Now that you’ve become familiar with the different product attributes in BigCommerce, you’re ready to start building your store’s catalog. This chapter introduces your options for creating products from scratch, as well as the tools available for migrating an existing catalog to your store.
Creating Products in the Control Panel
The easiest way to add a new product in your store is to create it in the control panel from Products › Add. In the Add Product page, you can enter all of your product’s attributes, as well as any variant or modifier options the product has.
This method is ideal for building individual products and becoming acquainted with all of the information fields available for your product catalog. However, creating products this way can be a time-consuming process. For this reason, we recommend using one of the other methods listed below for adding multiple products to your store at the same time.
For more information on creating products in the control panel, see Adding Products (v3).
Importing Products in Bulk via CSV
The most efficient method for adding and editing multiple products at once is by importing them to your store as a CSV spreadsheet. You can create new products in bulk with their details, images and variant options, or create a customized export template to focus on a specific set of attributes when editing existing products in your catalog.
CSV import is the quickest way to add multiple simple products or products with variants. It allows you to make edits to your entire catalog in just a few clicks, and it can be used to create a backup file of your product information. However, certain attributes, such as bulk pricing rules and modifier options, cannot be imported or exported.
Make a backup! Formatting mistakes in the CSV can lead to incorrect or missing product data. Saving a copy of your catalog import before editing allows you to quickly restore your products to their previous state in case something goes wrong.
To learn more about adding and editing products in bulk via CSV, see our guides on the legacy and modern Product Import/Export tools.
Generating Products via the API
An advanced, yet flexible option for quickly adding products to your catalog is creating products via API requests. As with adding products in the control panel, this method allows you to enter information for all product, variant, and modifier fields, as well as create and assign categories and brands with all of their attributes. Additionally, you can copy and edit your requests to update multiple existing products at once.
Adding products this way requires familiarity with BigCommerce APIs, and incorrectly-formatted API requests can negatively impact your product catalog. We recommend reviewing our Catalog documentation in the Dev Center, or reaching out to a BigCommerce Partner for assistance.
Migrating Products from a Different Store
If you have previously created your products in an existing ecommerce store, BigCommerce provides a variety of means for transferring your catalog to a new store. The sections below provide an overview of the migration options available for your catalog source:
- From another BigCommerce store
- From a different ecommerce platform
- From a point-of-sale (POS) platform
From Another BigCommerce Store
There are a few reasons why you may have more than one BigCommerce store, such as having a sandbox store to experiment with changes without affecting the functionality of your live store, or offering unique experiences for each region where you do business. Instead of recreating your products from scratch, you can transfer them from one store to another with a customized CSV export template, the API, or the help of apps in the App Marketplace.
See our guide to Transferring BigCommerce Store Data for a breakdown of available migration options and a comprehensive set of instructions for moving your products.
Is your store on an Enterprise plan? Qualifying stores can enable Multi-Storefront to create multiple BigCommerce storefronts without the need to migrate product information to a different control panel.
From a Different Ecommerce Platform
If you’re switching from another ecommerce platform to BigCommerce, you have your pick of several data migration solutions that prioritize ease-of-use, cost effectiveness, and/or support for custom product fields. In addition to the methods available for transferring products from a BigCommerce store, you can take advantage of our data migration apps, or request a managed transfer from our Data Migration Services team.
The first 1,000 data resources (products, options, orders, and customers) are free. Use the contact form located within the app for more information on pricing.
For more information on transferring your products to BigCommerce from another ecommerce platform, go to Transferring Your Catalog to BigCommerce, or see our dedicated guides to migrating from Shopify, WooCommerce, and Magento.
From a Point-of-Sale (POS) Platform
If you use a POS solution like Square for managing orders and inventory in your physical store, you can sync existing product information to BigCommerce using one of our POS integration apps in the App Marketplace. Many of these apps allow you to import your products from your POS system to your online store, and sync any changes made to product pricing and inventory so that your catalog remains up-to-date across both sources.
See What is Point of Sale to learn which POS platforms are supported and how to connect them to your store.
Conclusion
Your product catalog is often the primary point of interaction for your customers. Creating eye-catching products that are organized intuitively on your storefront can streamline the shopping experience, boost conversions, and increase average order value.
With BigCommerce, you have the freedom to add, edit, categorize, and display your products in a way that best suits your business. For more assistance with managing your product catalog, see the following resources:
- Adding Products (v3) — detailed instructions for creating a product in the control panel
- Product Options (v3) — learn how to add variant and modifier options to your products
- Guide to Legacy Product Import/Export — step-by-step instructions for creating new products and editing existing ones in bulk via the legacy CSV import experience
- Guide to Modern Product Import/Export — a comprehensive guide on creating new products and updating existing ones using the modern Import/Export tool
- Guide to SEO — a comprehensive overview of search engine optimization and the keys to developing a successful SEO strategy
- Guide to Market & Keyword Research — learn how to conduct market research and effectively utilize keywords
- Guide to Site Speed — a breakdown of the elements that affect page speed and how to optimize them for maximum site performance
- Catalog Overview (Dev Center) — an introduction to the Catalog API and the API requests available for adding and updating product information
- BigCommerce University (BigCommerce) — book training courses to learn BigCommerce best practices, or request coaching to boost product SEO and optimize conversions
