How to Create a Product in Shopify

Looking to create a product in Shopify? As the owner or manager of a Shopify ecommerce store, you will spend a decent amount of time creating and editing your product listings, so it’s a smart idea to become comfortable with the workflow. 

Fortunately, Shopify makes this as easy as possible for us. The product creator is simple and straightforward. It provides everything you need to create a high quality and high converting product listing. Follow these steps to create or edit your Shopify products:

Step 1: Navigate to the products manager in Shopify

You’ll find a link to the products manager in the sidebar of your Shopify dashboard. 

Step 2: Click the “Add product” button

Click the green “Add product” button to open the product editor.

A new page will appear with a lot of blank options. We’ll go through each one with you. 

Step 3: Give your product a descriptive title

Your product’s title is a required element when you create a product in Shopify. It will appear on the product details page as the main title. Search engines will give this element more weight than any other element on the page, so keep SEO (search engine optimization) in mind. Use keywords that your customers might use to find products like this.

That said, don’t go overboard. Don’t fill your title with a list of keywords in hopes to manipulate Google. Using too many keywords seems spammy and cheap.

Step 4: Write a description for your product

This is where you get to be creative. Explain why a shopper should buy the product. Use this space to grab their attention and exhibit your brand’s personality. This is a rich text editor, so you have freedom to use paragraphs, headings, bold, italics, links, and even images. 

Step 5: Add some product images

This is where you add images, videos, and 3D models for your products. The first image you upload will be the main image that appears when the page loads, so choose carefully. You can click the “Add file” button to find files on your computer or simply drag them into the box. 

Bonus tip: Give your images filenames that use the same keywords you target in your product listing title. This improves your SEO and helps finding images in your media library in the future. 

Step 6: Input your pricing and cost

The “price” field is required. This is the price customers will pay. 

The “Compare at price” field is optional. You can use this field to capture your shoppers’ attention and compel them to buy. On the product page, this value will be shown as the original price, but crossed off as if the product is on sale. So if you want to discount a product for a sale or promotion, you would enter the typical price in the “Compare at price” field and the discounted price in the “Price” field. 

The “Cost per item” field is an internal field that customers can’t see. It’s simply a way to keep track of the product’s cost so you don’t accidentally discount it too low. We recommend using this field for each product. You should also include the cost to process and ship that product in this value. 

Step 7: Input your inventory quantity

This is a pretty basic section. Give your product a SKU value (just make up a number or code that means something to you internally), enter a barcode number if you have one, and then write or select the number of units you have available. 

As units are sold, Shopify will lower this number. If more products come into your stock, you’ll need to visit this page and increase the number. If the inventory number reaches zero, Shopify won’t display the product so you don’t accidentally sell a product you don’t have. If you want Shopify to continue selling the product even if the stock reaches 0, click the “Continue selling when out of stock” checkbox.

Step 8: Input shipping information

This information helps Shopify determine shipping cost (if any) for your products. First, make sure “This is a physical product” is checked. If you are selling a digital product (that doesn’t require any shipping), uncheck the box.

Next, give your product a weight. Shopify needs this to calculate accurate shipping. Adjust the units (pounds, ounces, kilograms, or grams) as necessary.

Then enter the country of origin. This is the location from where your product is shipped. Shopify needs to know the origin so it can calculate shipping properly. 

The HS (Harmonized System) code is for selling products internationally. This is a six digit (or more) code that countries use to classify products for importing or exporting. The United States uses a 10-digit code, called a Schedule B number, with the first six digits being the HS number. Follow the International Trade Administration’s instructions to find your code. 

Step 9: Create any necessary options

Options are attributes of your product that customers can select on the product page, such as size, color, weight, or material. Each product can have up to three options. 

Once you create an option, you’ll need to assign option values. For example, a size option might get small, medium, and large values. Additionally, each variant can have its own image which will be shown when the shopper selects that variant.

If you give a product multiple options, Shopify will create a variant for each combination. For instance, let’s say a product has two options, each with three option values. That creates a total of nine variants. You can edit the price, SKU, inventory quantity, and barcode for each. 

Step 10: Set a search engine listing view

You may want the page title to appear differently than what search engines use to categorize your page. For instance, you might give the search engine more keywords than you feel comfortable displaying on the page. 

The search engine listing preview section lets you give your products a SEO-friendly title, meta description, and URL. We strongly recommend filling this out for each product. 

Step 11: Organize your product

Product organization refers to how Shopify categorizes your product so that it appears in the right places. Click on the “Type” field and find the category that best matches your product or create a custom type. In the “Vendor” field, you can add the name of the manufacturer, distributor, or your own brand. 

“Collections” are groups of products that get their own collection pages on your site. You can also display collections on your home page. You can select an existing collection or add a new one here. 

Finally, give your product some “Tags.” These appear on the page and give your customers a way to products.

Step 12: Adjust your product status

Product status refers to your product’s availability. First, change the status “Draft” to “Active.” Then select the sales channels and apps where you want your product to appear.  

How to Duplicate a Product

If you have an existing product that’s similar to a new product you intend to create, you can save yourself a lot of time by duplicating it. Navigate into the product editor for the existing product and click the “Duplicate” link.

A popup will appear with options for your new product. Give the product a name, select the details you want to carry over, and then choose draft or active for the post status. These details aren’t set in stone. You can always edit the product manually to change them.

Publish Your New Shopify Product!

Your last step is to click “Save” at the top of the page. Your new Shopify product is now live and available for purchase! If you have any questions on how to create a Shopify product, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

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