How to Bulk Create Products?

You can use SHOPLINE's "Bulk Import Products" feature to create multiple products in bulk. Fill in the "Bulk create products" template, which includes fields for basic product information, description, category, price, and options. This saves you time when publishing large numbers of products or regularly updating existing product data.

In this article, you’ll find:

• Notes before importing products
• How to bulk create products in the Admin?
  • Step 1. Select "Bulk create products"
  • Step 2. Download the form and fill in product information
  • Step 3. Upload bulk create file
• Field introduction for bulk product import
  • Product Handle (Mandatory)
  • Product Name, Product Description, SEO, Preorder Items, Online Store Status
  • Product Images and Additional Images
  • Categories
  • Price, SKU, and Quantity
  • Weight (KG) and Supplier
  • Product Tag and Hidden Product
  • Custom Filtering
  • Exclude Payment and Delivery Options
  • Specification and Variation
  • Variant Price, Cost, SKU and Weight
  • Barcode
• Fields for retail stores
  • Store-Specific Price & Variant Store-Specific Price
  • Online Store & Retail Store Status
  • Online Store Categories & POS Categories
• How to troubleshoot import failures?

1. Notes before importing products

Before importing products, please note the following:

• Three fields are required: Product Handle, Product Name (either Chinese or English), and Valid image for main product image. If any are left blank, the import will fail. Please use the template provided by SHOPLINE to fill in product information.
• Besides the three required fields, we recommend also including Price, Quantity, and Categories (either Chinese or English). If you do not fill in the price, the system will automatically hide the price after import. Customers can only send messages to the store for price inquiries.
• Please only use Excel or Google Sheets to edit the file, and confirm all content is correct before importing. If products already exist in your store and are duplicated in the file, they will be imported as duplicate products.
• Each import supports up to 20,000 rows of data (excluding the header row). For example, if your file contains two main products, one with 1 variant and one with 3 variants, they count as 4 data rows total.

2. How to bulk create products in the Admin?

Step 1. Select "Bulk create products"

Go to SHOPLINE Admin > [Products & Categories] > [Products]. Click the "Import" drop-down menu and select Bulk create products. 

On the Bulk Import/Update page, click sample.xlsx to download the instructions, and then click Download template to fill in the products to import.

*Note: If this is the first time you use this feature, we strongly recommend you download and read the instruction file (sample.xlsx). Please use the template to fill in the product information.

Step 2. Download the form and fill in product information

After downloading the form, fill in the product information following the instructions for each field. 

Important notes:

• Starting from Row 3, you can add new product data in every row.
• Please do not delete or change the columns of this form.
• Every new product should at least have a Product Handle, Product Name, and Images.
• If your shop supports multiple languages, a bulk import template file will be generated according to your shop's default languages. You can fill in information for all the languages that are supported by your shop at the same time. If you wish to use only one language, please leave the fields in other languages blank; however, each language-related field is required to provide at least 1 language.
• If you only need to upload information in a specific language, please leave the fields of other languages blank. Do not delete any column.
• Please make sure all categories you use are already configured in the Admin panel. Currently, we cannot create new categories in bulk import.
• Please do not include a space in your image URL.
• Merchants have to re-export the upload file from the Admin if they have changed the names of the membership tier.
• Names of the membership tier cannot be repeated or identical to "Member Price". Otherwise, the system will not be able to obtain the correct data, and an upload failure will occur. 
• Names of different stores cannot be repeated. Otherwise, the system will not be able to obtain the correct data of Store-Specific Prices, and an upload failure will occur.

Step 3. Upload bulk create file

After inputting all product information, go back to the Admin and click Select file to upload the file you have edited.

The page below will be shown after the products are successfully imported.  

3. Field introduction for bulk product import

The following is an example of how to fill in a Bulk Import/Update form.

*Note: The position of the following fields applies only to this example. Since each shop supports different languages, the position of each column field in each generated template varies.

i. Product Handle (Mandatory)

Fill in the cell with a designated number, and also for the following rows of the product's variation.

ii. Product Name, Product Summary, Product Description, SEO, Preorder Items, Online Store Status

• Product Name (Mandatory)
  If you only have the data in English, please leave the field for Chinese blank.
• Product Summary
  If you only have the data in English, please leave the field for Chinese blank. The text limit for these fields is 300 characters.
• Product Description
  If you only have the data in English, please leave the field for Chinese blank. The product description field accepts HTML syntax. If merchants need to show line breaks or other styles, please enter the corresponding syntax. The system can show the result if the syntax is correct.
  •  

  • For instance, to enter wrap text, you could insert a code <br>.
    

