How can I sync a distributor's B2B catalog to a B2C platform?

Shopify Discussion
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Topic summary

A retailer wants to pull a distributor’s very large B2B catalog (tens of thousands of SKUs) into a B2C Shopify store, sell at required MSRP (manufacturer’s suggested retail price), treat the distributor as an inventory location, and selectively include products/locations.

Key insight from a distributor/retail CTO (assuming both parties use Shopify):

  • Goals feasible: one-way product sync, two-way inventory sync, and dropship/DTC flows are possible, but full automation may require a custom multi‑app setup.
  • Major limitation: no third‑party cross‑store sync apps can use Shopify custom metafields (i.e., custom fields) to override prices during sync. If MSRP is stored in metafields, automated price setting via sync won’t work; prices may need manual adjustments or a custom workflow.

Practical options (for product data sync without automated price recalculation):

  • Multi Store Sync Power
  • Syncio Multi Store Sync (noted as better for selectively choosing items)

Both stores must install the app; setup requires careful implementation. No final resolution yet; the thread remains open for further details or app reviews.

Summarized with AI on January 19. AI used: gpt-5.
1

Hi All,

We have a distributor whose catalog is 100 miles long. We’re talking 10’s of thousands of SKUs. Their inventory control is quite good too.

We were wondering if there is a way to Sync their B2B catalog to our B2C.

On our B2C, customers would buy at MSPR value based on what the distributor has noted (required in our industry).

Essentially, we would be making their listings to us customer-facing at MSRP. Inventory would be managed like another location. Ideally, we would be able to pick and choose which items we’d like to include in our B2C and include alternate locations of inventory on some.

Is anyone aware of a solution to do something like this?

Thank you.

2

This is a question I’ve spent months trying to figure out the best answer to. Heads up: my answer below is assuming that both you and your supplier are using Shopify’s platform.

For context: I’m the CTO of a distribution company that also happens to own 10 retail stores (not including franchise locations) and an online retail store. We have over 10,000 SKUs ourselves.

I’ve been trying to figure out the easiest and most automated way to:

  • Sync desired products (one way) over to our online retail store
  • Re-calculate/modify prices during the sync
  • Continuously sync inventory two ways

And I’ve tried to make this work for both DTC sales and dropshipping. I succeeded, but it involved handcrafting a very specific synergy between multiple apps and is tailors to our specific situation.

It’s a little different from what you’re doing, but in the process of doing this I’ve learned everything about nearly all cross-store syncing apps. So I think I’m qualified to toss you an answer!

If you’re just looking to sync product data and you don’t mind having to manually change prices for everything (assuming you don’t want to just keystone everything): yes, there’s a pretty easy way to do this. But I don’t believe this is a perfect solution for you since you mentioned that they have MSRP data (which I assume is done with custom metafields) and I know for a fact that there are zero third-party apps that can make use of custom metafields in order to override product prices during a cross-store sync.

If the underlined bit above is sufficient for you, I would use one of the following apps:

Both you and your supplier will have to download the app and there will be a good amount of work needed to implement them correctly. But if you’re an experienced web developer/designer, you shouldn’t have any issues. Syncio is probably a bit better based on what you’ve described as it’s very easy to pick exactly which items you want to sync.

I could give you in depth reviews about both, but I’ll keep that to myself unless you specifically request it. If you need help or more info, shoot me a message.