Managing products in the Shopify Collective app

After you connect with a supplier, you can import supplier products to your store.

If you want to automate your product import and product details synchronization, then consider using Shopify Collective product policies. For example, you might want to sync more product details continuously, such as get the latest product images from the supplier.

You can also manually import supplier products, edit product details, and publish products to your online store. You can also view supplier product pricing details and shipping costs.

Considerations for importing and managing products in Shopify Collective

Before you import or manage products in Shopify Collective, review the following considerations:

• Collections, tags, metafields, and discount codes aren't imported from a supplier's store to your store.
• You can have up to 100 product variants. If a product exceeds this variant limit, then product inventory and pricing information might not be synchronized.
• You have the option to apply discount codes, such as a 20% welcome offer, to products that you import from your suppliers. This affects your profit margins, but the amount paid to the supplier remains unchanged. To prevent Collective products from being included in discount codes, you can use third-party discounting apps that offer exclusion features.
• You can't edit product variants and you can't choose which product variants to publish.
• POS inventory levels aren't synced from a supplier's store to your store. Only online inventory levels are displayed in your store as available quantity to sell.
• You can't duplicate imported Shopify Collective products. If you duplicate a product, then you break the product connection with your supplier.
• A Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) is required for all products that are sold through Shopify Collective. You can edit a product's SKU at any time. The following scenarios can apply:
  • If a supplier's product already has a SKU, then the supplier's SKU is added to your store when you import the product.
  • If a supplier's product doesn't have a SKU, then a SKU is automatically created on your store with a number generated by Shopify Collective.

Product pricing details

Review the following table to learn more about product pricing details in Shopify Collective.

Shopify Collective product pricing details

Pricing detail	Description
Retail price	Retail price is a fixed product price that's set by the supplier and automatically synced to your store. If a product price that's set by a supplier doesn't fit your product pricing strategy, then you can contact your supplier directly to discuss product pricing.
Cost price	Cost price is a product's retail price minus the percentage retailer margin set by the supplier. It's the amount you will owe your supplier when you sell the product. You can't edit a product's cost price.
Margin	Margin is the percentage deducted from a product's retail price to determine its cost price to the retailer.
Profit	Profit indicates the amount of money that you earn when selling a product. Your profit is the product's retail price minus the cost price.

The product price is automatically synced from a supplier's store to your store. If a supplier changes a product's retail price or the cost price, then the retail price and cost price are automatically recalculated and updated in your store. If the product price that's set by a supplier doesn't fit your product pricing strategy, then you can contact your supplier directly to discuss product pricing.

Your customers can use discount codes for products that are imported using Shopify Collective, but the cost price (amount you owe your supplier) for each sale of a product doesn't change.

For example, you import a product from a supplier with a retail price of $100 USD and a cost price of $70 USD. If your customer uses a discount code of $20 USD, then you still need to pay your supplier $70 USD and your profit is only $10 USD, instead of $30 USD.

Import products to your store

You can import supplier products to your store.

If you want to automate Shopify Collective product imports, then consider using product policies.

After you import products to your store, they're moved from the Available tab to the Imported tab.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Apps and sales channels.

2. Click Collective (Retailer).

3. Click Open app.

4. From the Collective (Retailer) app, click Suppliers.

5. Click a supplier that you want to import products from.

6. From the Available tab, select the individual products that you want to import to your store. You can also 'Select all products'.

7. Click Import products.

Edit product details

You can change the following product details:

• Product title
• Description
• Media

There are some details that you can't edit on products that you import and sell using Shopify Collective. Any changes made to the following details are reverted automatically:

• Product price - if a product price that's set by a supplier doesn't fit your product pricing strategy, then you can contact your supplier directly to discuss product pricing
• Inventory quantities
• Track quantity
• Shipping – ensure the This is a physical product checkbox remains selected
• Variants – you can't currently add options, such as size or color

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Products.

2. Click the name of the product that you want to change.

3. Edit the product title, description, or media.

4. Click Save.

Make products available in your store

When you import a supplier's products, they're created with a Draft status in your Shopify admin. They're not available in your online store yet. You need to change their status to Active.

Tip

You can also set product availability by channel as a bulk action.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Products.

2. Click the product's name to open its details. The product is included in the sales channels listed in the Publishing section.

3. Click ⋮ > Manage sales channels.

4. Select the sales channels and apps that you want to include the product in.

5. Click Done.

6. Click Save.

Delete products from your store

You can delete supplier products from your store. After you delete products from your store, they're moved from the Imported tab to the Available tab.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Apps and sales channels.

2. Click Collective (Retailer).

3. Click Open app.

4. From the Collective (Retailer) app, click Suppliers.

5. Click a supplier that you want to delete products from.

6. Go to the Imported tab, and then select the products that you want to delete from your store.

7. Click Delete products, and then click Delete.