---
title: "Managing products"
slug: "managing-products"
tags: ["product import", "Associate App", "integration", "stock", "catalog", "platform", "stock on hand", "SFCC", "inventory", "fulfillment", "api", "data import"]
updated: 2025-10-10T11:26:06Z
published: 2025-10-10T11:26:06Z
canonical: "docs.newstore.com/managing-products"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.newstore.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Managing products

Products are a central entity in the NewStore platform. Most of the business flows depend on it.

For a product to appear in the platform or in the apps, it needs at least:

- Some product information in the catalog
- A price for the specific `shop` and `locale`

## Identifying products

The attribute `product_id` is the universal identifier of a product inside a `shop` and `locale` in NewStore. It is the only identifier that is used in all API calls to identify the product in NewStore Omnichannel Cloud.

If you have other identifiers for your products, such as SKU or EAN in your business, import them in the `external_identifiers` property. They must be unique to properly identify product ID.

You can query and scan a product by using its exact `product_id` or any identifier defined in `external_identifiers`. If you want to be able to search for a specific external identifier, [see here](/v1/docs/managing-products#searching-and-filtering).

> [!NOTE]
> Important
> 
> We do not recommend using special characters when specifying a value for the `product_id` or `external_identifiers` property. However, NewStore supports special characters (reserved, unreserved, and escaped characters) based on the [RFC guidelines](https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3986), except `=` (the equal symbol) and `%` (the percentage symbol). For more information, see Section 2.1 in the RFC guidelines.

## Master locale

The **master locale** is a way to define default field values (e.g. SKUs or extended attributes) that other locales in the same catalog inherit when you import them. In every catalog there can be only one master locale.

To set a locale as master locale in a catalog, set the `is_master` property in the import file's header to `true`. This will set all the products in that import file as **master products**. That means that if you import the same product to another locale, and it does not have all the properties filled in, the import will fill in the missing properties with those of the master product.

For example, let's take three imports with the following locales and master settings:

1. `catalog`: `storefront-en`, `locale`: `en-us`, `product_id`: `product1`, `is_master`: `true`
2. `catalog`: `storefront-en`, `locale`: `en-uk`, `product_id`: `product1`, `is_master`: `false`
3. `catalog`: `storefront-en`, `locale`: `en-au`, `product_id`: `product1`, `is_master`: `false`

In this case, data of `product1` will be copied from the master locale `en-us` to non-master locales `en-uk` and `en-au`.

> [!NOTE]
> Important
> 
> - After importing the master locale for the first time, in every consecutive imports to the same locale you have to set the `is_master` property to `true`. If you set the `is_master` property in the header to `false`, the import marks the products in that specific import as non-master products within your master locale, and hence their data won't be copied to other locales.
> - If you do an import to the master locale with changes in the products, those changes won't be automatically propagated to non-master locales. To update products in non-master locales, reimport the products to the non-master locale.

To change the master locale of a catalog, do an import with the new master locale in the header and set the `is_master` property to `true`.

> [!NOTE]
> Important
> 
> If the `is_master` property is not specified in the head of an import file, NewStore considers the import to be a master locale, and consecutive imports to other locales will copy product data from this import.

However, if you set the `is_master` property to `false` in *every* import, then there is no master locale and no data will be inherited during imports.

## Controlling visibility of products in NewStore

For a product to appear in Omnichannel Manager, in Associate App, and in Shopping App, set the attribute `show_in_listing` of the product to `true`. When this is set to `false` for a product, the only way to retrieve this product is via the [Get product details method](https://docs.newstore.net/api/integration/catalog-sfcc/consumer-api_api#operation/getProductDetails) API.

To control season-specific products, set the attributes `online_from` and `online_to` to the appropriate date. Leave this empty if the product is always available to be sold and is not limited to specific dates. To indicate when the product is available to be sold for a specific period, provide either the start date, the end date or both. This also determines if the product is returned in Associate App depending on the current date. Keep this in mind when you test your import. To see how to use these attributes in combination with pre-orders, [see here](/v1/docs/managing-products#use-case-pre-orders).

## Searching and filtering

By default products can be searched by title, description, color, size, and caption.

To enable search and filtering in additional fields, use the `head` section of your product import.

- You can **enable filtering** using the `filterable_attributes` property. It uses [JSONPath](https://goessner.net/articles/JsonPath/index.html).
- You can **enable searching** using the `searchable_attributes` property. It uses [JSONPath](https://goessner.net/articles/JsonPath/index.html). You can set the `weight` property to specify the importance of each attribute compared to other searchable attributes.

To validate JSONPath, use a [JSONPath validator](https://jsonpath.com/).

> [!NOTE]
> Important
> 
> If you change (add/delete) searchable or filterable attributes in the head of your product import, ensure to reimport all products with the changed head. Otherwise, the changes are only applied to the products imported along with the changed head attributes.

