What you will find in this guide:
Introduction
Required Fields for Creating a New Product
Required Fields for Partial Updates
Creating Variant Products
Parent Products and Product Creation
Pushing Images to Shopify
Limitations & Best Practices
What Can Be Syndicated via API
Other Notes
1. Introduction
This guide provides a comprehensive overview of how to efficiently syndicate product data from Amplifi.io to Shopify. It covers the required fields, variant setup, image syndication, and best practices to ensure a smooth process.
Purpose: To offer a clear, easy-to-follow reference for users managing product syndication from Amplifi.io to Shopify.
2. Required Fields for Creating a New Product
When creating a new product in Shopify via Amplifi.io, the following fields are required:
Field | Required? | Example Values |
Variant SKU | ✅ Yes | "TSHIRT-BLACK-M" |
Title (Product Name) | ✅ Yes | "Classic T-Shirt" |
Handle | ✅ Yes | "classic-t-shirt" (auto-generated if omitted) |
Is Parent Product | ✅ Yes | true |
Note: Images are not required when creating or updating products.
3. Required Fields for Partial Updates
For updating existing products, the following fields are required:
Field | Required? | Example Values |
Handle | ✅ Yes | "classic-t-shirt" |
Variant SKU | ✅ Yes | "TSHIRT-BLACK-M" |
Is Parent Product | ✅ Yes | true |
Title (Shopify Title) | ✅ Yes | "Classic T-Shirt" |
Why This Is Important:
You only need to update the essential fields, which streamlines the process.
It allows you to make quick adjustments to frequently changing data, such as price or inventory.
It minimizes the risk of overwriting static product information.
4. Creating Variant Products
To create variants for a product (e.g., different sizes or colors), you’ll need to include the following fields:
Field | Required? | Example Values |
Product Options | Name | ✅ Yes | “Color” |
Product Options | Value | ✅ Yes | “Black” |
Variant SKU | ✅ Yes | "TSHIRT-RED-S" |
Variant Price | ✅ Yes | "19.99" |
Variant Inventory Quantity | ✅ Yes | "75" |
Variant | Option Values | Name | ✅ Yes | “Color” |
Variant | Option Values | Value | ✅ Yes | “Black” |
Variant Image (if applicable) | ❓ Optional | |
Is Parent Product | ❓ Optional | “false” |
Steps to Create Variants:
Define Variant Options – For example, size, color, etc.
Create Unique SKUs – Each combination (e.g., Red/Small) gets its own SKU.
Set Price, Inventory, and Other Attributes – This can vary for each variant.
Add Variant Images – Optional, but helpful for showcasing specific variants.
Media | Media Content Type:
Map the media content type as IMAGE or VIDEO depending on the type of media being used.
Variant | Media Content Type:
The first image listed for the variant will be the main image. Any other images will be grouped under the parent product.
Variant | Media | Original Source:
This field should be mapped to Image Stack Position 1 to ensure the main image appears first.
5. Parent Product and Product Creation
The parent product is the primary product under which the variants are grouped. When creating a product, you're essentially creating the parent product, which defines shared attributes like the title, description, and vendor for all variants. The required fields for creating a parent product are:
Field | Required? | Example Values |
Product Title | ✅ Yes | "Classic T-Shirt" |
Description | ✅ Yes | "A soft cotton tee available in multiple colors." |
Vendor | ✅ Yes | "Acme Co." |
Product Type | ✅ Yes | "Apparel" |
Images | ❓ Optional | Generic product shot |
Is Parent Product | ✅ Yes | true |
The parent product provides the foundational information, and variants will inherit these details, with each variant having its own unique attributes such as size or color.
6. Pushing Images to Shopify
When working with images, here’s what you need to know:
Image Requirements:
Accepted Formats: JPEG (preferred), PNG
Steps to Syndicate Images:
Upload images to Amplifi.io and link them to the product or variant.
Push the product data to Shopify.
Confirm that image URLs are correctly mapped to the right product or variant.
For the Media | Original Source, map it to Image Stack Position 1 to ensure the main image appears first.
7. Limitations and Best Practices
What Can’t Be Syndicated via API:
Some custom metafields or app-specific data
Manual collection assignments (must be handled directly in Shopify admin)
Shopify-specific SEO fields (unless supported via custom mapping)
Best Practices:
Use clear product titles and concise descriptions.
Ensure variant options (like size and color) are consistent across products.
Avoid duplicate handles, as Shopify uses them to create unique product URLs.
Regularly review your published listings in Shopify to ensure accuracy and consistency.
8. What Can Be Syndicated via API
Here’s a summary of what you can easily sync from Amplifi.io to Shopify:
Full product creation (title, description, price, inventory, etc.)
Partial updates (inventory, price, SKU, etc.)
Variant management (option types like size or color)
Image associations (main and variant-specific images)
Vendor, product type, and tags
9. Other Notes
As of April 1, 2025, partial updates to image carousels on shopify will only update the selected images. It will not remove additional images that are in the carousel. For example, if the current carousel contains images a,b, and c and the user syndicates a new image stack to the product with images x and y in image stack positions 1 & 2, the carousel will be updated to show image x, y, and c. We are working to improve this functionality such that a partial update in this situation would update the carousel to be image x & y, effectively clearing out the image carousel and then adding the new images.
As of April 1, 2025, PXM will only syndicate 10 images for each product in addition to variant images (one per variant). For example, if a product has 10 images and there are 4 variants for the product, the shopify carousel will show 14 images (the 10 product images + the variant image provided for each variant). Future functionality will allow users to syndicate more than 10 images at the product level
As of April 1, 2025, Users cannot control the order in which variant images are displayed in the carousel. The default shopify behavior is that variant images will be shown first in the carousel, then product images. For example, the image carousel for a shoe product with variants in red and white colors (each with a variant image) will display the variant images first, followed by the product images.