Shoppable product catalogues

A shoppable product catalogue holds product records that a social shopping feature can display and link to a buying route. For an Australian retailer, each listed item should describe an offer the customer can identify and buy. Being in a catalogue does not prove the item is visible to shoppers or that its buying route works.

Choose products you can keep accurate

Start with products whose descriptions, prices, availability and destinations the team can maintain. Check what each record sells, including its variant and pack contents. Hold a record if it shows a bundle but its destination sells only one component, or if the advertised variant cannot be selected.

Give each record a source

Map each catalogue item to the store record that owns its identity, description, image, price, availability and destination. The fields and eligibility rules depend on the channel and integration; this is a review framework, not a universal feed specification.

For example, Shopify’s Facebook and Instagram by Meta integration syncs products made available to that channel and reports product status and publishing errors in Shopify. Its documented Facebook product requirements include a suitable title, description and image, a Google Product Category, a return policy, a product that requires shipping and a non-free price.

The integration uses a shared catalogue for the Meta features a merchant has set up, so making a product available to the channel does not restrict it to one of those features.

Shopify collections do not sync to Facebook for stores based outside the United States. Those retailers can create Facebook collections in Meta Commerce Manager using products already available to the channel, keeping catalogue grouping separate from the store’s collection structure.

For Instagram Shopping, changes to the product name, description or price shown in tag details must be made in Shopify and the updated product published. The description on Instagram cannot differ from Shopify’s. If a tagged price is wrong, Shopify’s price and compare-at price can be checked, along with any sale start or end date in Meta Commerce Manager.

Check the buying route

Open a public catalogue item, where the feature is available, and compare it with the store page. The item, variant or clearly offered variant choice, image, price, pack contents and availability should describe the same sale. Continue far enough to see whether the intended choice reaches order review without placing an order.

In Shopify’s documented Instagram Shopping integration, a shopper can follow a tagged product to the merchant’s online store. Tagging requires the product to be available in both the Meta catalogue and Shopify online store.

This describes that integration, subject to its region, account and product requirements.

Keep availability current

Name the system that owns saleable stock and the person who can correct a mismatch. A warehouse count can include units committed to orders or set aside, so check the relevant variant and fulfilment location before featuring limited stock. If the store intentionally accepts orders after stock reaches zero, make the customer-facing fulfilment terms clear.

After a stock change, promotion or product edit, check the channel status. Where possible, also check the public listing and destination. A completed sync or a product status alone does not show what a shopper sees.

Distinguish stock on hand from stock available to sell. In Shopify, on-hand quantity includes available, committed and unavailable units; committed units may be in unfulfilled orders, draft-order reservations or transfers ready to ship, while unavailable units may be damaged, held for quality control or reserved as safety stock. Incoming stock is on its way to a location and is not included in available quantity.

Key facts about product availability in Shopify (Australia)

Review a sample before launch

For a small sample, confirm the source product and variant, resolve reported publishing errors, inspect the public entry in the intended market, compare its offer with the store page and follow the route to order review without submitting a purchase. Record any mismatch, its owner and the date for a repeat check. Revisit active records when their source data changes.

For Shopify, channel availability can be checked on the Products page, including by filtering for products unavailable on Facebook. Product status and publishing errors are available through the integration; a failed publication is a prompt to resolve the reported issue, not evidence that the public listing is correct.

The ACCC can require businesses to substantiate claims about their products. It accepts reports about possible misleading or false claims and may investigate and take compliance or enforcement action, so retailers should be able to support the claims presented in catalogue entries and linked store pages.