Organize, match and consolidate materials

Use material groups to organize a catalog, equivalence groups to identify acceptable alternatives, and duplicate review to consolidate records of the same physical item. These operations have different effects on stock and connected Shopify stores.

Before changing identity, compare the material's specifications, base unit, supplier references and Shopify listings. Similar titles or matching SKUs are useful evidence, but they do not prove that two products are the same.

Choose the right operation

Operation	Use it for	Result
Expand a catalog product group	Inspecting a Shopify product's variants	Changes the view only; each variant remains a separate material.
Assign a Material group	Organizing items such as Packaging	Adds a classification; does not combine quantities or listings.
Assign an Equivalence group	Identifying materials that can be used as alternatives	Keeps separate material identities and stock records.
Keep separate in Duplicates	Confirming that similar-looking records are distinct	Records the review decision for that candidate group.
Merge materials	Combining duplicate records of the same physical product	Moves history, listings and references to a kept material and removes duplicate identities.

For example, kraft mailers in two sizes may share the Material group Packaging, but they are different materials. Two approved tissue-sheet brands might be alternatives in an Equivalence group. The same exact mailer listed in two Shopify stores may be a duplicate-review candidate.

Organize the catalog with Material groups

Open Materials, then Groups.
Under Material Groups, select Add Group.
Enter a Name and, where useful, Description. Use a name such as Packaging that colleagues will recognize.
Review the optional HS Code Prefix field only if you have established classification information. Group membership is not a substitute for the individual material's customs classification.
Select Save and verify the group in the list.
Open a material's Properties, choose the named group in Material group, and select Save in the save bar.

Repeat the assignment for the other materials that belong in the group. Use Edit on the Groups page to maintain the group's name or description. Before deleting a group, review its use and the deletion confirmation. Do not use group deletion to try to remove a product, close purchasing work or dispose of stock.

The expandable product bands in the main Materials catalog are separate from these classifications. They help display related variants. Expand the band or select Show more to inspect additional loaded rows; opening or collapsing it does not change product identity.

Assign interchangeable materials

Create an Equivalence group only when the items are approved alternatives for the relevant use. Check differences such as dimensions, material grade and measurement units before assigning them.

Open the first material and select Properties.
Beside Equivalence group, select Change.
Choose an existing group, or select Create new.
For a new group, enter Group name and an explanatory Description, then select Create & assign.
Open the other material and assign the same group.
Reopen each material and verify the displayed group name.

The Assign Equivalence Group dialog also offers Remove from group for a current member. Use that when an item is no longer an approved alternative. A material has one displayed equivalence-group assignment at a time.

Equivalence membership can supply alternative choices in supported BOM workflows. Review and select the appropriate component there; membership alone does not authorize an automatic substitution, merge stock or rewrite a Shopify product. See bills of materials.

Review possible duplicates

Open Materials, then Duplicates.
Read the matching signals and inspect each member's identity, connected stores and available history information.
If the records describe distinct goods, select Keep separate. The group is marked Kept separate and can reappear if its members change.
If they describe the same physical product, select Merge… to review a merge.
Select the included materials and choose Keep beside the record that should remain.
Select Preview merge and inspect all affected records and inventory movements.

The suggested kept material is a starting point for your review. Choose the record whose identity should survive after checking all participating stores. A merge can affect more than the Shopify store currently open because listings and references belong to the organization's material records.

If no candidate was suggested, an eligible material's detail page offers Merge material…. Search by title, SKU or barcode, choose the other material, and select Add to merge. This leads to the same preview and confirmation process. Manually selecting two materials is not evidence that they are identical.

Confirm the physical stock and complete the merge

The merge cannot be undone. Continue only when the preview includes the correct records and you understand which material will remain.

Resolve every blocker shown under This merge can't run yet. A visible merge entry point does not mean every material type, unit or dependent record is eligible.
Under Confirm stock on hand, review every location and lot requiring a decision.
Choose the quantity representing the actual physical goods. If two records each show 72 each for the same shelf of 72 mailers, the correct result is 72 each. If they represent two genuinely separate holdings of 72 each, the combined result is 144 each. Use Custom quantity only when you have established the correct non-negative total.
Review Records that will be repointed and any Inventory that will move pools. Do not assume all displayed quantities should be added together.
Select Merge materials.
Wait for Merged into and select View receipt to inspect the operation's recorded state. Open the kept material and verify its listings, stock locations, units and relevant source records.

A merge changes identity and may write confirmed quantities to the inventory ledger. Subsequent Shopify stock effects depend on the connected pools' authority and sync configuration; review source of truth and syncing.

Recover from a changed or uncertain review

If stock changes after preview, Zapstra Inventory Management asks you to review the updated quantities and confirm again. Recheck the physical meaning of each row rather than reusing an earlier total.

If a merge times out or another merge is in progress, inspect the operation result and kept material before starting another merge. Keep its receipt reference when contacting Support. A missing confirmation is not proof that nothing changed.

If a catalog, group or stock-location read is unavailable, reload and re-establish the information needed for your decision. Do not create replacements or choose arbitrary locations to bypass an unavailable result.