    
    After uploading the file, texts will appear at the storefront like this:
    

• SEO Title and Description
  It can be a simple sentence about your product. It will usually be shown on search engines like Google and social media sharing.
• Preorder Item
  Enter Y to set the product as a preorder item, N for a non-preorder item.
• Online Store Status 
  Enter Y to make this product published automatically after import, N to make the product unpublished.

iii. Product Images and Additional Images

• Merchants can add Images (used as thumbnails and primary pictures) and Additional Images (shown on more Information section after the product description on the product page).
• Please enter the URL of the image directly. If you have more than one image, please use a space to separate two URLs.

*Note: SHOPLINE has fully upgraded the SSL (Secure Sockets Layer). Please change your domain URL to "https" to avoid your website from being blocked by some browsers.

How to Get the URL of Images

There are different ways to upload your image.

1. You can upload your image to the Image gallery on SHOPLINE and copy its URL. Refer to this link for details.

2. You can upload your images to other public online photo platforms that support SSL encryption. For example, Imgur, Flickr, and Facebook.

3. You can search for photos directly on the search engine. After uploading, you can open the photos in a new tab, right-click on the photo and select Copy Image Address to copy the URL.

⚠️ Note: Merchants are responsible for taking care of photo copyright issues. Please check Google FAQ for more details.

iv. Categories

Before adding new categories, please make sure that you have added corresponding categories in the SHOPLINE Admin > [Products and Categories] > [Categories].

There are 3 ways to assign products to categories.

• Only assign to the main category: Enter the category name directly, e.g., Digitals
• Assign to a subcategory: Use ">" to connect, e.g., Digitals>Phone
• Assign a product to multiple categories: Enter each category on a new line.

*Note: If you delete the default "Featured" category and create a new one with the same name, the system will not support selecting that category when importing products in bulk. We recommend using a different name, such as "Exclusive Products" or "Top Picks".

Please leave the Chinese column blank if you do not have a category in Chinese. 

v. Price, SKU, and Quantity

Fill in the Price, Sales Price, SKU, and Quantity of your product. Leaving the Quantity field blank means unlimited quantity.

*Notes:

• If a product has different variations, please refer to Specification and Options and set up Variation Quantity, Variation Price, Variation, and SKU for each variation product.
• Price and Quantity support positive integers only.
• Store-specific Price only supports merchants using the "e-Commerce+Retail POS/ Social Commerce+Retail POS/ e-Commerce+Social Commerce+Retail POS" plans, and merchants must switch on the "Set Store-Specific Prices for products" toggle in the Product Detail Page. For more information, please refer to Store-Specific Price｜POS Admin.

vi. Weight (KG) and Supplier

Weight: To support the new delivery fee by weight feature, you can add product weight (in kg, up to 2 decimal places) in the bulk upload sheet to calculate shipping fees based on weight at checkout. If this field is left blank, the system will set the product weight to 0 kg by default.

Supplier: If you have not added a supplier in the SHOPLINE Admin > [Inventory Management] > [Supplier], you cannot add suppliers through bulk import or update files.

*Notes:

• If a product has multiple variants, please fill in the "Variant Weight" field to correctly calculate shipping fees for each variant.
• The "Weight" column supports numbers with up to 2 decimal places. 

vii. Product Tag and Hidden Product

Product Tag - Set product tags for product management. Each product tag should be at least 3 characters. For example, AAA or ABC.

Hidden Product - Input "Y" to set a product as the hidden product, so it will not display at the storefront. Merchants can send the link of the hidden product to specific customers. Input "N" or leave it blank if it is a general product.

viii. Custom Filtering

Enter an existing "Custom Filter" that has already been created in the Admin. If you need to enter multiple conditions, please separate them with a line break.

*Notes:

• Only existing custom filter names can be entered. You cannot add or edit filter conditions in the file.
• If this field is left blank, the product can still be created successfully, but no custom filter will be applied.
• If you enter a custom filter name that does not exist, that product will fail to be created, without affecting other products.

ix. Exclude Payment and Delivery Options

Enter the payment or delivery options you set in the Admin, using line breaks to separate each entry. To remove existing content, leave the field blank.

*Notes:

• If any of the entered payment or delivery option names do not exist, the update will fail.
• If multiple options share the same name, the system will apply the one created earlier. We recommend renaming any unused options to avoid confusion.

x. Specification and Variation

Set the name of each specification, such as "Color" and "Size".

*Notes:

• If the specification name is identical to "Color" or "Size", it will be set as a default specification automatically (Applies to Trad. Chinese, Simp. Chinese, English, Thai, and Vietnamese).
• Please enter the specification name in the store default language. Otherwise, the system will recognize it as a custom specification. 

Then fill in the corresponding variation name, quantity, and image URL for each variation. 

*Notes: 

• Variation names in the same language cannot be duplicated.

  Specification Name A (English)	Specification Name B (English)	Variation name A (English)	Variation name B (English)
  Color	Size	Yellow	M
  		Yellow	L
  		Yellow	M
  		Green	L

   

• The translation of a variation name must be identical in another language.
  For example, if the variation "green" has different names entered in the Chinese column, it will cause the import to fail. 

