Overview

To ensure accurate reporting and a seamless integration with Retail Orbit, your Shopify Product Types should align with the Class Structure required for merchandise planning.

Proper mapping is essential—it prevents data discrepancies and supports clean, consistent reporting across your Retail Orbit reports.

Key Best Practices

Follow these guidelines to ensure your Shopify data integrates correctly with Retail Orbit.

Maintain Clear Product Type Mapping

Shopify Product Types should maintain a one-to-one or many-to-one relationship with Retail Orbit Classes.

Example

Correct:
Tops, Blouses → Women's Tops

Incorrect:
“Tops” split between Women’s Tops and Men’s Tops

Support cannot split a single Shopify Product Type across multiple Retail Orbit Classes.

Ensure Every Item Has a Product Type

Every item in Shopify must have a Product Type for the Management One Shuttle to properly map the data.

Items without a Product Type will appear as “No Product Type” in:

• Merchandise Plan

• Plan on Demand

• Retail Orbit Data Screen

This can cause reporting inconsistencies and should be avoided.

Common Issues to Avoid

Shopify Product Types are case-sensitive and highly specific. Even small differences can result in incorrect or duplicated classifications within Retail Orbit.

Watch out for the following inconsistencies:

Spelling differences
Example: Sweaters vs. Sweater

Extra spaces
Example: Sweaters vs. Sweaters

Capitalization mismatches
Example: sweaters vs. Sweaters

Special characters or dashes
Example: T-Shirts vs. T Shirts

Best Practice:
Use a consistent naming convention across your team to prevent errors and maintain clean data.

Managing Product Type Changes

Notify Support

If you change or update Product Types, please notify Support so we can ensure your Shuttle continues to run smoothly.

support@retailorbit.com

Do Not Delete Items or Product Types

Instead of deleting items:

Archive items that are no longer in use.

Deleting items or Product Types can:

• Prevent historical data from being retrieved

• Negatively affect reporting accuracy

Recommended Monthly Mapping Review

To keep your system clean and accurate, we recommend performing a quick monthly mapping review.

Steps:

• Log in to Retail Orbit

• Select your account from the top-left dropdown

• Navigate to Profile → POS Mapping

• Click Download Basic Mapping Document

• Review Columns D and E to confirm that all Product Types are mapped correctly

Why It Matters

Following these best practices will help you:

• Improve data accuracy across your reports

• Prevent delays or errors in the Management One Shuttle process

• Maintain clean product classification and reporting

• Ensure your Merchandise Plan reflects accurate data

Need Help?

If you have questions about your Product Types or mapping setup, our team is here to help.

support@retailorbit.com