**Tutorial to configure filter and search attributes**

Follow the [product import tutorial](/v1/docs/tutorial-importing-products#tuto-import-product) , but use this payload as `products.json` instead.

```json
{
    "head": {
        "shop": "storefront-catalog-en",
        "locale": "en-US",
        "is_master": true,
        "filterable_attributes": [
            {
                "name": "material",
                "path": "$.material"
            },
            {
                "name": "fit",
                "path": "$.extended_attributes[?(@.name == 'fit')].value"
            }
        ],
        "searchable_attributes": [
            {
                "name": "product_id",
                "path": "$.product_id",
                "weight": 10
            },
            {
                "name": "ean13",
                "path": "$.external_identifiers[?(@.type == 'ean13')].value",
                "weight": 5
            }
        ]
    },
    "items": [
        {
            "product_id": "1000101",
            "variant_group_id": "variant_group_10001",
            "title": "Bohemian Print Cutout Chiffon Maxi Dress",
            "caption": "Our summer-ready chiffon dress features a bohemian print and beaded cut-outs for a textural twist to maxi styles. Full of creativity on every level, it offers delicate transparencies with a pleated hem for extra swish as you move through the summer heat.",
            "description": "Bohemian Print Chiffon Gathered Waist Silk Dress",
            "show_in_listing": true,
            "images": [
                {
                    "url": "https://mycompany/hoster/images/default/products/SU16/10001_014_Multi_OFR-1.jpg",
                    "internal_dimension_height": 2000,
                    "internal_dimension_width": 1414,
                    "internal_dominant_color": "#F4F2F4",
                    "is_main": true
                }
            ],
            "tax_class_id": "standard",
            "categories": [
                {
                    "path": "Shop > Dresses",
                    "position": 10,
                    "is_main": true
                }
            ],
            "material": "LADIES' 100% SILK WOVEN DRESS",
            "variation_color_value": "Grace Sweater Beige",
            "variation_size_value": "4",
            "variation_size_gender": "unisex",
            "variation_size_type": "regular",
            "variation_size_system": "US",
            "external_identifiers": [
                {
                    "type": "ean13",
                    "value": "1000101000007"
                }
            ],
            "extended_attributes": [
                {
                    "name": "fit",
                    "value": "1000101 Tight"
                }
            ]
        }
    ]
}
```

Follow the rest of the tutorial as explained. After this import is done, the products included in the import will be searchable and filterable by the newly configured attributes.

## Product images

A product can have multiple images. To define a main image, set the attribute `is_main` of the image to `true`.

By default, NewStore downloads all the images that are imported and uses its own image processing service to make them available in different sizes and formats for consumption in the apps.

To use your own image hosting service, set the property `internal_disable_image_processing` to `true` in the `head` element of your product import. Make sure your image hosting service can handle the expected amount of requests. In this case, you also need to specify `internal_dimension_height`, `internal_dimension_width` and `internal_dominant_color` for each image you provide.

## Use case: Small catalog cleanup — Hiding specific products

To hide specific products from the Associate App, Shopping App, and Omnichannel Manager, follow these steps:

1. Set the online_to attribute to the desired end-of-availability date. The product will no longer be visible after this date.
2. Update the show_in_listing attribute to false to exclude the product from product listings.
3. Change the external_identifiers (e.g. barcode, external SKU) to new values to prevent barcode scanning from identifying the product.

> [!TIP]
> Note
> 
> As a result of the steps above, these products will remain in your product catalog but will no longer be visible to Store Associates, Customer Service Representatives, or consumers.

## Use case: Large catalog cleanup - Deletion of Product Catalogs

To perform a large-scale cleanup of one or more product catalogs:

1. Create a new product catalog containing only the products you want to retain.
2. Create a new price book and bind it to the new catalog.
3. Migrate each applicable store to the new catalog and price book.
4. (If applicable) Update Order Injection to use the new catalog.
5. Submit a support case with the names of the old product catalogs you want to delete.
6. NewStore Support will delete the old product catalogs.
7. Support will confirm deletion via an update to the support case.

> [!TIP]
> Note
> 
> This process allows for fast and efficient cleanup of your product catalogs with minimal disruption to retail operations.

## Use case: Pre-orders

To enable pre-orders for a product, ensure that you specify a date for the `online_from` property. NewStore starts fulfilling pre-ordered products from the date you provide in the `online_from` property.

NewStore checks periodically every 2 hours if there are pre-order products for which the `online_from` date has been reached, and makes them available for routing.

If your product can be pre-ordered, specify a date in the `preorder_start` attribute to indicate from when the product will be available for pre-orders. Specify an earlier date than the date you have specified in the `online_from` property.

Both these attributes are needed for pre-orders to be enabled for the product.

See [here the more thorough guide about pre-orders](/v1/docs/getting-started-with-the-newstore-platform#use-case-pre-orders).

## General product-related FAQs

**Why isn’t my product(s) showing up in Omnichannel Manager or in Associate App?**

Some of the possible reasons of your product not showing up in the catalog are:

- The product is missing in the catalog.
- The product didn't have a default price specified during the import process.

**Related topics**

- [Tutorial: Importing products](/v1/docs/tutorial-importing-products#tuto-import-product)
- [Running the import](/v1/docs/tutorial-importing-stock-information#running-the-import)
- [Import jobs API](https://docs.newstore.net/api/integration/catalog-sfcc/import-api_api)