About catalogs for different markets

A catalog is a set of products that's published and priced for certain customers based on specified conditions. For example, you can make a catalog of products for customers who are browsing the online store from Canada and the United States.

In this guide, you'll learn how catalogs work, and some considerations for using catalogs to publish and price products, and to sell in different contexts.

Anchor to RequirementsRequirements

• Your app can make authenticated requests to the GraphQL Admin API.
• Your app has the write_products access scope. Learn how to configure your access scopes using Shopify CLI.
• You've created products and product variants in your store.

Anchor to How it worksHow it works

A catalog represents a list of products to be published in a specified context, such as for international customers, certain business-to-business (B2B) customers, or customers on certain sales channels.

A Catalog has a Publication field that determines which products are visible to the customer when they visit the online store and checkout.

Each Catalog object also has a PriceList field that determines any price adjustments for its eligible contexts, such as a Market for international customers, a CompanyLocation for business-to-business (B2B) customers, or an App for customers on certain sales channels.

Anchor to Price listsPrice lists

For each PriceList, a PriceListParent can be used to control prices using percentage adjustments. You can use the PriceListPrice object to represent a final, fixed price for a single product variant.

If you use the PriceListPrice field to configure a fixed price for a product variant, then the fixed price takes precedence over any other adjustments that are defined at the price list level. For more information about how prices are determined, refer to Pricing prioritization.

Anchor to Specialized catalog patternsSpecialized catalog patterns

Catalogs support flexible configuration patterns that allow you to separate pricing and publication concerns. This flexibility can dramatically reduce the number of catalogs needed for complex scenarios.

Anchor to Pricing-only catalogsPricing-only catalogs

A pricing-only catalog is a catalog without an associated publication. You can create one by calling the catalogCreate mutation and omitting the publicationId field.

Pricing-only catalogs are simpler than regular catalogs and are often the better choice if you don't need to manage publications. They are more efficient and easier to maintain for most pricing use cases.

When a pricing-only catalog is assigned to a market or company location, product availability is determined by the sales channel publication (such as products published to the Online Store channel). The catalog only controls pricing through its price list.

Anchor to Publication-only catalogsPublication-only catalogs

A publication-only catalog is a catalog without an associated price list. You can create one by calling the catalogCreate mutation and omitting the priceListId field.

Publication-only catalogs are useful when you want to manage which products are visible to customers without applying custom pricing. When a publication-only catalog is assigned to a market, customers see:

• Products: Only products published in the catalog's publication.
• Prices: Store default prices converted to the market's currency using multi-currency rules.

Publication-only catalogs are ideal when:

• You have fewer product assortments than price variations.
• You want to control product availability independently from pricing.
• You're implementing the two-catalog pattern described below.

Anchor to Full catalogsFull catalogs

A full catalog has both a price list and a publication. This is the traditional approach where a single catalog controls both pricing and product availability for a specific context.

Anchor to Two-catalog pattern for scaleTwo-catalog pattern for scale

When merchants have many price lists and many product assortments, you can assign multiple catalogs to the same market or company location. For example, a merchant might update pricing nightly while product assortments change monthly.

Anchor to The efficiency problemThe efficiency problem

Without the two-catalog pattern:

• Scenario: 700 different price lists × 30 different product offers.
• Catalogs needed: 21,000 full catalogs (one for each combination).
• Management overhead: Extremely high.

With the two-catalog pattern:

• Catalogs needed: 730 catalogs total.
  • 700 pricing-only catalogs (one per price list).
  • 30 publication-only catalogs (one per product assortment).
• Efficiency gain: 97% reduction in catalog count.

Anchor to How it worksHow it works

1. Create pricing-only catalogs: One for each unique price list, all assigned to the same market context.
2. Create publication-only catalogs: One for each unique product assortment, all assigned to the same market context.
3. Shopify resolves pricing: Customers receive the lowest price from applicable pricing catalogs.
4. Shopify resolves products: Products must be published in at least one applicable publication catalog to be visible.

Example in practice:

When a customer in the European market browses your store:

• Market has: 1 pricing-only catalog ("EU Premium Pricing +10%") + 1 publication-only catalog ("EU Electronics Products").
• Result: Customer sees products from the "EU Electronics Products" publication at prices from the "EU Premium Pricing +10%" price list.
• If multiple catalogs: Customer sees products from any applicable publication catalog, priced at the lowest price from any applicable pricing catalog.

This allows you to mix and match: the same pricing catalog can work with different publication catalogs, and the same publication catalog can work with different pricing catalogs.

