How to Hide Sold Out Variants on Shopify

Understanding the Challenge of Sold Out Variants

The User Experience Dilemma

When running an online store on Shopify, managing product variants can be a complex task. One common issue that many store owners face is how to handle sold-out variants. Displaying all variants, including those that are out of stock, can lead to a frustrating user experience. Customers may waste time selecting combinations of variants only to find that their desired option is unavailable.

The Importance of Streamlined Shopping

In today’s competitive e-commerce landscape, providing a smooth and efficient shopping experience is crucial. Customers expect to see available options quickly and easily. When faced with multiple unavailable choices, they may become discouraged and abandon their purchase altogether.

Shopify’s Built-in Limitations

While Shopify is a powerful platform, it doesn’t offer a native solution for hiding sold-out variants in all themes, particularly in newer sectioned themes. This gap in functionality has left many store owners searching for a workaround to improve their product pages.

The Quest for a Solution

Exploring Official Documentation

Shopify does provide some documentation on customizing product variants, including:

However, these resources were published in 2016 and don’t fully address the needs of newer, sectioned themes. This has left many store owners feeling stuck and unsure of how to proceed.

Community-Driven Approaches

The Shopify community has been actively discussing and sharing potential solutions to this problem. Various code snippets and customizations have been proposed, but many of these are theme-specific and require modification to work with different layouts or variant selection methods.

Implementing a Solution for Hiding Sold Out Variants

The Most Promising Approach

After extensive research and community feedback, a solution has emerged that appears to work well for many Shopify stores, particularly those using free themes with dropdown menus for variant selection. This method involves adding custom JavaScript to your theme to dynamically hide or disable sold-out options.

Step-by-Step Implementation

Locate Your Theme Files: Access your Shopify admin panel and navigate to “Online Store” > “Themes” > “Actions” > “Edit code”.
Find the Appropriate JavaScript File: Look for a file named custom.js or a similar JavaScript file where you can add custom code.
Add the Custom Code: Insert the JavaScript code that handles the hiding or disabling of sold-out variants. The exact code may vary depending on your theme and specific requirements.
Modify the theme.liquid File: Ensure that your theme.liquid file includes a line to load the custom JavaScript file, typically something like:
```
{{ 'custom.js' | asset_url | script_tag }}
```
Test and Adjust: After implementing the code, thoroughly test your product pages with various variant combinations to ensure the solution works as expected.

Considerations for Different Themes

It’s important to note that this solution may require modifications for themes that use buttons or swatches instead of dropdowns, or for themes that assign different classes to variant selection elements. In such cases, you may need to adjust the JavaScript to target the correct elements in your theme’s structure.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

Unresponsive Product Pages

Some users have reported that after implementing the custom code, certain product pages become unresponsive or fail to load. If you encounter this issue:

Double-check that the custom code is properly integrated and doesn’t conflict with existing scripts.
Ensure that your product data is structured correctly and that all variants are properly defined.
Test the code on a duplicate theme before applying it to your live store to isolate any potential conflicts.

Adapting the Solution for Complex Variant Structures

For products with multiple interdependent variants (e.g., size affecting color availability), you may need a more sophisticated solution. Consider:

Implementing a cascading variant selection system.
Using AJAX to dynamically update available options based on previous selections.
Consulting with a Shopify expert to develop a custom solution tailored to your specific product structure.

Best Practices for Managing Product Variants

Regular Inventory Updates

To maximize the effectiveness of any variant hiding solution:

Keep your inventory accurately updated in real-time.
Use Shopify’s inventory management features to automate stock updates where possible.
Regularly audit your product listings to ensure all variant information is current.

Clear Communication with Customers

Even with a technical solution in place, it’s important to:

Clearly indicate when items are low in stock or temporarily unavailable.
Provide estimated restock dates when possible.
Offer back-in-stock notifications to interested customers.

Optimizing for Mobile Users

With an increasing number of shoppers using mobile devices:

Ensure your variant selection process is touch-friendly and easy to navigate on smaller screens.
Test your solution across various devices and screen sizes to guarantee a consistent experience.

By implementing these strategies and customizations, Shopify store owners can significantly improve the user experience when dealing with product variants, particularly those that are sold out. While the platform may not offer a one-size-fits-all solution, the combination of custom code and best practices can help create a more streamlined and user-friendly shopping experience.