Using Shopify with Plytix - FAQ

General Information

• What is the Shopify channel in Plytix?
• How does Plytix’s Shopify connection work?
• Can I connect multiple Shopify stores to one Plytix account?
• Can I send product variants from Plytix to Shopify?
• Can I send digital assets from Plytix to Shopify?

Settings and Configuration

•  How are collections handled in Plytix?
• Can I send inventory or stock information through the connector?
• Does Plytix support all types of metafields in Shopify?
• What happens if there's an error during the sync?

Troubleshooting and Support

• Why is Plytix not creating a product in my Shopify store?
• Why am I getting a Shopify error related to pixel limit?
• Why does my product show that it was “Skipped” in the process log?
• In Shopify, under the inventory section, I can uncheck the "Continue selling when out of stock" option. How can I configure it in Plytix so that this option doesn't get toggled on when products are out of stock?
• Why is my Shopify sync taking so long?
• Why am I receiving an invalid URL error?
• Why am I receiving the error "already used in automated collections"?
• How do I set up sales or promotions for my Shopify store?
• How can I map an SEO title and description to my products using metafields?

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General Information

What is the Shopify channel in Plytix?

The Shopify channel allows you to directly sync product data between Plytix and Shopify without needing to manually create or update feeds in your Shopify store. This integration ensures product creation, updates, and organization is automatically sent from Plytix to Shopify.

How does Plytix's Shopify channel work?

Plytix syncs product data with Shopify via the GraphQL API. It’s a one-way sync, meaning product data is sent from Plytix to Shopify, but Shopify data is not pulled back into Plytix. This ensures accurate product information is maintained in your Shopify store.

Can I connect multiple Shopify stores to one Plytix account?

Yes, Plytix allows you to connect multiple Shopify stores to a single account. You can add a Shopify channel for each store, making it easy to manage multiple connections from one location.

Can I map product variants to Shopify?

Yes, Plytix supports the mapping of variants to Shopify. You must define at least one option (e.g., "Color" or "Size") at the parent level and the corresponding values (e.g., "Red" or "Large") at the variant level for the connector to create product variants in Shopify. 

Can I send digital assets from Plytix to Shopify?

Yes, you can manage your digital assets in Plytix and link them to your products. These assets will then be sent to Shopify during the sync process.

In Plytix, the assets you send to Shopify are stored using their Shopify asset IDs—so that,   whenever you modify the images sent to your Shopify store (such as reordering or adding images in your media gallery, or replacing your assets), changes are quickly updated with every sync. 

This means that:

• Syncing assets to your store is faster
• Your metadata will be preserved: Alt text and other Shopify information related to your digital files will remain intact on assets inside Shopify

Settings and Configuration

How are collections handled in Plytix?

You can create collections within Plytix and map them to Shopify. Then, you can manage them within Shopify for actions such as customizing the sorting of products within collections.

Can I send inventory or stock information through the connector?

While Plytix doesn't manage stock levels in Shopify, you can map inventory-related fields like "Inventory Management" and "Inventory Policy" to ensure accurate stock information is reflected in Shopify.

Does Plytix support all types of metafields in Shopify?

Plytix supports many types of metafields, but there are some limitations. For example, we don't support reference metafields (e.g., product or variant references). You can create and manage metafields in Plytix, which will sync to Shopify if the metafield type is supported.

What happens if there's an error during the sync?

If an error occurs during the sync, you’ll see it in the Process Log. Each error will provide details on how to fix it, so you can reprocess the channel. Products with errors aren't cached and can slow down future syncs, so it's highly recommended to review and fix any errors before processing your channel again.

Troubleshooting and Support

Why is Plytix not creating a product in my Shopify store?

It may be related to the way you mapped the Handle attribute. When it comes to Shopify Handles, there are a few things to keep in mind. 

The Handle attribute must be blank for new items and have the matching SKU for existing items.

