This is suitable for items that tend to have only one degree of variation. For example, ketchup that might come in several different bottle sizes (each with its own SKU / item code), or a book that comes in hardback, paperback and audiobook. Each version can have its own image, as well as the product having images too.

This has a single base version and unlimited options can be applied to it. This is suitable for products with multiple types of variation such as size, style and colour. You can have as many options as required, and these can display as dropdown menus, radio buttons or a checkbox. It is therefore ideal for items such as computers that might be highly configurable, with a choice of hard-disks, processors, operating systems, RAM, and so on.

You can control whether a selection is required for a particular option. So for example, when configuring a computer, the RAM and processor selections would be required (because a computer must have both) but the secondary hard-disk size selection might be optional (if the component was not necessary required).

This is similar to an options product, and is created in the same way. But you can choose to create 'combinations'. The system will then create a unique record for each permutation of the options. This allows you to record stock level for each permutation separately, and have a different SKU / item code for each permutation.

The number of permutations will be limited to a few hundred for performance reasons. Remember that you only need to create a combinations product if you are stock tracking or need a unique SKU for each permutation - otherwise use an options product.