BigCommerce handles variants well—up to a point. Size and color? No problem. Size, color, material, and custom engraving? You start hitting limits. Size, color, material, engraving, gift wrapping, and warranty options? You need a different approach.
The challenge isn’t just technical limits, though those exist. It’s that high-variant products require different thinking about product data, inventory, and user experience.
Understanding the Limits
BigCommerce allows up to 600 variants per product. That sounds like a lot until you do the math. 6 sizes × 10 colors × 5 materials = 300 variants. Add one more option with 3 choices and you’re at 900—over the limit.
But limits aren’t just about total count. Managing 600 variants means managing 600 inventory levels, 600 SKUs, potentially 600 different prices. The complexity grows faster than the count.
Separating Variants from Options
The key insight is that not all product choices are variants. A variant is a distinct sellable unit with its own SKU and inventory. An option is a choice that modifies a base product.
Size and color are usually variants—you stock specific combinations. Gift wrapping is usually an option—it doesn’t create a new inventory item. Recognizing this distinction lets you reduce variant counts dramatically.
Handling True Complexity
Some products genuinely have hundreds of variants. Custom-configured industrial equipment. Made-to-order furniture. Products where every combination is legitimately different.
For these, the standard variant model often isn’t the right fit. Instead, you might need a configuration system that captures choices and generates a unique product at order time. This is more complex to build but more scalable for truly complex products.
The User Experience Question
High variant counts also create UX challenges. A dropdown with 600 options is unusable. Even a well-organized set of option selectors can overwhelm customers when there are too many choices.
The best solutions guide customers through choices sequentially, showing only relevant options at each step. This isn’t just better UX—it also reduces the technical complexity of variant management.
Getting the Data Right
Behind every variant complexity problem is usually a data problem. Product information is scattered across spreadsheets, ERP systems, and tribal knowledge. Before solving the technical challenge, you often need to solve the data challenge.
Clean, well-structured product data makes everything else easier. It’s not glamorous work, but it’s usually the foundation that makes variant management tractable.