When Products Are Required

Karl Falconer · Updated May 30, 2026 23:36

DropStream doesn’t require you to define your products before you start using it. Orders, shipments, returns, and inventory all flow through DropStream based on the SKUs they contain — DropStream doesn’t reject a line item, a shipment confirmation, or an inventory update just because the SKU isn’t in the catalog.

You add a product to the catalog when you want DropStream to do something extra with that SKU. This article is a quick reference for which workflows do and don’t need a catalog record.

What works without a catalog record

Workflow	Works without a product?	Notes
Importing sales orders	Yes	Order line items pass through with the SKU exactly as the storefront sent it.
Forwarding orders to the warehouse	Yes	The warehouse receives the same SKU the storefront sent.
Receiving shipment confirmations	Yes	Shipments are matched to their order, not to a catalog record.
Receiving and forwarding returns	Yes
Receiving inventory updates from the warehouse	Yes	Levels are recorded against the SKU as reported.
Pushing inventory levels back to the channel	Yes	The level the warehouse reported for the SKU is pushed to the channel.

What requires a catalog record

Workflow	Why a product is needed
SKU translation between the channel and the warehouse	The storefront uses one SKU and the warehouse uses another. A listing on the master product maps the two.
Bundle handling — one channel SKU expanding to multiple warehouse SKUs	DropStream needs the bundle definition (components and quantities) on a catalog product to do the split. See Bundle products.
Channel inventory for bundle SKUs	Bundle availability is computed from component stock; both the bundle and the components must exist as catalog records.
Per-channel overrides of attributes like weight, price, image URL, name, description	Overrides live on the channel listing for the master product.
Units of measure (alternate packs/cases)	The configured units live on the master product.

Rule of thumb

If the storefront and warehouse already agree on the SKU and you don’t need bundle handling or per-channel overrides, you can leave the SKU out of the catalog. The first time you need any of the items in the second table — usually SKU translation or bundles — create the catalog record for that SKU and add a listing for the stores it’s sold on.