Can we merge duplicate customer accounts on our sales platform?

Topic summary

Main topic: merging duplicate customer accounts in Shopify, impacts on order history, rewards, and reporting.

Early state: No native merge; Shopify suggested workarounds (edit dormant account info, add tags). Merchants cited causes: email typos, multiple emails/phones, POS vs online, Apple Pay using alternate emails, staff errors, “optional account” flow creating inactive accounts.

Interim solutions: Reassign orders to the correct customer to consolidate history; then delete duplicate profiles with 0 orders (now possible). Limitations: timeline entries and “customer since” don’t transfer; detection of duplicates requires CSV exports or apps.

Third‑party app: Doppelganger links (not merges) accounts and surfaces duplicates; some merchants use it, others raise data‑privacy concerns.

Recent update: Shopify introduced a “Merge Customer” feature with hard blockers:

  • If either profile has a registered account, subscription contract, is a B2B contact, has active gift cards, discounts (wholesale), metafields, a merge in progress, or a customer data/data‑redaction request.
  • Credit card on file currently blocks merges; fix in progress. Disabling accounts doesn’t allow merging.

Outcomes: Limited merging works in some cases; no auto‑detection/auto‑merge; merchants request parent/child (company) linking and household consolidation. Status: Ongoing; feature in early stages with no firm timeline.

Summarized with AI on February 5. AI used: gpt-5.

Bump.

This ‘feature’ was just added to Wix. WIX and not shopify??? C’mon Shopify

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