Shopify, explained for Webflow designers.
38 Shopify words you meet when you build a store with Smootify, from variants to checkout. Each page answers one question, compares it with what you know from Webflow, and says what it means on a Smootify site.
Same word, different thing.
Words you know from Webflow that Shopify uses for something else. Most confusion on a first Shopify project starts here.
WordIn WebflowIn Shopify
CollectionA type of CMS content, with its fields and itemsA group of products, picked by hand or filled by rules ProductWith Smootify, an item of the Products collection: the page, the slug, the SEOThe item sold, with its variants, prices and stock, read live SlugThe address of a CMS itemCalled the handle. On a Smootify site, the slug is the handle Custom fieldA field of a CMS collectionA metafield, on a product, a variant, a customer… ItemAn entry of a CMS collectionAn entry of a metaobject PublishSend the site live, to staging or to the domainMake a product available in a sales channel DraftA CMS item that is not publishedA product status: no channel shows it PlanPays for the site and its hostingPays for the store; Smootify’s plan is billed on the same Shopify invoice FormSends submissions to WebflowWith Smootify, can create entries in Shopify, and start a Flow CheckoutDesigned in Webflow (Webflow Ecommerce)Hosted by Shopify, styled in its checkout editor Products and catalogue
What a Shopify product is made of, and how products are grouped.
What is a product in Shopify?The thing you sell, with what all its versions share (title, description, photos, vendor), while each version the customer can buy is a variant with its own price, SKU and stock.Product What is a product option in Shopify, and how is it different from a variant?An option is a choice the customer makes, such as Color or Size, with its values; a variant is one combination of those values, the version that is actually bought, with its own price, SKU and stock.Option What is a variant in Shopify?One version of a product that a customer can buy, such as the Sand shirt in size M, with its own price, compare-at price, SKU, barcode, stock, weight and image.Variant What is a collection in Shopify, and why is it not a Webflow collection?A group of products, such as "Summer" or "Shirts", either picked by hand (manual) or filled by rules such as a tag or a price (automated); a Webflow collection is something else, a type of CMS content.Collection What is a handle in Shopify?The URL name of a product or a collection, such as linen-shirt in /products/linen-shirt: lowercase, unique, made from the title when the item is created, and on a Smootify site the same as the Webflow slug.Handle What are the vendor and the product type in Shopify?Two free text fields of every product: the vendor is the brand or maker, the product type is your own kind of product, such as Shirt; both are used to filter, to group products and to build automated collections.Vendor What are tags in Shopify?Free labels you put on products, customers and orders, such as vip or linen, that customers do not see unless you show them: Shopify uses them for automated collections, filters, segments and Flow.Tags How does inventory work in Shopify?Each variant has its own stock, counted per location; Shopify can track it or not, and can keep selling when it reaches zero, which decides whether the variant shows as available.Inventory What are Shopify's native swatches?A color or an image attached to an option value, such as a sand-coloured dot for Sand, set in Shopify by linking the option to a category field such as Color; storefronts show it in place of the value's name.Swatch What is a product category in Shopify?The kind of product chosen from Shopify's standard list, such as Apparel › Shirts, which gives the product its category fields (color, size, material) and helps taxes and marketplaces read it.Product category What is a bundle in Shopify?Several products sold together as one item; a fixed bundle, made with Shopify's free Bundles app, is a set you decide, with the stock taken from each product in it.Bundle
Custom data
The fields and content types you add to Shopify yourself.
What is a Shopify metafield?A custom field you add to a Shopify resource, such as a product, a variant, a collection or a customer, to keep information Shopify has no field for.Metafield What is a Shopify metaobject?A content type you define in Shopify, with its own fields, whose entries stand on their own or are linked from metafields: a designer, a size chart, a store review.Metaobject
Where the store sells
Why a product shows up on one site and not on another.
What is a sales channel in Shopify?A place where the store sells, such as the Online Store, the Shop app, Instagram or a headless site; a product or a collection shows up in a channel only when it is published to it.Sales channel What do Active, Draft and Archived mean on a Shopify product?The status of a product: Active is on sale in the channels it is published to, Draft is a work in progress no customer sees, Archived is a product you stopped selling but keep for its history.Product status What is Shopify's Online Store, and do I need it with Smootify?Shopify's own storefront, built with a theme at yourstore.myshopify.com; a Smootify store does not use it, because the Webflow site is the storefront, but its address keeps working unless you redirect it.Online Store What is headless commerce?A store split in two: the back end keeps the products, the orders and the checkout, and the storefront customers see is built with any tool and reads the back end through an API.Headless commerce What is Shopify's Storefront API?Shopify's public API for storefronts: it reads products, collections and prices for the visitor's market and handles carts and customer accounts, with a token that is safe to put in a web page.Storefront API What is a market in Shopify?A country, or a group of countries, a Shopify store sells to with its own settings: currency, prices, languages, domain and which products are available.Market
Prices, discounts and taxes
What decides the price a customer sees and pays.
