Product import
A product import loads many products into a store at once from a file, usually a CSV, creating new products or updating existing ones.
- Bulk import
- Bulk upload
What it means
A product import gets a catalogue into a store without typing each product in. You prepare a file, usually a CSV, using the store’s own column names, and the store reads it row by row. WooCommerce maps the columns it recognises to product fields, and “Any unrecognized columns will not be imported by default.”1
Each row either creates a product or updates one, and a key decides which. Shopify matches rows on the handle, WooCommerce on the product ID or SKU.21 Neither matches on the barcode, so one product under two keys becomes two products.
Imports are hard to take back: Shopify’s “can’t be canceled once they begin”.3 Both platforms advise a backup first, and a small test import before the rest.31
Think of it like this
It is like booking a delivery in against the stock list. A line whose code is already on the list updates that item, and a new code starts a new one. Get a code wrong and the stock lands in the wrong place, or twice.
For example
A WooCommerce file holds one row: KT-100, Brackmore kettle, 39.99. Imported as new, it creates the kettle. When the price changes to 42.99, the row goes in again with Update existing products selected. It matches on the SKU KT-100 and updates that kettle instead of adding a second.1
Why it matters
Not to be confused with
An import differs from a product feed. An import brings products into your own store. A feed sends them out from the store to a channel, such as Google Merchant Center, and keeps them up to date there.
Sources
- WooCommerce documentation. Product CSV Importer and Exporter.
- Shopify Help Center. Using CSV files to import and export products.
- Shopify Help Center. Importing products with a CSV file.