Shopify product feed management: everything you need to know

Shopify is the platform that powers more UK ecommerce stores than any other. But Shopify's native feed management capabilities — the built-in Google & YouTube sales channel, the Facebook & Instagram integration — have real limitations. This guide covers everything Shopify merchants need to know about managing product feeds at scale.

Why Shopify's native channel apps aren't enough

Shopify's native Google integration pulls your products to Google Merchant Center. For simple, single-store setups with small catalogues, it works adequately. But the limitations become apparent quickly:

• No rules engine for title optimisation or custom label management
• Limited metafield access — custom product data in metafields often doesn't flow through
• No ChatGPT Shopping support
• No SFTP delivery option
• No AI enrichment
• One integration per channel — managing five channels means five separate apps

For merchants with more than a few hundred products or more than two advertising channels, a dedicated feed management tool provides significantly more control and performance.

The Admin GraphQL API advantage

Shopify has two APIs: the REST Admin API (older) and the Admin GraphQL API (current). The difference matters for feed management:

The REST API provides product data, but it's paginated, slower, and doesn't efficiently return metafields. The GraphQL API allows you to request exactly the fields you need in a single efficient query — including variants, metafields, collections, SEO data, tags, inventory quantities, and published status.

Trajekt uses the Admin GraphQL API, pulling per product: title, description, variants (with options, prices, barcodes, inventory), images (including alt text), tags, collections (up to 5), metafields (up to 10), SEO title and description, vendor (brand), product type, and publication dates.

This is the difference between a feed that contains what Shopify exports by default and a feed that contains everything Shopify knows about your products.

Metafields: the untapped product data goldmine

Shopify metafields are custom data fields attached to products — and they're often where the most valuable product data lives. Common metafield uses:

• Material composition ("100% Merino Wool")
• Care instructions
• Country of origin
• Sustainability certifications
• Fit guide ("Runs small — we recommend sizing up")
• Technical specifications for electronics or equipment

None of this data flows through Shopify's native Google integration. A feed management tool with proper GraphQL API access can pull all metafields and make them available for rules-based mapping to feed attributes.

For example: if you store fabric composition in a metafield called product.fabric_content, you can use a Trajekt rule to append this to your product description — adding valuable attribute data that improves both Google Shopping match quality and ChatGPT shopping relevance.

Handling Shopify variants in feeds

Shopify products with multiple options (colour, size, material combinations) create multiple variants. How these variants appear in your feed matters significantly:

Wrong: Each variant appears as a completely separate product with no relationship to other variants. This means a t-shirt in 3 colours × 4 sizes appears as 12 separate products in Google Shopping — confusing to shoppers and creating artificial competition within your own catalogue.

Right: All variants of the same product share an item_group_id (Google Shopping) or group_id (ChatGPT) matching the parent product ID. Each variant has its own colour, size, and price fields. Google groups them as a single listing with variant selectors.

Trajekt uses the Shopify product ID as the item_group_id and each variant's ID as the row-level id. This is the correct structure and ensures Google, Meta, and ChatGPT group your variants correctly.

Collections as feed segments

Shopify collections are a powerful but underused feed data source. If you pull collection membership, you can use it for:

• Custom labels: Products in "Summer Sale" collection get custom_label_1 = "summer-sale"
• Product type: Build a hierarchical product_type from collection structure
• Feed filtering: Only include products from specific collections in specific feeds
• AI targeting: Apply AI enrichment only to products in the "New Arrivals" collection

Trajekt pulls up to 5 collections per product via GraphQL and makes them available in the rules engine as variables.

Multi-store management

If you operate multiple Shopify stores — separate stores for different brands, markets, or product lines — you can connect each store separately to Trajekt. Each store has its own feed configurations, rules, and schedules. Rules can be cloned from one store to another for consistent data transformation across your portfolio.

Setting up Trajekt with Shopify: the quick guide

1. In your Shopify admin: Settings > Apps and sales channels > Develop apps
2. Create a new app. Name it "Trajekt Feed"
3. Under API credentials, configure Admin API scopes: read_products, read_inventory, read_content
4. Install the app and copy the Admin API access token
5. In Trajekt: Add Store > Shopify > paste your store URL and API token
6. Trajekt pulls your first catalogue sync within minutes

No Shopify app listing, no partner account, no app store review. Just a direct API connection between Trajekt and your Shopify store.