Articles on: Data & channels

🧷 How Peak PIM matches your Shopify data on import

When Peak PIM imports your catalog from Shopify, it has to recognize when an item already exists, so it doesn't create duplicates and can keep one master across your stores. It does this by matching each item on a key. For products and variants you choose that key. For everything else it's automatic.

How matching works

Matching runs during your first import, when you link an additional store, and on every refresh from Shopify. For each item coming from Shopify, Peak PIM looks for an existing record with the same key. If it finds one, the two are treated as the same item. If not, a new record is created.

👉 Your first login and initial sync
👉 Linking an additional store with a linking code

Products and variants: choose your match keys

When you import or link a store, you choose which field(s) identify the same product or variant across your stores. You can pick one or several:

Product title
Handle
SKU
Barcode

You also set a confidence level: strict, moderate or loose.

The more keys you select, and the stricter the confidence, the more exact the match has to be. That means fewer wrong matches, but also fewer automatic ones. Fewer keys or a looser confidence matches more items, with a higher chance of a mismatch.

Everything else: matched automatically

These types are matched for you, on a fixed key. You don't configure them.

Metafield definitions are matched on their key.
Metaobject definitions are matched on their key.
Files are matched on their file name.
Metaobject entries are matched on their handle.

For metaobject entries, the handle is the matching key for now. We're working on letting you choose other fields to match on.

What gets imported

Peak PIM imports your active and draft products from Shopify. Archived products are not imported. If a product is missing after an import, check whether it's archived in Shopify.

Good to know

Because metafield and metaobject definitions match on their key, keeping the same key across stores is what lets one definition manage its values everywhere.
If two items should be the same but aren't matching, check that the matching field (the keys you chose for products and variants, or the key, file name or handle for the rest) is identical on both sides in Shopify.
An item with no SKU can't match on SKU. If you match on SKU and a product has no SKU on either store (often the case for draft or test products), it won't match and will import as a separate item. Match on another key like Handle or Product title, or reconcile it manually after the import.

Need help?

If something imported as a duplicate or didn't match the way you expected, reach out via the in-app live chat.

Updated on: 30/06/2026

Was this article helpful?

Thank you!