If component “default option” is sold out, show first available component instead
Sometimes the “default option” for a component might be sold out. It would be nice if the default would then change to the next available product in that component.
This is a feature request that we have received a couple of times in the past and have thoroughly investigated. The biggest challenge here is that if a Composite Product has Scenarios, then it is necessary to evaluate the “next available option” against the list of active Scenarios to validate if the option is not excluded by any Scenarios. If it is excluded, then the same needs to happen for the next option. If it is not excluded, Scenarios need to calculate if the newly selected option has any effect on the currently active Scenarios. Running Scenarios calculations is a very performance-demanding task that could potentially slow down the Composite Product page and lead to customers leaving the page. Therefore, we weren’t able to find a robust solution for this case.
One alternative we are considering is to select the last remaining component option when all the rest are out of stock or excluded by Scenarios. Would this benefit your case, as well?
Hey there,
Thank you for sharing this suggestion!
This is a feature request that we have received a couple of times in the past and have thoroughly investigated. The biggest challenge here is that if a Composite Product has Scenarios, then it is necessary to evaluate the “next available option” against the list of active Scenarios to validate if the option is not excluded by any Scenarios. If it is excluded, then the same needs to happen for the next option. If it is not excluded, Scenarios need to calculate if the newly selected option has any effect on the currently active Scenarios. Running Scenarios calculations is a very performance-demanding task that could potentially slow down the Composite Product page and lead to customers leaving the page. Therefore, we weren’t able to find a robust solution for this case.
One alternative we are considering is to select the last remaining component option when all the rest are out of stock or excluded by Scenarios. Would this benefit your case, as well?
P.S.: In case your Composite doesn’t have Scenarios, but you’d like to know more about Scenarios, you may have a look here: https://woocommerce.com/document/composite-products-advanced-configuration/#option-dependencie