Just wondered if anyone is aware of any alternative Product creation tools for shopify. Ideally, an app that would allow you to input a manufacturer part number/EAN/ASIN/GTIN/Barcode, that would then perform a search of your existing product database. If the code already exist the system would inform you, if not it will generate a new product - pulling the product details from online sources and generating an internal sku.
Big ask I know, but I used to use an inhouse system that allowed me to perform similar functions.
Thanks for the fantastic description of your situation. I understand you are essentially looking for a solution that plugs into an already established database of unique product identifiers so you can add products to your store and handle product flow and management therein.
While this does not seem to be possible through an app integration from our app store, I do think a bespoke is both possible and recommended here. As I understand it services like Google Shopping use an API (Application Programming Interface), which in this instance would refer to the selection of services available to plug into and utilize, to make their own apps work for this function.
What I recommend is to enlist the services of a Shopify Expert from the Expert Marketplace here.
There you can place an advertisement to get developers that are uniquely qualified to give you offers to get this done. I suspect it is not something uncommon, I have seen merchants who sell unique instruments for example utilize such services in the past.
One other thing that comes to mind that you may like to consider is meta fields.
This would facilitate adding custom information to your admin regarding individual products. You could also work with the above-mentioned expert to implement this and expand it further.
Can you let me know a bit about your business and what you sell? Perhaps there is a more specific solution I can give here.
Speaking of inventory management, we do actually have a great guide that might interest you. Have you ever had a look at the resources on our blog here?
This guide helps those with larger or more specific inventories keep things in order and manage their interactions with their suppliers.