Creating and Managing a Shopify Channel

Use our Shopify connector to send product content directly to Shopify stores

Sync data between Plytix and your Shopify stores with our direct integration. In this article we will show you how to set up a Shopify channel.

 

 

Why use Plytix’s direct integration with Shopify

Installing the Plytix Shopify app

Updating the Plytix Shopify app

Creating a Shopify Channel 

Channel Dashboard

Process Log

Products

Mapping

Metafields

Settings

Duplicating a Shopify Channel

 

*Skip to any section in this article by clicking on the links above

 

 

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Why use Plytix’s direct integration with Shopify

 

Connecting Plytix to Shopify is easy. If you’re getting started with a brand new Plytix account, it will be auto populated with product data from your Shopify store, so the setup takes only a few clicks. If you already have an existing Plytix account and would like to connect it to your Shopify store, you can do so by creating a new Shopify channel. 

Here are some of the benefits of using Plytix’s Shopify integration:

• Manage your product information and updates in Plytix, so that you have a centralized platform to refer to
• Create new products and sync updates into your store, with the option to have scheduled processing based on the frequency of your updates
• Create and sync metafields from Plytix
• Link digital files to your products and sync them into your store

In addition, you’ll have a dedicated Account Manager who will guide you through the setup of your channel to ensure your product information is sent correctly to your Shopify store.

To manage your Shopify product creation and updates directly from Plytix, install the Plytix Shopify app, which will connect your Plytix account with your Shopify store.

To get started, first, install the Plytix app in your Shopify account. Once you have installed it and connected your Plytix account to your selected stores, you may be required to update the app according to changes released on Shopify’s end.

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Installing the Plytix Shopify app

Installing the Plytix Shopify app takes less than five minutes. Simply install it on Shopify’s app store, and connect it to your Plytix account. If you already have a Plytix account, you can connect it to your store by creating a new Shopify channel. 

 

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Updating the Plytix Shopify app

Shopify performs periodic updates in their system that may modify their API requirements. Updates to the Plytix app are handled by our team to keep it up to date with new features and prevent loss of functionalities. However, some of those changes require action from the user’s end—such as access permission updates, for example.  

Whenever there is any action required on your end, a banner will appear in your Shopify channel. Please follow the steps on the message to maintain your channel’s functionalities. After you’ve completed the required action, you will receive a confirmation message. 

 

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Creating a Shopify Channel

The Shopify connector can be found in the Channels add-on. To create a new Shopify channel: 

1. Navigate to the "Channels" tab 
2. Click the 'Add Channel' button on the right
3. Name your channel 
4. Choose the 'Shopify' channel type

5. Choose either an existing connection or connect a new store

6. To connect a new store, click "Open Plytix PIM app." This will redirect you to Plytix's app in the Shopify app store. 

7. Once you're in the Shopify app store, click "Install"

 

8. After installing the app, log into your Plytix account

9. Choose the account you would like to connect to Shopify

10. Name your new channel and click "Save." You can find your Shopify store's URL below the page. 

 

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Channel Dashboard

The channel dashboard gives you essential information about the channel. The following are some of the elements you can find on your dashboard:

Channel Name and Status

At the top left, you can see a section that shows the channel name and type. 

Here you can: 

1. Change the channel name, then hit "enter" to save.
   
   
   
   
   
2. 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
  
  

If you wish to import your Shopify products into Plytix, simply click "Download store data" in the dashboard. This will export product data from your connected store into a CSV file in a format that meets Plytix's import requirements. Then, import the CSV file into Plytix to centralize it in one place. 

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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'
• Products: how many products were processed
• Result: if the information was sent correctly, as 'Success', if not, as a note with the number of errors the process had. 

 

Log Detail

If there are any errors in processing, you can check what happened at a product-level by clicking on the 'Start Date' information of a process. 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" (a product is "Skipped" after processing the channel, when it was already cached and hasn't experienced any changes since the last sync).
• Result: If a new or updated product was correctly processed, you will see the result as "Success". If there were any errors with processing it to your store, the result will show as "Error".  If a product that was already cached is processed again with no updates to it, it will be skipped and thus the result will show up as blank.

You can also download a report of your processing, either from the log detail page or by hovering over a specific process in the "Process Log" overview page. 

 

 

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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.

 

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Mapping

Here you will match attributes from Plytix to Shopify fields.

 

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)

As an additional reminder, always remember to make sure all of your sellable products have a value for their key attributes - like price - when you link them in the connector.

 

 

Mapping Attributes

To map a new attribute: 

1. Click on 'Match attribute' in the "PIM Attributes" column
2. Select the attribute you want to match, or create a Computed Attribute
3. Then click 'Apply'
4. 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: 

1. Hover over the attribute you want to edit
2. If it has transformation options available, a "Settings" icon will appear to the right
3. Click the "Settings" icon, and all the options will appear
   
   
4. Make your changes
5. Click 'Apply'
6. Click 'Save Changes' to save your transformations

 

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Metafields

There are two types of Shopify metafields: metafields with definition and metafields without definition.

To create a new metafield:

1. Click on the 'Create metafield' button and a popup will appear.
2. Click on 'Definition' (selected by default) or 'No definition'.
3. For metafields with definition, choose whether it is a 'Product' or 'Variant' metafield.
4. 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. You can also select if you want to use the metafield in automated collections. 
5. Click on 'Create Metafield' in the top right corner of the window.
6. 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'.
7. Select an attribute from the list or click on 'Create computed'.
8. Click 'Apply'.
9. Click 'Save changes' at the top of your channel to ensure the new metafield is saved.

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

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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 when information is automatically sent to your store. 

 

Metafields

This setting tells Shopify what to do with the metafields you have created in Plytix. 

Cache

Clearing the cache lets you perform a full or partial resync of products from Plytix to your Shopify store. Before processing a new channel, it will look like this:

Once you've synced products to your Shopify store by processing the channel, you'll see the option to clear the cache:

Once you click 'Clear cache,' you'll have two options: 

If you choose to 'Full resync,' you'll be asked to confirm in the next step by ticking the box. Click 'Next' once more to clear the cache.

If you choose 'Partial resync,' you'll be asked to select the products you wish to clear from the cache. Once you've selected the products to clear, click 'Next.'

Lastly, you'll be asked to confirm in the next step by ticking the box. Click 'Next' once more to clear the cache. 

Once you've selected information and settings 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.

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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:

1. Enter the Shopify Channel you wish to duplicate
2. Hit the 'Duplicate' icon within the Channel 

This will duplicate the entire channel including the store connection and mapping options applied. 

 

 

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What's next?

• Learn how to map Shopify fields
• Learn how to import a Shopify CSV template into Plytix
• Learn how to process your Shopify channel 

 

 

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 👇