6 min read
Products and collections
Products is everything you sell. Collections group products into category pages on your store, like “Cotton kurtas”, “New arrivals” or “Under ₹999”.
What this is for
- Adding a kurta in 4 sizes and 3 colours, each with its own price, SKU and stock.
- Showing an MRP of ₹1,999 with a sale price of ₹1,499 (“Save ₹500”).
- Putting the right HSN code and GST rate on each product, so invoices are correct.
- Taking pre-orders for a new launch, with a countdown and a deposit.
- Keeping a “Under ₹999” collection that fills itself.
How it works
A product is what shoppers see as one page. Its variants are the versions they choose between (Size: S, M, L; Colour: Indigo, Rust). Price, SKU, barcode and stock live on each variant. Collections point at products: a Manual collection holds the products you pick, an Automatic one holds whatever matches its conditions, and updates itself.
Add a product step by step
Start a product
Go to Products → Product list and select Add product. Enter a Title and Description. The row of links under the page title (Media, Details, Pricing, Inventory, Variants, Shipping, Google preview, More) jumps to each section, and the side column stays in view while you scroll.
Set the price
Under Pricing, enter the Product price. Add a Compare at price (your MRP) to show a saving, and Cost per item to see your margin (shoppers never see it). Charge tax on this product and Tax included control GST; in India prices usually include tax, so leave Tax included on Yes.
Add photos
In Media, drop images in or Browse the file library.
Add variants
Under Variants, select Add options like size or colour. Pick or type an Option name (Size, Colour, Material or your own) and add Option values as chips: type one and press Enter. Up to 3 options. Every combination appears as a row straight away (Size S, M, L and Colour Indigo, Rust make 6 rows); removing a value removes its rows, and if those rows still hold stock you’re asked first. Existing variants keep their stock, SKU and order history when you add a value or a whole new option.
Set each variant’s price, MRP, SKU and quantity in the table, or tick rows and use Set
price, Set quantity or SKU prefix for many at once (a prefix of KUR gives
KUR-M-INDIGO). Suggest SKUs fills any blank SKU from the title and the variant.
Shipping and GST details
In Shipping, fill Weight (grams), HS (harmonised system) code (your HSN, e.g.
6211 for kurtas), GST rate (%) (e.g. 5 or 12, blank uses your store rate) and
Country of origin. Weight is used for courier rates; HSN and GST go on invoices.
Under Package, pick one of your named boxes from Settings → Shipping, or Custom size for a length × width × height in cm. The card shows the volumetric weight (L × W × H ÷ 5000, in kg): couriers bill the higher of that and the actual weight, so a light product in a big box costs more to ship. When you book a shipment for an order whose items all use the same box, that box and its volumetric weight are used instead of the store’s default box.
Stock
Under Inventory, turn on Track quantity, then set the Stock quantity, SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) and Barcode (ISBN, UPC, GTIN). When you change stock by hand, pick a Reason for change (Stock received, Damaged, Returned, Sold offline and so on) so the history makes sense later. To count or adjust many products at once, use Stock → Inventory.
Organise and publish
In the side column, set Status (Active shows it on your store), and under Organisation pick a Category (search Shopify’s standard list, e.g. “Kurtas”), a Product type, Vendor and Product tags. The Collections card adds the product to manual collections (select Save on the card); automatic collections it matches are listed there too, but they follow their own conditions. Google search preview shows how the product can appear in Google results; it fills itself from the title and description, or Edit it (a Page title up to 70 characters and a Meta description). Then select Publish product, or Save to draft to finish later.
Rarely used settings (Pre-order & launch, the theme template and stock history) sit under More settings at the bottom of the page.
Extra fields
Extra fields have their own guide: Extra fields.
Pre-orders and launch countdowns
Open More settings → Pre-order & launch on a product:
- Allow pre-orders on this product, with an Expected ship date or Or, ships in (days), an optional Pre-order quantity limit and a Pre-order button label (“Pre-order now”).
- Payment: Charge in full, Fixed deposit (₹) (e.g. ₹500) or Percentage deposit (%) (e.g. 20%). The rest becomes the order’s Balance due (see Orders).
- Launch countdown → Launches at: the product can’t be bought before this time (store time, Asia/Kolkata). Pair it with the Pre-order countdown block in the editor.
- Hide from collections until launch keeps it off category pages until then.
Import and export
Import takes a Shopify products CSV. You see what will happen first (New products,
Updated products, Variants, Image links, Rows skipped), then select Import.
Products whose handle already exists are updated; the rest are created. Export downloads
products.csv.
You can also filter the list by Vendor, Product type, Tag and Stock, and select many products to Set as active, Set as draft, Archive, Add tag, Bulk edit or Delete.
Bulk edit: change many products in a spreadsheet
Change many products at once in Bulk edit.
Collections
Go to Products → Collections and select Create collection. Give it a Title (and optionally a Description and Collection image), then choose how products get in:
- Manual: “Add products one by one and drag them into the order shoppers see.”
- Automatic: “Products matching these conditions are added and removed for you.” Build
conditions from Product title, Product type, Vendor, Tag or Price, with
is equal to, contains, starts with, is greater than, is less than and so on.
For “Under ₹999”: Price is less than
999.
Pick a Sort order (Manual order, Title A to Z, Price low to high, Newest first…), fill the Search engine listing, and set Status to Active.
Tip. Tag products consistently (festive, cotton, bestseller) from day one. Automatic
collections built on tags then look after themselves, even with hundreds of products.
Common problems and fixes
| Problem | Why it happens | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Product isn’t on my store | Status is Draft or Archived. | Set Status to Active and save. |
| Shows “Out of stock” but I have stock | Track quantity is on and the variant’s quantity is 0. | Set the quantity on that variant, or turn Track quantity off. |
| Missing from an automatic collection | It doesn’t match every condition (or any, depending on the setting). | Check the product’s tag, type, vendor or price against the conditions. |
| Can’t buy a pre-order product yet | Launches at is in the future. | Clear Launches at to sell right away. |
| CSV import skipped rows | Rows with no handle or bad values. | Fix the rows shown under Rows skipped and import again; re-importing is safe. |
FAQ
What's the difference between Draft and Archived?
Draft: “Hidden until you publish it.” Archived: “Hidden and kept for order history.” Use Archived for products you’ve stopped selling, so old orders still show them.
Do I have to enter an HSN code?
Only if you issue GST invoices. The invoice uses the product’s HS code, falling back to the Default HSN in the GST invoices app settings.
Can I import from Shopify directly, not just CSV?
Yes, with the Shopify importer app (Apps → Built-in apps). It can import from a CSV or connect to your Shopify store, preview what will change, and re-run safely.
Can one product be in several collections?
Yes, as many as you like, manual and automatic.