  Specification Name A (English)	Specification Name B (English)	Variation name A (English)	Variation name A (Chinese)	Variation name B (English)	Variation name B (Chinese)
  Color	Size	Yellow	黃	M	中
  		Yellow	黃	L	大
  		Green	綠	M	中
  		Green	紅	L	大

   

• The translations of different variation names msut not be the same but can be left in blank.
  For example: The variation name "M" corresponds to "中" in Chinese. If the variation name "L" has "中" as its transation, it will cuase the import to fail. 

  Specification Name A (English)	Specification Name B (English)	Variation name A (English)	Variation name A (Chinese)	Variation name B (English)	Variation name B (Chinese)
  Color	Size	Yellow	黃	M	中
  		Yellow	黃	L	中
  		Green	綠	M	中
  		Green	綠	L	大

Optionally, if merchants wish to add images corresponding to the variation, enter an image URL (in "https") under the "Variation Image" column.

• If the field is left blank, the variant will appear in the main product image at the storefront.
• A maximum of 1 image URL (in "https") can be entered in the field. Adding multiple links will cause import failure. 
• Merchants can refer to this tip to retrieve image URLs.

xi. Variant Price, Cost, SKU and Weight

Merchants can edit the SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) of each variant for better inventory management.

To add product variations to each product, starting from Variation A, Variation B, Variation quantity, Variation Price, and Variation SKU (SKU of each variation) from top to bottom, row to row.

xii. Barcode

• If you are a POS merchant, imported product barcodes will sync to the POS app. If the barcode field is left blank, the system will automatically generate an 8-digit barcode.
• After importing, to view the product barcode, go to SHOPLINE Admin > [Products] > Edit > Product Feed Data tab. If you need to use the barcode field but cannot see this tab, please contact our Online Merchant Success Team.

4. Fields for retail stores

Merchants using O2O, Retail POS, or e-Commerce + Retail POS plans can bulk import products with the following retail store fields: Store-Specific Price, Variant Store-Specific Price, Retail Store Status, POS Categories, Supplier, Retail Store Price, and Variant Retail Store Price.

*Note: Other form columns will shift backward sequentially.

i. Store-Specific Price & Variant Store-Specific Price

*Store-Specific Price only supports merchants using the "Retail POS" plan, and merchants must switch on the "Set Store-Specific Prices for products" toggle in the Product detail page. For more information, please refer to Store-Specific Price｜POS Admin.

Please input the product's price for different stores in the "Store-Specific Price" field. If this product has multiple variants, please input the prices in the "Variant Store-Specific Price" field.

• Store-Specific Price
  
   
• Variant Store-Specific Price
  

ii. Online Store & Retail Store Status

Please update the product statuses of your online store and retail store with the "Online Store Status" and "Retail Store Status" columns.

• Online Store Status
  Enter Y to make this product published automatically after import; enter N or leave it blank to make the product unpublished.
• Retail Store Status
  Enter Y to make this product published automatically after import; enter N or leave it blank to make the product unpublished.

iii. Online Store Categories & POS Categories

• Online Store Categories
  Before adding a new online store category, please make sure that you have added the corresponding categories in [Products & Categories] > [Categories]. You can leave the Chinese column blank if you don't have a Chinese category. There are 3 ways to assign products to categories.
  • Only assign to the main category, enter the the category name directly, e.g., Digitals
  • Assign to a subcategory, use ">" to connect, e.g., Digitals>Phone
  • Assign a product to multi-categories at the same time, use line break to connect. Enter each category on a new line.
• POS Categories
  Before adding a new POS category, please make sure that you have added the corresponding categories in [Products & Categories] > [Categories]. Please note that POS Categories only support importing main categories.
  You can leave the Chinese column blank if you don't have a Chinese category.

*Notes:

• Subcategories are currently not supported in POS categories. Therefore, ">" is not available for assigning products to subcategories in retail stores.
• Assigning one product to multiple POS categories is currently not supported.  It is not available to use "#" to separate multiple categories when importing.

5. How to troubleshoot import failures?

If there is an error in the data entry, the system will import the rest of the valid product information first. Merchants can check the bulk upload progress by:

• Clicking Take me to Bulk Import/Export Progress now!.

• Going to the [Report & Analytics] > [Bulk Action Process].

If you encounter failed items during the upload process, a button will be available to download the failure report.

In the failure report, merchants can find the error or invalid field highlighted in red.

The failure reason will be shown in the "Failure Reason" field at the end of the table. You can refer to it to adjust the content in your import file, then import the products again following the steps above.

To speed up the efficiency of bulk product import, the sorting order of the new products will be in the order of the system processing sequence. Merchants can go to the "Categories" page to manually adjust the sorting.

Other pages, such as the list of products in the Admin, the inventory management page, and all product pages at the storefront, will be displayed in the order arranged in the file. 

Read more

• Upload Products
• How to Bulk Update Products?

Last updated: 15 September 2026