Scanning a size or colour

A variable product — one shirt in four sizes, one lipstick in six shades — is a group. Each variation inside it is the thing you actually sell, and each has its own barcode.

The parent code is not a product

The variable product has a code, but it exists only to hold the group together. Never sell it and never print it on a label. Print labels from the variations.

What a scan tells you

• The variation name — "Blue", "Large", "Shade 04"
• Its own code, so you can confirm it is the one in your hand
• Its stock per outlet, not the group total

Why the group total misled people

A group row sums every variation. Somebody who has just scanned one shade sees a number covering all of them — which reads as "plenty" when the shade in their hand may be the last one.