Overview
Is the Akeneo PIM Connector for Shopify suitable for my business?
The connector is designed for SMB and enterprise businesses managing product catalogs ranging from 500 to over 1 million SKUs. It is ideal for organizations that need robust product data synchronization between Akeneo and Shopify, along with advanced control over attribute mappings, data transformations, collections, monitoring, and large-scale catalog management.
Why use a connector instead of managing product data directly in Shopify?
Akeneo provides centralized product information management, governance, enrichment workflows, and data quality controls that are difficult to manage directly within Shopify.
Why should I integrate Akeneo PIM with Shopify?
Managing product data directly in Shopify breaks down as your catalog grows. Akeneo acts as your single source of truth — product data is enriched, governed, and approved once, then automatically pushed to Shopify. This eliminates manual work, reduces errors, and lets you scale without adding headcount.
What business benefits can I expect from using the connector?
Businesses typically benefit from faster product launches, improved data consistency, reduced operational effort, fewer merchandising errors, and better customer experiences.
Can the connector help accelerate time to market for new products?
Yes. The connector automates product publishing from Akeneo to Shopify, reducing manual effort and enabling faster product launches. Teams can prepare, enrich, and approve product information in Akeneo and quickly synchronize it to Shopify when ready.
How does the connector reduce operational costs?
It eliminates the manual export, reformat, and re-entry work required when systems are disconnected. Product launches that took days are reduced to hours. It also reduces the cost of errors — incorrect product data causing returns or lost conversions drops significantly when Shopify always reflects clean, validated PIM data.
What is the ROI of integrating Akeneo PIM with Shopify?
ROI comes from four areas: reduced manual data entry, faster product launches, fewer returns from inaccurate descriptions, and catalog scalability without additional headcount. Most businesses recoup the connector cost within weeks of eliminating manual sync workflows.
How does your connector compare to Akeneo's native Shopify app?
While both solutions synchronize product data between Akeneo and Shopify, StrikeTru's connector offers several advanced capabilities designed for businesses with more complex catalog and operational requirements, including:
-
Custom collection synchronization beyond standard category-to-collection mapping
-
Configurable Shopify metafield namespaces and keys
-
Support for three-level product hierarchies
-
Configurable parent-level synchronization for three-level product structures
-
Integration with Slack and Microsoft Teams for sync notifications
-
Competitive and affordable pricing
Why use a connector instead of a custom integration?
A custom build requires ongoing developer time to maintain API compatibility, rate limiting, error reporting, and sync scheduling. Our connector handles all of this out of the box and is kept current with every Shopify and Akeneo release — at a fraction of the engineering cost.
What catalog data structures does the connector sync?
Products, variants, images, metafields, categories (collections), and product relationships.
What happens if a product already exists in Shopify?
Our connector updates an existing product if a product link exists in the product mapping. Otherwise, it creates a new product.
How can I filter products that I need to sync?
Product can be filtered in three ways - Product SKUs and Product Model IDs fields, Products Updated Since Last 'X' Days/Hours/Minutes filter and Advance Filters (JSON).
Do I get an email notification upon sync completion?
Yes. An email notification is received upon sync completion.
Do I get an error report when there are failures?
Yes.
Can I schedule sync jobs?
Yes.
Can I re-sync failed items?
Yes.
Can I control which attributes to sync?
Yes, via mapping configuration.
Do you offer a free trial?
Yes. All plans include a 14-day free trial. You can install, configure mappings, and run test syncs before committing to a paid plan.
Can the connector be customized for my business use cases?
Yes. There are already few use cases like Sub Collection Metafield sync and Shopify Metaobject Tech Notes sync that have been implemented specifically for a customer.
Collection Sync
How are collections created in Shopify?
Akeneo categories are mapped to collections.
What collection data is created?
Title, description, handle, image, metafields.
What happens when category data changes in Akeneo?
Collection details are updated in Shopify.
How are product assignments updated?
Based on category changes in Akeneo.
What happens when a category is deleted?
Collection is deleted or retained based on config.
Product Sync
What makes a product eligible for creation in Shopify?
Product must have a Title in Akeneo and be configured on the connector to sync to Shopify.
What fields are created when a product is synced?
Title, description, handle, images, variants, metafields, collections, and more.
Does Product Status in Shopify expect predefined values in Akeneo?
