Preventing Duplicate Products: How to Manage UPCs in Shopify
The Duplicate Product Dilemma: A Shopify Community Discussion
Hey everyone! I was browsing the Shopify Community forums the other day and stumbled upon a really common issue: preventing duplicate products from being added to your store. Specifically, Carrie712 brought up a great point in a thread titled "New Item with barcode." She mentioned that her team enters hundreds of new items daily and sometimes accidentally adds duplicates because Shopify doesn't automatically flag existing UPCs. Let's dive into the solutions that were discussed and how you can implement them.
The Problem: Shopify's Handling of Unique Identifiers
As Carrie712 pointed out, Shopify doesn't inherently enforce unique SKUs, MPNs, GTINs, UPCs, or barcodes. This can be a real headache, especially when you're dealing with a high volume of products. You might end up with inaccurate inventory counts, confused customers, and a general mess in your product catalog. It's a very common problem, and I've seen it pop up in other groups I'm in as well.
Solutions for Preventing Duplicate UPCs
Thankfully, the community had some great suggestions. Here's a breakdown of the most helpful approaches:
1. Using Apps for CSV/XLS Imports
If you're importing products via CSV or XLS files, several apps can help you enforce uniqueness based on the barcode. tim_1 mentioned Matrixify, which allows you to use the barcode as a unique identifier during import. This is super useful because it prevents duplicates before they even get into your system.
2. Shopify Flow for Manual Entry
For those of you who manually enter products (like Carrie712), Shopify's free Flow app can be a lifesaver. While it won't prevent you from creating a duplicate outright, it can automate notifications and tagging to alert you when a duplicate UPC is entered. Here’s how you can set up a basic Flow:
- Trigger: Product creation.
- Condition: Check if a product with the same barcode already exists. This might require some scripting within Flow to search your product catalog.
- Actions:
- Tag the new product as "Duplicate."
- Send an email notification to your team.
- Add a row to a Google Sheet for tracking.
tim_1 even shared a helpful screenshot of a sample Flow setup:
This is a great starting point for automating your duplicate detection process. You might need to tweak it a bit to perfectly fit your workflow, but the core idea is solid.
Key Takeaways and Next Steps
So, what's the best approach? It really depends on your workflow. If you're primarily importing products, an app like Matrixify that enforces uniqueness during import is probably the way to go. If you're mainly entering products manually, Shopify Flow can provide valuable alerts and prevent duplicates from slipping through the cracks. No matter which method you choose, make sure you have a clear process in place and train your team to follow it consistently. This will save you a ton of time and headaches in the long run!