If you are sending a value for the Handle, the connector will think that the product is already in Shopify, since a product only has a value for the Handle when it has already been created in Shopify. So, even if the product doesn’t exist in the Shopify store yet, if you match the Handle attribute with an attribute that already contains a value, the connector will consider it as an already existing product—and thus will not create the product.

When mapping attributes with the Handle, we recommend creating a new short text "Handle" attribute in Plytix with empty values so you can map it in the Shopify channel.  To create a new attribute for the Handle, follow the steps below:

1. Go to the “Settings” tab in Plytix
2. Under “Attributes”, click "+Create attribute"
3. You can name your attribute something easily identifiable like “Handle” or “Shopify Handle”
4. Select the “Short Text” attribute type
   
   

If your product belongs to a product family, make sure to add this attribute to the family too. Remember to leave values in this attribute blank for all of your products. 

In the Shopify channel, map the new Handle attribute to Shopify’s “Handle”. Then, process the channel. 

When you process the channel, Shopify will generate the handle based on the Title of the product. After you process the channel, the Handles in that attribute will appear as the Title of the product with a dash between each word (e.g. performance-test-product).

Why am I getting a Shopify error related to pixel limit?

This is because your images have exceeded the pixel limit set by Shopify. Please resize your images according to Shopify’s requirements. 

Why does my product show that it was “Skipped” in the process log?

A product is set as “Skipped” after processing when the channel processed a product that was already in the store and had no updates. 

In Shopify under the inventory section, I can uncheck the "Continue selling when out of stock" option. How can I configure it in Plytix so that this option doesn't get toggled on when products are out of stock?

To avoid this, make sure that the Shopify field “Inventory Policy” is mapped with a dropdown attribute and that its attribute value is “deny” rather than “continue.” This is because this field defines whether customers are allowed to place orders for variants when they are out of stock. Click to learn more about mapping specific Shopify fields.

Why is my Shopify sync taking so long?

Processing times differ based on factors such as number of SKUs, number of attributes, number and size of assets, and more. They also vary depending on how often you're modifying your product lists or mapping setup since these cause the cache (in other words, your channel's "memory" of your products) to reset, resulting in longer processing times. A channel with a higher number of products, larger images, and many metafields will take longer to process.

If you think processing times are longer than usual for your products, even without any changes in your channel or product setup, feel free to contact our support team. 

Why am I receiving an invalid URL error?

This is most likely due to using special characters for asset naming. 

These are Shopify's best practices for naming assets:

• Don't use spaces in the file name
• Don't begin your file name with symbols, like "!"
• Avoid using a period before the file extension
• Avoid long, complicated file names that contain excess characters

We also recommend using only English letters, 0-9 numbers, and dashes or underscores for name separation. Please refer to Shopify's documentation for more information.

Why am I receiving the error "already used in automated collections"?

If you are receiving the following error "PRODUCT.wds.location_region: Cannot proceed with this action. This definition is used in one or more automated collections":

It is because the metafield is being used in automated collections but you are sending a false value from Plytix. To avoid this, enable the "Use in automated collections" checkbox when editing a metafield in Plytix. 

How do I set up sales or promotions for my Shopify store?

You have a couple of options for handling promotional pricing.

First, you can manually set sale prices on individual products without using discount codes. When you put a product on sale for a lower price, you might want your customers to be able to see the original price, so they see the price comparison. To show a sale price in your online store, your product details need to include a sale price and the original price, called the "Compare at price." You can maintain these two prices in separate attributes in Plytix, or keep only the original price in Plytix and create a computed attribute to transform the original price into a discounted price.

Second, you can offer customers reduced prices at checkout by creating a discount code from the Shopify dashboard. This doesn't affect the displayed prices of your products. You can create codes for a dollar value discount, a percentage discount, a buy X get Y discount, or a free shipping discount. Customers can then enter discount codes at checkout.

How can I map a SEO title and description to my products using metafields?

If you have any additional questions or need further assistance, please reach out to our support team at help@plytix.com.