Yes.
What attribute type needs to be created in Akeneo for Product Status?
A Simple Select type attribute must be created in Akeneo.
What values does Product Status expect in Shopify?
ACTIVE and DRAFT.
Are values of Product Status case-sensitive?
Yes. The values must be in uppercase.
How are product handles generated?
Product handles are generated based on mapped attributes like product name or custom field. Ex: When you map product name whose value in PIM is StrikeTru Test, the handle will be as follows: striketru-test
Can I customize product URLs during creation?
Yes, via attribute mapping and transformation rules.
What happens if the product already exists in Shopify?
The connector updates the existing product instead of creating a duplicate.
Can I assign collections during product creation?
Yes, based on category assignment to a product in Akeneo.
Can I control which products are created?
Yes, using channel scope, completeness, Product SKUs and Product Model IDs filters, Frequency Type and Advanced Search JSON filters.
What happens when I update a product in Akeneo?
Only updated fields are synced to Shopify.
Are product updates real-time?
The connector supports scheduled, incremental, or manual sync.
Can I update specific products only?
Yes, targeted sync is supported.
Can I prevent certain fields from being overwritten?
Yes, using selective attribute mapping.
What happens if Shopify data is edited manually?
It may be overwritten depending on configuration(whether the edited attribute is mapped).
Can I control product status (active/draft)?
Yes, status can be mapped from Akeneo.
What happens when a product is disabled in Akeneo?
It can be unpublished or removed in Shopify.
Can products be deleted from Shopify via the connector?
The connector doesn't support deletion of products from Shopify.
Can I archive instead of deleting products?
Yes, by modifying the status to draft/unpublished.
Can the connector sync three level products?
Yes, the connector can synchronize three level products.
Can I configure which level to sync as the parent to Shopify?
Variant Sync
How are variants created in Shopify?
Akeneo product models map to Shopify variants.
How are variant attributes mapped?
Attributes like size and color become variant options.
Can I control variant option order?
No, the connector doesn't allow to control variant option order.
What happens when variant data is updated?
Variant fields like price, SKU, and attributes are updated.
Can I add new variants after initial sync?
Yes, new variants are created during sync.
Can variants be deleted via Akeneo?
No, the connector doesn't delete variants in Shopify.
How are images created in Shopify?
Images are pushed from Akeneo media attributes.
Can I sync multiple images per product?
Yes, multiple images are supported.
Can images be assigned to variants?
Yes, variant-level images are supported.
What happens when an image is updated in Akeneo?
The image is replaced or updated in Shopify.
Can I control image order?
The connector syncs images in the same order as of the image mapping on the UI.
Can I update image alt text?
Yes, alt text can be updated.
What happens when an image is removed in Akeneo?
It is removed from Shopify.
What data can be created as metafields?
Any mapped Akeneo attribute.
Can I create metafields for products and variants?
Yes, both are supported.
Do I need metafield definitions before sync?
Recommended but not mandatory.
What happens when metafield data changes?
Updated values are synced to Shopify.
Can I transform values before synchronizing?
Yes, transformation rules are supported.
Can I sync multi-select attributes?
Yes, as lists or structured formats.
What happens when a metafield value is removed?
The metafield is cleared or removed.
Association Sync
How are associations created in Shopify?
Associations are created as Metafields in Shopify.
Where do I map associations?
You can map association types under Product Relationship Mapping on the connector.
What if there are products assigned to two association types in Akeneo?
Sync the product twice by changing the association type mapping on the connector during the second sync.
Bundle Product Sync
Do you handle bundle product sync?
Yes the connector supports Bundle products. Bundle product sync is supported for multiple bundle setups.
Does the connector support synchronization of grouped products?
Yes we support grouped product sync.
Notifications
How do I know if the PIM and BigCommerce API details are saved?
When you click on Save Config under Connections, "Credentials saved successfully" is displayed on the connector.
How do I know if the PIM connection is successful?
When you click on Test PIM Connection, "PIM connection success" is displayed on the connector.
How do I know if the Data Filters are saved?
When you click on Save, "Data filters saved successfully" is displayed on the connector.
How do I save Product Mapping?
When you hit Save Config, "Attribute mapping saved successfully" is displayed on the connector.
Common Errors
What happens if a sync fails?
