profiles and values assigned to them
• Standalone products can have the Free pricing retail price option applied to them. *Please note: Free pricing allows a retail price to be set on a sale-by-sale basis from the POS. When free pricing is applied, a predetermined retail price cannot be set

• Standalone products can have product Tags assigned to them
• Standalone products can be sold from the POS

How to convert a variant product into a standalone product

• Navigate to the Product List in your Greenline dashboard
• Click into the parent product or the variant product you wish to convert to a standalone product
• Click the 3 dots to the right of the variant product you wish to convert to a standalone product
• Click the Split to Standalone option in the dropdown menu

Alternate method:

• Navigate to the Product List in your Greenline dashboard.
• Click the 3 dots to the right of the variant product you wish to convert to a standalone product
• Click the Split to Standalone option in the dropdown menu
  

How to convert a standalone product into a variant product

• Navigate to the Product List in your Greenline dashboard
• Click the 3 dots to the right of the standalone product you wish to convert to a variant product
• Click the Merge option in the dropdown menu *Please note: You cannot merge 2 products to create a new single product. Merging refers to moving either a standalone, or a variant product, into a new or existing parent product folder
• In the pop-up window, select whether to merge the selected product into an existing, or a new, parent product
• Use the dropdown menu to select an existing parent product or click the New parent product option and add a new parent product name (This option will create a new parent product and convert your standalone product into a variant product within that new folder)
• Click Merge

How to move a variant product into a different parent product folder

• Navigate to the Product List in your Greenline dashboard
• Click into the parent product or the variant product you wish to move to a different parent product folder
• Click the 3 dots to the right of the variant product you wish to move
• Click the Merge option in the dropdown menu
• Use the dropdown menu to select an existing parent product or click the New parent product option and add a new parent product name. (This option will create a new parent product and convert your standalone product into a variant product within that new folder)
• Click Merge

Alternate method:

• Navigate to the Product List in your Greenline dashboard.
• Click the 3 dots to the right of the variant product you wish to move
• Click the Merge option in the dropdown menu
• Use the dropdown menu to select an existing parent product or click the New parent product option and add a new parent product name (This option will create a new parent product and convert your standalone product into a variant product within that new folder)
• Click Merge