Getting Started
Product Options & Variants is a BigCommerce app that lets you add advanced, fully customizable product options to any product — far beyond what BigCommerce’s native modifier system supports on its own.
What the app does
BigCommerce natively supports simple product options and modifiers. This app extends that with:
- 24+ element types — text inputs, dropdowns, swatches, file uploads, date and time pickers, size charts, and more
- Conditional logic — show or hide elements based on what the customer has already selected
- Add-on pricing — charge per character, per selection, or tie an option to a separate inventory product
- Design control — per-option-set fonts, colors, spacing, and corner radii without touching theme code
- Product Personalizer — let customers see their typed text or chosen image placed on top of the product photo in real time
- Custom fonts — upload
.woff,.woff2,.ttf, or.otffiles and use them in the design and personalizer - Automations — automatically email your team or add an order note when a customer places an order with certain options selected
Core concepts
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Option Set | A named collection of elements (fields) that gets applied to one or more products |
| Element | A single input or display item inside an Option Set — e.g., a text field, a dropdown, or a color swatch |
| Element Value | An individual selectable choice within a selection-type element — e.g., “Red” inside a Color Swatch element |
| BigCommerce Modifier | A built-in BigCommerce feature that records each option’s answer (for example, ‘Engraving text: Happy Birthday’) on the order when a customer adds the product to their cart. |
| Provisioning | The automatic setup the app performs whenever you apply an Option Set to a product. It creates the records BigCommerce needs to save your options on orders. You never have to do this manually. |
Quick start
- Go to Dashboard → Option Sets and click New Option Set
- Give the set a name and add elements from the element picker
- Configure each element — label, required, values, pricing, conditions
- Click Apply to Products and select which products this set covers
- The app automatically sets up your options in BigCommerce. Within seconds, the options appear on the product page.
Navigation
Use the sidebar to explore each section in depth:
- How It Works — an overview of how the app works and how options appear on your orders
- Option Sets — creating, managing, and applying sets
- Option Elements — every element type with all its settings documented
- Conditional Logic — show/hide rules
- Add-On Pricing — the three pricing modes and when to use each
- Design & Appearance — per-option-set visual design
- Product Personalizer — live canvas overlay feature
- Custom Fonts — uploading and using your own fonts
- Automations — automatically emailing your team or noting orders based on what was ordered
- App Settings — store-wide settings
- Billing & Subscription — plans, pricing, and managing your subscription