What is the compare-at price in Shopify?The original price shown crossed out next to the price, such as $45 next to $32, set on each variant; Shopify charges the price, never the compare-at price.Compare-at price How do discounts work in Shopify?A price reduction set in Shopify, either a code the customer types or an automatic discount that applies itself; it can take an amount or a percentage off products or the order, give free shipping, or offer buy X get Y.Discount How does Shopify handle taxes, and why do my prices include them or not?Shopify works out the taxes of every order from the store's settings, and each market decides whether the prices shown include tax, as in Europe, or add it at checkout, as in the United States.Taxes What is a unit price in Shopify?The price per reference quantity, such as €1.50 per 100 g, shown next to the price where the law asks for it; it is set on each variant from its total quantity and a reference unit.Unit price How do gift cards work in Shopify?A product sold with one variant per amount; Shopify turns each sale into a code, emailed to the buyer or a recipient, that anyone can spend at checkout.Gift card What is store credit in Shopify?Money a store puts on a customer's account, such as a refund or a loyalty reward, which the customer spends at checkout; it needs Shopify's new customer accounts.Store credit What is a selling plan in Shopify?A way to sell a product other than as a one-time purchase, such as a subscription every two weeks or a pre-order, set up by an app and attached to the product.Selling plan
Cart, checkout and orders
From the first item in the cart to the parcel at the door.
Where does the cart live on a Smootify store, and what can it carry?The cart is kept by Shopify, not by the site: its lines (variant, quantity, properties), the order note, cart attributes and discount codes all travel with it to checkout and end up in the order.Cart What is the Shopify checkout, and can I design it in Webflow?The pages where the customer pays, hosted by Shopify on a sub-domain of your store such as store.example.com; you style it in Shopify's checkout editor, not in Webflow, and deeper changes need Shopify Plus.Checkout What happens to an order in Shopify after the customer pays?Shopify creates the order at the end of checkout, with a payment status (paid, refunded…) and a fulfillment status (unfulfilled until you ship); fulfilling means packing and sending it, with tracking.Order What is a draft order in Shopify?An order the store creates instead of the checkout, with the prices and discounts the store sets, which the customer pays through an invoice link.Draft order What is a location in Shopify?A place where the store keeps stock and fulfills orders, such as a warehouse or a shop; stock is counted per location, and a location can offer local pickup.Location
Customers and B2B
Who buys, how they log in, and companies that buy for their business.
How do customer accounts work in Shopify?Customers log in with a one-time code Shopify emails them, with no password, through Shopify's new customer accounts; the classic accounts with passwords are deprecated.Customer account What is a company in Shopify B2B?A business customer with its locations, the people who buy for it and its own catalog of prices, quantity rules and payment terms; it is how Shopify sells wholesale from the same store.B2B company
Plans, apps and automation
The Shopify side of a project: plans, client stores, apps and Flow.
Which Shopify plan does a Smootify store need?Shopify's monthly subscription for the store (Starter, Basic, Grow, Advanced, Plus); Smootify works from Basic up, because the Starter plan cannot use the Headless channel, and Smootify's own plan is billed on the same Shopify invoice.Shopify plan What is a Shopify development store?A free store an agency or freelancer creates from a Shopify Partner account to build a client's store; it cannot take real orders, and when the store is ready its ownership is transferred to the client, who picks a plan.Development store Do Shopify apps work on a Webflow site with Smootify?Apps add features to a Shopify store; those that work in the admin or at checkout need nothing on the site, those with widgets for any website work with their code, and those written for Shopify themes may need a few changes.Shopify app What is Shopify Flow?Shopify's free automation app: a workflow starts on an event, such as an order paid or a metaobject entry created, checks conditions, and takes actions such as tagging a customer or sending an email.Shopify Flow What is a cart transform in Shopify?A Shopify Function that changes the lines of a cart before checkout, such as merging several products into one bundle line, or expanding one line into the products it is made of.Cart transform
Free to build.
Pay when it sells.
Build the whole store on the free plan. Pay when it takes orders.
- One app on the Shopify bill, not ten
- Free to build, pay only when you go live
- Works on Basic, Grow and Advanced
- Your 1.x store keeps working
- Every element stays yours to change
- Docs indexed in llms.txt