Product vs Variant-Level Availability

The inventory method determines how The Dress Rental App blocks dates when a booking is made.

Product-level availability

Choose product-level availability when the variants do not represent separate physical rental items. The product shares one availability pool, so a booking can block the product regardless of which variant was selected.

Variant-level availability

Choose variant-level availability when each Shopify variant is physically separate. This is common for dress hire businesses that own one garment in each size.

Example

A dress has Size 6, Size 8 and Size 10 variants. If you physically own one of each size, variant-level availability normally makes sense because Size 6 can be booked while Size 10 remains available. If the variants are only used for another selection and all bookings refer to the same physical item, use product-level availability.

Changing the method

Review existing bookings before changing an established product's inventory method. Changing how availability is grouped can affect how future conflicts are interpreted.

Best practice: Match the app configuration to the number of real garments available for hire.