What Are Variants?
The Variants feature in Ply allows you to offer customers multiple options for a single product, such as different sizes, colors, or styles, all grouped under the same main item.
This helps you keep your catalog organized while providing flexibility at the job and inventory level.
How to Create Variants
You can add variants when creating a new item or editing an existing one. Here’s how:
Step-by-Step
Log in to your Ply account and go to the Catalog section.
Click "Add Item" and in the window that opens:
Search for an existing material to link to your new item, or
Create a new material if it doesn’t exist yet.
Once you select the material you'd like to add a variant to, scroll down to the “Variants” section: (Here you can add different sizes, colors, or styles as variants.)
Set different prices for each variant if needed:
Assign a location to each variant:
Alternatively, you can edit an existing item directly from the Catalog to add a variant
Find the item in your catalogue.
Click the three dots (...) next to it.
Select "Edit Material."
Scroll down to the “Variants” section:
Variants can also be added to different locations directly from your Catalog.
Click the three dots (...) next to the item, then select “Edit Availability.”
Update their prices the same way by clicking the three dots (...) next to the item and selecting "Edit Price."
How Variants Are Managed
Variants are grouped under the same material in your Catalog.
At the location level (warehouse or truck), each variant appears as a separate item for easier tracking and inventory management.
Each variant automatically gets its own barcode per location.
You can replace these barcodes if needed:
During creation, or
Later by editing at the location level (Location → Find the item → Three dots → Edit availability).
Can We Add Variants to a Job?
✅ Yes, you can!
Go to the Job.
Click "Add Item".
Select the location and search for the item, all available variants at that location will pop up for selection.
⚠️ Variant Sync with FSMs (Jobber, Housecall Pro, etc.)
🛑 Currently, the first variant will sync to your FSM (Field Service Management system).
This limitation exists because FSMs don’t yet support multiple customer prices for the same material.
For now:
If you want each variant to sync properly to FSM, you should create each variant as a separate material in Ply.
We are actively investigating this and working on improvements!