Errors are logged and visible in reports under Sync Status tab against each sync job.
Where can the errors be viewed?
Errors are captured in a failure report and this will be available for download against any sync job that has failed.
Why is my product not syncing?
A product doesn't sync usually due to completeness, filters, or mapping issues.
Why are images not syncing?
Images don't sync due to mapping, limitation or access issues.
Why are metafields missing?
Metafields might miss because of mapping or definition issues.
Why does the failure report say Title is required?
The product title is either not mapped or the its value is absent in PIM.
Why does the failure report say Product handle is a duplicate?
Shopify requires every product to have a unique handle.
Can the connector handle large catalogs?
Yes, the connector can handle large catalogs.
How are Shopify API limits handled?
Connector is built on a very robust and performant architecture. It includes multi-threading and retry mechanisim to ensure peformance.
How much time does the connector take to sync 1000 SKUs?
The sync time depends on factors such as product complexity, attribute count, images, API limits, and network performance. On average, syncing 1000 SKUs may take less than a minute under normal conditions.
Pricing
What are the connector plans and SKU limits?
The connector comes with three plans:
- Starter - 1,000 SKUs
- Basic - 10,000 SKUs
- Professional - 30,000 SKUs
Process
Will you support my customization needs?
Yes, we can implement any custom, including complex, requirements. Just contact us at
sales@striketru.com with your customization requirements.
Do I need a developer to set up the connector?
No. The connector is a self-service SaaS app installed from the Shopify App Store in one click.
What is the setup time needed for the connector?
Based on features and complexity of your catalog the setup may take 8-20 hours. Read the Quick Start guide
here.
Is there a sandbox or staging environment for testing?
Yes. Connect the connector to a Shopify development store and your Akeneo staging environment before going live. This lets you validate mappings and test sync output without affecting your live storefront.
What happens to my existing Shopify product data on first connection?
The connector does not overwrite or delete existing products on first connection. Products are matched by a configurable identifier - SKU. Matches are updated; unmatched products are created as new.
Can I migrate my existing Shopify product catalog into Akeneo?
The connector pushes data from Akeneo to Shopify, not the reverse. For migrating existing Shopify data into Akeneo, we offer a separate catalog migration service. Contact
sales@striketru.com with your catalog size and requirements.
How to synchronise collections in Shopify?
Select the category trees to be synchronised to Shopify under the Data Filters section.
Security & Compliance
How is my data secured during sync?
All data transfer uses HTTPS/TLS encryption in transit. Authentication uses OAuth2 for Shopify and Akeneo API credentials. The connector stores Product IDs and Product Titles for reference and the rest of the product data is not stored on our server.
Others
I am using the older version of Akeneo software, will the connector work for me?
Our connector is compatible with all Akeneo editions (CE, EE, and Cloud Flexibility/Serenity) version 2.x or higher. We highly recommend that you use the latest Akeneo version. If you need help upgrading to the latest version, contact us for help.
Does the connector work with Shopify Plus?
Yes. The connector is fully compatible with all Shopify plans including Shopify Plus.
Does the connector support multiple Shopify stores?
Yes. A single Akeneo instance can connect to multiple Shopify stores, each with its own configuration. Map different Akeneo channels, locales, or product selections to different storefronts — regional stores, B2B stores, or separate brand storefronts.
Can the connector sync SEO fields to Shopify?
Yes. Meta title and meta description can be mapped from Akeneo attributes and synced to the corresponding Shopify SEO fields.
Can the connector sync pricing and inventory to Shopify?
Yes. The connector can synchronize pricing and inventory tracking from Akeneo via product or variant-level attribute mapping.
Is bidirectional sync supported?
No. The connector is unidirectional — Akeneo to Shopify.
How are sync conflicts handled when Shopify data has been edited manually?
If a mapped field is manually edited in Shopify, the connector overwrites it with the Akeneo value on the next sync. To protect a field from being overwritten, remove it from your attribute mapping. The connector doesn't synchronize unmapped fields.
What support is included?
All plans include unlimited support, training, and connector upgrades at no additional cost. Support is available at
support@striketru.com. Enterprise plans include dedicated support with faster response SLAs.
Is there a release notes for connector updates?
Yes. We publish release notes covering all updates, bug fixes, and new features including Shopify and Akeneo API version compatibility.