Items in Business Central are equivalent to products in Shopify. They're the physical goods, digital downloads, services, and gift cards that you sell. There are two main reasons to synchronize items:

1. When you primarily manage data in Business Central. You need to export all or some data from there into Shopify and make it visible. You can export the item name, description, image, prices, availability, variants, vendor details, and barcode. Once exported, you can review the items or make them visible immediately.
2. When an order from Shopify is imported, the information about items is vital to further document processing in Business Central.

The preceding two scenarios are always enabled.

A third scenario is to manage data in Shopify but import those items in bulk to Business Central. This scenario can be useful for data migration events, such as when you want to connect an existing online shop with a new Business Central environment.

1. Choose the search  icon and enter Shopify Shop. Open the shop for which you want to configure the item synchronization.

2. From the Sync item field, select the required option.

   The following table outlines the options.

   Option	Description
   Blank	Products are imported together with the importing of orders. Products are exported to Shopify if a user runs the Add Item action from the Shopify Products page. This option is the default process.
   To Shopify	Select this option if, after the initial sync is triggered by the Add Item action, you plan to update products manually using the Sync Product action or using the job queue for recurring updates. Remember to enable the Can Update Shopify Product field. If it isn't enabled, it equals the Blank (default process) option. Learn more in the Export items to Shopify section.
   From Shopify	Choose this option if you plan to import products from Shopify in bulk, either manually using the Sync Product action or using the job queue for recurring updates. Learn more in the Import items from Shopify section.

   

    Note
   

   Changing Sync Item from From Shopify to To Shopify won't have an effect unless you enable Can Update Shopify Products.

First, import items either in bulk from Shopify or together with orders to add them to the Shopify Product and Shopify Variant tables. Then map imported products and variants to items and variants in Business Central. Manage the process using the following settings:

There are multiple ways to export items to Shopify:

• Use the Add item to Shopify action directly from the Item card page.
• Use the Add Item action on the Shopify Products page.
• Run item synchronization once or repeatedly with automation.

No matter how you export items, specific item information is transferred to the Shopify products list depending on your choice of settings for item synchronization.

Before it exports an item to Shopify, the connector checks whether an item already exists. First, it checks whether there's a product or variant with a barcode, because it's defined in the Item References entry of a barcode type. If the SKU Mapping field is populated, the connector checks whether there's a product or variant with the SKU populated. To learn more, go to Effect of Shopify product SKUs and barcodes on mapping and creating items and variants in Business Central.

 Important

The product is added only to the Online Store sales channel. You need to publish products to other sales channels, like Shopify POS, from Shopify.

You manage the process of exporting items using these settings:

Note

When you want to export many items and variants, some might be blocked. You can't include blocked items and variants in price calculations, so they aren't exported. The Connector skips those items and variants, so you don't need to filter them on the Add Item to Shopify request page.

When products are imported from Shopify to Shopify Products and Shopify Variants tables, Business Central tries to find existing records.

The following table outlines the differences between options in the SKU Mapping field.

The following table outlines the effects of the Barcode field.

Note

You can trigger mapping of the selected products/variants by choosing Try Find Product Mapping or of all the imported unmapped products by choosing Try Find Mappings.

Review the imported tags in the Tags FactBox on the Shopify Product page. On the same page, to edit tags, choose the Tags action.

If the To Shopify option is selected in the Sync Item field, assigned tags are exported to Shopify at the next synchronization.

Shopify doesn't support multiple units of measure. If you want to sell same product as for example piece and set and use different prices or discounts, you need to create unit of measure as product variants. Shopify connector can be configured to export units of measure as variants, or import variants as units of measure.

To enable this capability use the UoM as Variant and Variant Option Name fields in the Shopify Shop Card. The fields are hidden by default; use personalization to add them to the page.

Unit of measure as variant remarks

• When dealing with matrix of variants, for example Color and UoM and you want to import products into Business Central, you should set Item No. + Variant Code in the SKU Mapping field and make sure that SKU field in Shopify has same value for all units of measure and include both item no. and variant code.
• In Business Central availability is calculated per item/item variant and not by unit of measure. It means same availability will be assigned to each variant representing unit of measure (with respect to Qty. per Unit of Measure), that can lead to cases when avaialble quantity in Shopify is not accurate. Example: Item that is sold in PCS and Box of 6. The inventory in Business Central is 6 PCS. Item exported to Shopify as Product with two variants. Once inventory sync executed the inventory level in Shopify will be 6 for varaint PCS and 1 for variant BOX. Buyer can explore only store and see that product is available in both options and place order for 1 BOX. The next buyer will see that BOX is not avaialble, but there are still 6 PCS. This will be fixed with the next inventory sync.
• You won't be able to add Unit of measure option to existing products with variants (specific result depends on other setting, like SKU Mapping).

