I’m reaching out because I am having an issue creating product variants.
We use retail express and when we create a product on retail express it appears on Shopify if we choose, then we simply add descriptions and other details. All our inventory is stored via retail express.
My issue is in order for inventory to be stocked I can’t simply click create a variant I need to merge products which already exist on Shopify that are linked to retail express. I know it’s been done before in store as an old manager did it however this detail wasn’t passed on. Furthermore, I can’t see any apps installed which help with this, so I’m curious as to how this has been done.
Any advice would be much appreciated.
I’m hoping this makes sense.
Hi, With both ours and Retail Express’s integration variants are individual products in Retail Express. You create Variants in Retail Express not in Shopify.
You group your products together on your website automatically using the ManufacturerSKU in Retail Express.
The Manufacturer Code groups the variants in ECommerce as shown below by “Product”. This SKU is the link between Retail Express and ECommerce. The Supplier SKU is unique for each option or variant such as sizes, this links each product to its corresponding product in ECommerce.
Products are grouped together on your website automatically by giving them the same the ManufacturerSKU (also known as the Code) in Retail Express.
It groups the variants that have a matching Manufacturer SKU in Retail Express into a single product that has “variant options” in your eCommerce. The ManufacturerSKU and Supplier SKU both become links for a product between Retail Express and Ecommerce. The Manufacturer SKU links the product to its grouping both within Retail Express and between Retail Express and your eCommerce, and the Supplier SKU (which is unique for each different product in the group - e.g. the different sizes of a t-shirt), links each variation of the product in ECommerce to its corresponding product in Retail Express.
You do not create “Master” products or parents, TranslatorHQ will do that for you.
(There is a special option to group by the Custom3 field, please contact us for more information or check the Knowledge Base.)
Retail Express Example
As shown below, In Retail Express the Product group is the Manufacturer SKU, whereas the Supplier SKU includes the size variants.
| ProductId |
SKU – Supplier SKU |
Code – Manufacturer SKU |
| 139996 |
MMULXS |
MMUL |
| 139997 |
MMULS |
MMUL |
| 139998 |
MMULM |
MMUL |
| 139999 |
MMULL |
MMUL |
You can create variants using packages to sell the same product in different ways.
Let me know what you are trying to achieve, and I can probably help you get there!
Derek