Use our Shopify connector to send product content directly to Shopify stores
Sync data between Plytix and Shopify stores with our direct integration. In this article we will show you how to set up a Shopify channel.
*Skip to any section in this article by clicking on the links above
⚠️ This feature isn't available for all accounts yet. Reach out to your customer success manager to get access to this feature.
Creating a Shopify Channel
The Shopify connector can be found in the Channels add-on. To create a new Shopify channel:
- Navigate to the 'Channels' area
- Click the 'Add Channel' button on the right
- Then give your Channel a unique name
- Choose the 'Shopify' Channel type
- Choose either an existing connection or connect a new store
- Add the store URL* of the Shopify store you want to connect with
*only insert the root of your domain (without the "https://") - Add the API Access Token you can generate from within your Shopify Store
- Then click 'Add Channel' on the top right
Channel Dashboard
The channel dashboard gives you essential information about the channel. Here is a quick tour:
Channel Name and Status
At the top left, you can see a section that shows the channel name and type.
Here you can:
- Change the channel name, then hit "enter" to save.
- Change the status to make the channel 'Active' or 'Inactive'
- Go back to the channel overview by clicking on the arrow
Processing Information
At the top right, you can see information related to processing the channel.
Here there are a few bits of information and some actions you can take.
Information:
- Created: the time the channel was created
- Modified: the last time the channel was updated in any way
- Processed: the last time a channel was processed either manually or on a schedule
Actions:
- Process Now: this will manually process the channel, pushing information to your Shopify store
- Preview: See what your product content looks like before you send it
- Arrows: these arrows will take you to the previous/next channel
- Test Connection: this tests to see if your store connection is still valid
- Pencil Icon: Change the Connection for your Channel
- Page Icon: Duplicate Your Shopify Channel
- Trash Icon: Delete your Shopify Channel
Process Log
The process log shows the records of the last time information was pushed from Plytix to Shopify. If this is your first Shopify channel the log will be empty until you process it for the first time.
The log shows:
- Start Date: the date and time the process was started
- Finish Date: the date and time the process completed
- Status: if the process is 'Syncing', 'Processing', 'Canceled', or 'Finished'
- Parent Products: how many products were processed
- Result: if the information was sent correctly, as 'Success', if not, as 'Error'
ℹ️ Once you process a Shopify Channel, the processing is divided into two stages: “processing” and “syncing”. During the “processing” stage Plytix processes the information from the channel into a package, then Plytix sends that information to Shopify where the information will be “synced” with the store.
Log Detail
If there are any errors in processing, you can check what happened at a product-level by clicking on the 'Start Date'. This will take you to the log detail.
Here you will be able to review error messages from Shopify to remedy the issue. Click on the 'info' icon to see more information about the error.
In the log detail you can also see:
- Action: if the product was "Created", "Updated", or "Skipped"
- Result: if the product was correctly processed, you'll see "Success", if not, "Error"
ℹ️ Click on the info icon to see a more detailed error message that tells you what exactly caused the error to happen.
Products
In this section, you will assign a product list to your Channel. This product list defines the products that will be sent to this Shopify store.
Mapping
Here you will match attributes from Plytix to Shopify fields.
ℹ️ The fields in our connector are separated into two groups: Parent fields and Variant fields. However, this is simply for organizational purposes. If you sell simple products (products without variations) you may match attributes to any of the parent and variant fields, with the exception of Option Name and Option Value.
Shopify Fields
There are a few required fields to make sure your product content gets to your Shopify store:
- Handle
- Title (when creating new items)
💡 Each Shopify field has certain requirements for formatting. 👉 Use this guide 👈 to make sure you match the right content from Plytix to Shopify.
⚠️ Handle and Title are required fields when creating new items
Mapping Attributes
To map a new attribute:
- Click on 'Match attribute' in the 'PIM Attributes' column
- Select the attribute you want to match, or create a Computed Attribute
- Then click 'Apply'
- To save your changes, click 'Save changes' in the save bar that appears at the top
To unmatch, click the 'Unmatch' icon.
Formatting Attributes
Just like with other channels in Plytix, you are able to make attribute transformations for each of your attributes. To do this:
- Hover over the attribute you want to edit
- If it has transformation options available, a 'Settings' icon will appear to the right
- Click the 'Settings' icon, and all the options will appear
- Make your changes
- Click 'Apply'
- Click 'Save Changes' to save your transformations
Metafields
There are two types of Shopify metafields: metafields with definition and metafields without definition.
To create a new metafield:
- Click on the 'Create metafield' button and a popup will appear.
- Click on 'Definition' (selected by default) or 'No definition'.
- For metafields with definition, choose whether it is a 'Product' or 'Variant' metafield.
- Type a namespace and key name, and select a value type. If creating a metafield with definition, type a definition name. It is optional to type a description.
- Click on 'Create Metafield' in the top right corner of the window.
- After creating your metafield, you can match it to an existing attribute or create a computed attribute to match with it by clicking on 'Match metafield'.
- Select an attribute from the list or click on 'Create computed'.
- Click 'Apply'.
- Click 'Save changes' at the top of your channel to ensure the new metafield is saved.
💡 To learn more about metafields, 👉 Use this guide 👈. Learn more about creating computed attributes in our article, Creating Computed Attributes.
Metafields with definition
Plytix currently supports ten types of metafields with definition:
- Single Line Text
- Multi Line Text
- Integer
- Decimal
- Color
- Date
- Date and Time
- JSON String
- True or False
- URL
Metafields without definition
Plytix currently supports three types of metafields without definition:
- Integer
- String
- JSON String
Settings
The Settings tab lets you set up feed scheduling and how metafields are managed.
Scheduling
To enable feed scheduling, click the toggle next to "Set up periodic processing for your feed." This will open settings to configure how and when information is automatically sent to your store.
"Feed data" and "Store data" options are explained in "Processing a Shopify Channel" (link below).
Metafields
This setting tells Shopify what to do with the metafields you have created in Plytix.
Once you complete information for all the tabs in your channel, you're ready to process. Follow the steps in this article to learn how to process a Shopify channel.
Duplicating a Shopify Channel
Whenever you need a similar setup for your store, but you don't want to create an entire Shopify Channel from scratch again, you can simply duplicate any existing Shopify Channel in Plytix.
To do so, simply:
- Enter the Shopify Channel you wish to duplicate
- Hit the 'Duplicate' icon within the Channel
This will duplicate the entire channel including the store connection and mapping options applied.
💡 You can change the store connection in your duplicated channel.
What's next?
- Learn how to map Shopify fields
- Learn how to import a Shopify CSV template into Plytix
- Learn how to get the API access token from your Shopify store
If you have any questions just click on the chat box in the bottom-right corner and we'll be happy to answer them...
and please let us know 👇