Anchor to Code exampleCode example

Anchor to Customer experienceCustomer experience

When a customer in this market shops:

1. Product visibility: They see products published in the "EU Electronics Products" publication.
2. Pricing: They receive prices from the "EU Premium Pricing" price list (10% increase).
3. Multiple pricing catalogs: If multiple pricing catalogs apply, then they receive the lowest price.
4. Multiple publication catalogs: Products must be in at least one publication to be visible.

Anchor to When to use this patternWhen to use this pattern

Use the two-catalog pattern when:

• You have many distinct price lists but fewer product assortments, or fewer price lists but many product assortments.
• You need to manage pricing and product availability independently.
• You want to reduce catalog management overhead.

Don't use this pattern when:

• You have a small number of catalogs (fewer than 50).
• Pricing and product availability are tightly coupled.
• You need strict combinations (for example, "Price List A only applies to Product Set X").

For more examples, see the catalogCreate mutation documentation.

Anchor to API objects and relationshipsAPI objects and relationships

Before you start implementing catalogs, we recommend familiarizing yourself with the following API objects and their relationships:

Anchor to Pricing prioritizationPricing prioritization

Price lists are displayed to customers through the online store and checkout based on their eligible catalogs. A catalog represents certain criteria about the customer that must be true for a price list to apply.

If a customer is logged into a B2B customer account, then any catalogs that are associated with their selected company location are prioritized over catalogs that are associated with their eligible markets or other contexts.

After the price list is applied, pricing is determined by priority as described in the following diagram:

In the example scenario depicted in the diagram, a US-based merchant configures a price list for a Canadian market with currency CAD that applies different pricing for Canadian customers:

• If the customer doesn't match a catalog's context, then the given price is the initial price (the product variant price) in the original currency.
• If a price list isn't associated with the catalog, then the initial price is applied using the selected currency rules. The example uses a foreign exchange rate of 1.3.
• If a PriceListPrice isn't defined, then an adjusted relative price is calculated using the PriceListParent object. Adjusted prices work in conjunction with exchange rules and rounding. In the example, the merchant sets a rounding rule to 0.99 for all currencies. A price adjustment of 20% applies in addition to the foreign exchange rate of 1.3. The price is calculated as $20 * 1.3 * 1.2 = $31.99.
• If a PriceListPrice is defined, then a specific fixed price is applied for the product. This price applies irrespective of foreign exchange rules or rounding.

Anchor to Foreign exchange and rounding rulesForeign exchange and rounding rules

If the customer's market doesn't match the store currency and a price list isn't associated with their catalog, then foreign exchange and rounding are applied to the initial price using either automatic or manual multi-currency rules.

However, if the customer's market doesn't match the store currency, and an adjusted relative price has been applied through the price list parent, then foreign exchange and rounding are applied along with the adjustment. If a fixed price list price is applicable, then foreign exchange and rounding aren't applied because the prices are already in the desired currency.

Anchor to Selling plan pricing policiesSelling plan pricing policies

Selling plan pricing policies work in conjunction with price lists:

• If a selling plan has a SellingPlanPricingPolicyAdjustmentType with a value of either FIXED_AMOUNT or PERCENTAGE, then the selling plan adjustment applies to the price list, both for fixed prices and relative adjustments.
• If the value is PRICE, then the selling plan value overrides the price list settings.

In the following diagram, the pricing request includes a selling plan that reduces the price. A 15% PERCENTAGE adjustment type is applied to the PriceListPrice of $35.00. The final price is $29.40.

Anchor to ConsiderationsConsiderations

• Multiple catalogs can be assigned to the same market. This enables the two-catalog pattern where you separate pricing and publication concerns.
• Multiple catalogs can be assigned to the same B2B company location. If a customer is logged into a B2B customer account that's eligible for multiple catalogs that contain the same product, then they receive the lowest listed price within those catalogs.
• When multiple catalogs apply to a market, pricing follows the lowest price rule. Products must be published in at least one applicable publication catalog to be visible to customers.
• The market currency and price list currency must match. For example, you can't create a price list that's mapped to a Canadian market catalog with currency CAD and set the price list currency to USD.
• There are no webhooks that are associated with changes to catalogs or price lists.

Anchor to Developer tools and resourcesDeveloper tools and resources

Explore the following developer tools and resources to learn more about building with catalogs:

Catalog object

Consult the GraphQL Admin API reference to learn more about the Catalog object.

PriceList object

Consult the GraphQL Admin API reference to learn more about the PriceList object.

Anchor to Next stepsNext steps

• Learn how to sell different products for different prices around the world by configuring the price list and publication of a market's catalog.
• Learn how to create a B2B catalog to determine the published products and prices for customers ordering for a specific B2B company location.