An item added to Shopify or imported from Shopify might have the URL or Preview URL populated. The URL field will be empty if the product isn't published to the online store—for example, because its status is draft. The URL will be empty if the store is password protected—for example, because this is a development store. In most cases you can use the Preview URL to check how the product will look once published.

Full or partial item synchronization can be performed in many different ways.

1. Go to the search  icon, enter Shopify Products, and choose the related link.
2. Choose the Add Items action.
3. In the Shop Code field, enter the code. If you open the Shopify Product window from the Shop Card page, the shop code will be populated automatically.
4. If you configured image and inventory sync, you can include them in the same process. Including them in the same process is convenient for demo scenarios or when dealing with smaller amounts of data.
5. Define filters on items as required. For example, you can filter by the item number or item category code.
6. Choose OK.

The resulting items are automatically created in Shopify with prices. Depending on choices you made, images and inventory levels might be included. The operation might take some time if a large number of items are added.

Alternatively, you can sync one item by choosing the Add to Shopify action in the Item Card page.

 Note

Initial sync of items from Business Central to Shopify doesn't consider Sync Item and Can Update Shopify Products settings.

1. Go to the search  icon, enter Shopify Shop, and choose the related link.
2. Select the shop for which you want to synchronize items to open the Shopify Shop Card page.
3. Choose the Sync Products action.

Alternatively, use the Sync Products action on the Shopify Products page or search for the Sync Products batch job.

You can schedule the task to be performed in an automated manner. Learn more at Schedule recurring tasks.

When the records are updated in the Shopify Product table, the following changes are synchronized with Shopify.

Update:

• Status - You can choose between active, archived, or draft.
• SEO Title
• SEO Description

Deletion:

Based on the value in Action for Removed Products on the Shopify Shop Card page, the product gets updated in Shopify when the record is deleted from the Shopify Products page.

• Blank: Nothing will happen. If necessary, you'll need to perform the required action from the Shopify admin.
• Status to Draft: The status of the product in Shopify is set to Draft.
• Status to Archived: The product is archived in Shopify.

Synchronization of images can be configured for synchronized items. Choose from the following options:

• Disabled: Image synchronization is deactivated.
• To Shopify: Pictures of items are exported to Shopify.
• From Shopify: Images from Shopify are imported to Business Central.

Image synchronization can be initialized in the two ways described below.

1. Go to the search  icon, enter Shopify Shops, and choose the related link.
2. Select the shop for which you want to synchronize images to open the Shopify Shop Card page.
3. Choose the Sync Product Images action.

1. Go to the search  icon, enter Shopify Products, and choose the related link.
2. Choose the Sync Product Images action.

• When you export images from Business Central to Shopify, the images replace those you exported previously. The earlier images are no longer available.
• If you delete an image in Business Central, the image in Shopify isn't also deleted. You'll need to manually delete the old images in the Shopify Admin.
• Images you export to Shopify must comply with Shopify's requirements. Otherwise, you can't import them. To learn more about media requirements, go to product media types on help.shopify.com.

The Connector can send one main price and one non-discounted price to Shopify. The prices show in the Price and Compare at Price fields on the Shopify Product (Shopify Variant) page.

The following table describes the settings you can use to manage the process of defining and exporting prices.

You can export prices for synchronized items in the two ways described below.

1. Go to the search  icon, enter Shopify Products, and choose the related link.
2. Choose the Sync Prices to Shopify action.

• When determining a price, Business Central uses the "lowest price" logic. However, the lowest price logic ignores the unit price defined on the item card if a price is defined in the price group. This is true even if the unit price from the item card price is lower.
• To calculate prices, the connector creates a temporary sales quote for the item with a quantity of 1, and uses standard price calculation logic. Only prices and discounts that are applicable for quantity 1 are used. You can't export different prices or discounts based on quantity.
• The connector sends a request to update prices in Shopify if the price in Business Central has changed. For example, if you synchronized products and prices and then changed a price in Shopify, choosing the Sync Prices to Shopify action won't have any impact on the price in the Shopify because the new price calculated by the connector is the same as the price stored in the Shopify Variant from the previous sync. The Compare at Price is updated only if the main price has changed.

Note

This feature is available from 2024 release wave 1, and requires a Shopify Plus subscription. To get access to B2B features, remember to request an access token. For more information, see Request the access token.

If you use Shopify B2B, you can configure the Connector to synchronize prices for Shopify Catalogs linked to B2B customers.

1. Select the  icon, enter Shopify Catalogs, and select the related link.
2. Select Get Catalogs.

You can only access catalogs linked to B2B companies. For more information, see B2B Companies. Note that catalogues don't contain products. You manage catalog content in Shopify Admin.

1. Select the  icon, enter Shopify Catalogs, and select the related link.
2. Select entry for which you want to define and export prices.
3. Use available settings to configure how prices will be defined. The settings are similar to ones used for synchronization of Price and Compare at Price fields in the Shopify Product (Shopify Variant).
4. Enable the Sync Prices toggle.
5. Choose Sync Prices and wait until synchronization of prices is completed.

