Shopify - Assign SKUs to Product Variants

Product variants created in Shopify are not assigned a unique SKU by default. The SKUs for these variants import as blank to DropStream.

DropStream automatically converts blank SKUs to the string Not Available. However, these "Not Available" SKUs may be rejected by the WMS.

For this reason, it's important that all product variations in Shopify are assigned a unique SKU.

Note: If you have existing product variants in Shopify, it is strongly recommended that each variant is assigned a unique SKU as described below.

Example: Create a variant with a unique SKU

In the following example, we will create a product with three variants. We'll assign one of the variants a unique SKU, but leave the other two variant SKUs undefined. Then, we'll look at the errors that can occur when the "undefined" variants are imported to DropStream and sent to the warehouse.

Create a New Product

In Shopify, create a new product. ​ Specify a product name (such as "Father"), and a brief description.

Add Variants

Variants can be specified under the Variants section on the product page. Here, we have added three variants for the Father product: Child-1, Child-2, and Child-3.

Next, select a variant to edit. Here, we've checked the box ​ next to Child-1. With the variant selected, we click the Actions button, then Edit SKUs.

Then, in the SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) field, we specify a unique SKU - in this case, "child1".

We'll leave the other variants (Child-2, Child-3) as is, so we can see the difference in the data that comes through to Dropstream.

Note: Don’t forget to Activate this product. (By default, once a product is created it has a status of Draft.)

Create a Test Order

To test the variations as configured, we can create a new order. Here, our test order includes two variants of product “Father”: Child-1 and Child-2. Notice that Child-1 has a unique SKU, while Child-2 has no SKU.

When the Child-2 variant is imported into DropStream, its SKU will appear as Not Available — DropStream changes all empty SKUs to this default string value.

Once saved and marked as paid, the order will look like this in Shopify:

Although this order imports successfully to DropStream, the entry for Child-2 may trigger an error when sent to the WMS, which rejects the SKU Not Available as invalid.

To avoid errors such as these, it's important to make sure that all product variants in Shopify are assigned a unique SKU.

Note: in DropStream, the description of the variants includes both the parent SKU and the variant title.

Next: Export SKUs