Inventory synchronization can be configured for already synchronized items. There are two conditions that must be met:

1. Inventory tracking must be enabled for a product in Shopify. If items are exported to Shopify, consider enabling the Inventory Tracked toggle on the Shopify Shop page. Learn more in the Export items to Shopify section.
2. Inventory sync must be enabled for Shopify Locations.

1. Go to the search  icon, enter Shopify Shop, and choose the related link.
2. Select the shop for which you want to synchronize inventory to open the Shopify Shop Card page.
3. Choose the Locations action to open Shopify Shop Locations.
4. Choose the Get Shopify Locations action to import all the locations defined in Shopify. You can find them in the Locations settings in your Shopify Admin.
5. In the Location Filter field, add locations if you want to include inventory from specific locations only. So, you could enter EAST|WEST to make the inventory from only these two locations available for sales via the online shop.
6. Select the stock calculation method to use for the selected Shopify locations.
7. Enable Default Product Location if you want location to be used for creation of inventory records and to participate in the inventory synchronization.

You can initialize inventory synchronization in the two ways described below.

1. Go to the search  icon, enter Shopify Shops, and choose the related link.
2. Select the shop for which you want to synchronize inventory to open the Shopify Shop Card page.
3. Choose the Sync inventory action.

1. Go to the search  icon, enter Shopify Products, and choose the related link.
2. Choose the Sync inventory action.

• There are two standard stock calculation methods: Projected Available Balance at date and Free Inventory (Not reserved). With extensibility, you can add more options. To learn more about extensibility, go to examples.
• You can inspect the stock information received from Shopify on the Shopify Inventory FactBox page. In this FactBox, you get an overview of the Shopify stock and the last calculated inventory in Business Central. There's one record per location.
• If the stock information in Shopify is different than the Projected Available Balance in Business Central, then the stock will be updated in Shopify.
• When you add a new location in Shopify, you also need to add inventory records for it. Shopify doesn't do that automatically for existing products and variants and the connector won't synchronize inventory levels for such items in the new location. To learn more, go to Assigning inventory to locations.
• Both Business Central Fulfillment Services and normal locations are supported and can be used for shipping and inventory.

There are 10 pieces of item A available on hand and two outstanding sales orders. One for Monday with quantity One and one for Thursday with quantity Two. Depending on when you sync inventory, the system will update the stock level in Shopify with different quantities:

There are 10 pieces of item A available on hand and three outstanding sales orders. One order with quantity 1 reserved from item ledger entry, one with quantity 2 not reserved, and one with quantity 3 reserved from a purchase order. For this method, the date of synchronization isn't important.

There are two ways to deal with fulfillment in Shopify:

• Shopify "built-in" fulfillment and inventory tracking
• Third-party fulfillment and inventory tracking

Inventory for each product in Shopify can be either stocked by Shopify or by 3PL.

If you use Shopify fulfillment, then you can also define multiple locations in Shopify. Once order is created, Shopify selects location based on availability and priority. You can also specify on which location(s) you plan to track specific product, for example never sell from location ShowRoom.

If you use 3PL physical handling is taken care of by 3PL provider, so locations are not needed. For 3PL the SKU field becoming mandatory.

When you decide on which location to track item, Shopify creates records in the Inventory Levels table, which can be updated manually with inventory availability.

The connector supports both modes. It can send inventory to multiple Shopify locations or work as a fulfillment service.

From the Business Central perspective, when you create item and want to send it to Shopify you also want to:

• Use Default Product Location toggle to specify if this item will be fulfilled by Shopify fulfillment or by 3PL. There is always Business Central Fulfillment Service, but there can be more fulfillments services if more apps are installed. You can enable Default Product Location only in one record if you want to use fulfillment service.
• use Default Product Location toggle to specify which locations you want to use to track inventory. You can turn on Default Product Location for multiple locations where Is Fulfillment Service is disabled. Notice that inventory will be always tracked for primary location.

Shopify fulfillment is useful when using Shopify POS and there are multiple physical stores. You want employees in the physical store to know their current inventory. In this case, you create multiple locations in Shopify, multiple locations in Business Central, and activate a Default Product Location for all these locations.

If logistics is handled in Business Central, where it can have as many locations as needed representing distribution centers, you don't create locations in Shopify, the connector creates Business Central Fulfillment Services automatically and you can link inventory via location filters from several locations to one fulfillment services record. As a result, in Shopify there's no information about where goods are sent from—it only has tracking information, while in Business Central, you can select based on availability and proximity to the destination.

After you choose the Get Shopify Locations action in the Shopify Locations page, you see the following locations:

Let's review the impact of enabling the Default Product Location toggle: