The eCommerce world has changed drastically. Having a professionally done website with all the products your company is selling is great, but not enough anymore. At least not if you want to improve your overall marketing efforts. 

Digital catalogs can be your next online store to beautifully display your products, drive revenue growth and sell more! But can we skip to the good part? With digital catalogs, you can also use custom integrations with eCommerce platforms such as Shopify. Yes, catalog integration with Shopify is possible! And if you already use Shopify as your eCommerce platform, I’m sure this is awesome news. 

Not only the Shopify integration in digital catalogs can boost your sales and transform your catalog-making strategy, but it can also improve your marketing efforts across different channels. These are only a few of the many benefits an eCommerce product catalog can do. 

Unsure where to start? I’ve got your back. In this article, I will cover the benefits of using catalogs integration with Shopify and how to set up the Shopify integration. 

But first, let’s talk about a few fundamentals.

What is a digital catalog?

Online catalogs are the digital representation of printed catalogs. So any PDF document that you’ve prepared for printing, can be easily transformed into a digital catalog by using an online catalog maker. The whole process happens in a few seconds, and the final result will be a stunning digital catalog with a 3D page-flip effect. It will look just like a printed product catalog, only you’ll use it for accomplishing your retail and wholesale digital purposes.

create your digital catalog in flipsnack banner 1

But this is not the only way to get yourself a digital catalog. You can always start the process from scratch or use a variety of catalog templates. Even though there are some catalog maker apps available, make sure to always go for the most professional one. Flipsnack for instance offers a lot of features that could take your eCommerce strategy to the next level and even help you sell more.

And don’t worry, increasing your sales with a product catalog is not so difficult when you have all the right ingredients to achieve an awesome catalog design. The most important aspect though is to offer your buyers and resellers a fantastic and smooth shopping experience when they discover your eCommerce catalog. That’s why I’m insisting you choose a professional tool right from the start as it will be easier for you to set up every detail from one place.

So look for an online catalog maker tool that offers you:

  • Amazing shopping features for a seamless shopping experience
  • Interactive elements to make your customers’ journey entertaining
  • Catalog integration with Shopify so you can sell more and expand your audience

These are the requirements that you need to search for when deciding on what catalog maker tool to use. Now let’s move on to the next question. 

Why are digital catalogs a good fit for eCommerce?

Digital catalogs in eCommerce are the perfect retail marketing tool to showcase your product images, prices, and item descriptions. In addition, these catalogs offer your buyers an immersive shopping experience as they can be interactive and contain videos, shopping features, and custom integrations. These are the key elements to converting potential customers into buyers. So basically, digital catalogs can be your second online store in order to promote your products and therefore sell more.

Another reason why digital catalogs are also a good fit for eCommerce is the fact that they can be easily accessed through a direct link, sent via email, shared on social media platforms, or even embedded on websites. Now you can realize how much digital catalogs can expand your customer reach and get you a bigger audience.

But there’s also another great catch. Having digital catalogs will help you get easily noticeable through an online search as you develop more content and materials around your business.

turn your product catalog into an online store in flipsnack banner

Also, we know Google likes to see qualitative content on your website and therefore collects the information about your site by indexing the pages. When using catalog integration with Shopify, your catalogs’ titles, descriptions, and backlinks will automatically give you hundreds of valuable indexable pages.

Digital catalogs: a great tool for both B2C and B2B

Let’s not forget that digital catalogs are on the rise according to eCommerce trends, statistics, and predictions for 2022. In fact, stats confirm that eCommerce sales are expected to reach $5.42 trillion by the end of 2022. With an eCommerce product catalog, you can offer your clients and potential buyers a smooth and inspiring shopping experience by allowing them to easily navigate and shop from your digital catalog. 

Besides that, digital catalogs work just as fine for both B2B or B2C spheres. They are also a great asset to help your business be even more present, or they help you expand to new channels, work with new suppliers, and increase your sales. Yes, they are that great – that’s why I’m writing this article. 

What I’ve just told you can be accomplished with a basic digital catalog. Now just imagine how a digital catalog integration with Shopify could do. Actually, let me show you. 

I know – it’s just mesmerizing. Before I tell you more about how you can achieve that Shopify integration glow, let’s just cover some benefits that will really convince you.

Try the catalog integration with Shopify

Since we’ve already established that more and more people buy digitally, eCommerce brands need to keep up with trends and try online catalogs to provide an inspiring product experience to potential buyers. 

Using the catalog integration with Shopify, you’ll be able to offer your customers a seamless shopping experience. Just add shopping features specially designed to ease yours and their life when hitting that Add to cart or Buy button in your digital catalog. 

They won’t settle for anything less once they’ve seen and worked with you through a professional, customer-oriented digital catalog. And now that you’ve seen what a catalog integration with Shopify looks like, you can understand why.

The benefits of using digital catalogs with the Shopify integration:

  • Expand your eCommerce efforts
  • A better end-to-end business integration
  • Increase orders and sales with shopping features
  • Allow you to have on-brand catalogs, bespoke pricings, and offers

Now let me give a bit more context about each benefit.

1. Expand your eCommerce efforts

Let’s be honest. A bigger market drives more sales. That’s precisely why retailers and wholesalers have to meet their potential customers where they are. Increasing your digital presence and brand awareness should be one of the main key points in your marketing strategy. 

And don’t forget the giant mass of online retailers that already know and use the power of digital presence. Not only that, but they invest thousands of dollars to get as visible as possible. By using the catalog integration with Shopify you’ll have a professional-looking catalog that will enable your customers to get the right information about your product and easily add them to the cart. 

Also, it will be easy to send it over to your clients as a direct link, or use the other sharing options available such as sending it via email, embedding it on your website, or sharing it on your social media platforms.

There are no limits to how many people you can send your catalog to. And the whole process of sharing happens in just a few seconds. So establish a strong online presence and help your business move at a faster pace!

2. A better end-to-end business integration

One great benefit online catalogs offer is the possibility to integrate your retail management system (RMS) into your catalogs, such as your Shopify store. Connecting your Shopify store to your digital catalog will help you maintain an up-to-date and accurate product catalog with all the information you have on your website. 

You also have the automation option that digital catalogs have – not all catalog maker apps have that, but the best ones do. And you should always choose the most professional tool available. By using the automation feature, you’ll simplify the production of your catalogs by connecting your digital catalog to various data sources. Just upload your CSV or XLSX files or connect your online catalog to a Google spreadsheet, and you’ll be able to automate tasks that you did manually.

With digital catalogs, you reduce the human error element, your updates will happen quickly, and your data information will always be on point.

3. Increase orders and sales with shopping features

Integrating your Shopify store into your digital catalog will get you a special Shopify buy button. Through it, your customers will be able to add products to the cart right from your digital catalog, select their desired products, and even the quantity for each item. The only time they will have to leave the catalog is to do the checkout. All these will help to offer a seamless shopping experience for your customers – which is the ultimate retailers’ and wholesalers’ goal, right? 

Digital catalogs provide the perfect opportunity to easily sell your products by displaying them in an engaging way. You can also add videos, photo slideshows, tags, audio, and many more. They also provide you with some amazing shopping features such as buy buttons, price tags, and the option to add products directly to the cart.

Having a catalog integration with Shopify will help you get your customers further down the sales funnel. A professional-looking catalog and a seamless shopping experience will impress your customers and determine them to take action and hit that buy button.

4. Have on-brand catalogs, bespoke pricings, and offers

Having catalog integration with Shopify can be the next big branding element you can use for your eCommerce strategy. Especially if you want your product catalog to be an extension of your website. You’ll be able to easily reflect your website’s style and vibe in your product catalog, and also sell. It will also be much easier for you to maintain brand consistency throughout your catalog-making process. This will also help to increase brand awareness and help your customers recognize your company among the others.

Another great benefit of having the Shopify integration is that you can set up special pricing and offers and they’ll be automatically updated in the digital catalog. So whenever you have ongoing sales, new apparel, or holiday discounts, rest assured that the Shopify integration will feed up your catalog. 

So keep your customers informed about everything happening on your website and let it be also reflected in your digital catalog. 

Digital-catalogs-with-the-Shopify-integration-Infographic

Integrate your Shopify store into your digital catalogs

Now that you understand all the reasons why you should try catalog integration with Shopify, let’s see how to actually set it up in Flipsnack.

To be able to set the catalog integration with Shopify, you’ll need to have a website. Also, make sure to upload a PDF and turn it into a digital catalog in Flipsnack. You can either start the process from scratch or simply choose one of our many templates. Basically, by doing this you have already prepared your digital catalog for the Shopify integration.

I would highly encourage you though to try our Flipsnack templates if you don’t already have a PDF document since they are made by our professional designers. Every tiny detail within these templates has a special role and place. Even the colors, images’ size, font style, and so on, it’s thought about with great attention so that the final result is a stunning digital catalog.

try flipsnack professional templates banner

How to set up catalog integration with Shopify

Step-by-step guide on how to set up the catalog integration with Shopify in Flipsnack:

  1. Head over to your Shopify website, and you’ll see a category called the Buy button. That’s what we want to activate, so open it and then click on Create a Buy Button.

  2. Now you’ll have two options. By choosing the Product Buy Button you’ll be able to add products to the cart individually. But if you think the Collection Buy button will work better for you, then try that one.

  3. You’ll see a list of all your products, so simply select the ones you want to add a Buy Button for in your digital catalog.

  4. The following step is to customize the product’s appearance. Play around a bit to see what you’d like the final result of your product’s design to look like. And when you’re happy with the final result, click on Next.

  5. It’s time to Copy the code, so simply click on it in order to copy all the content of the popup frame we previously created.

  6. Now go to Flipsnack, select your digital catalog, and open it in our Design Studio. Go to the page where you want to add the Popup frame and from the sidebar, choose the Link category and select the Popup frame.

  7. Add the Popup frame onto the desired product and simply paste the code we’ve copied earlier into the Popup frame code to activate the Add to cart functionality.

  8. Click on Preview to make sure the popup opens with all the right information, and that’s it. You’re settled!

Here’s also a video that might come in helpful when you go through these steps. So make sure to check it out.

Add Shopify cart in your catalogs

You can also make this entire process faster by using the popup frame automation. This might come in great help especially if you have lots of products that you want to introduce in your digital catalog. Take a look at both options and choose the one that suits your needs best.

Improve your e-commerce catalog strategy with Shopify integration! Use this link to access a 14-day trial on a Flipsnack pro subscription!

Frequently asked questions

What specific Shopify features or apps are recommended to enhance the catalog integration experience?

For enhancing catalog integration with Shopify, using apps like Shopify’s Product Reviews to add customer feedback directly to your products, or apps that offer advanced inventory management and personalization can significantly enhance the user experience. The Shopify App Store offers a variety of apps designed to complement catalog functionality.

What are the common challenges businesses might face when integrating their catalogs with Shopify and how can they be addressed?

Common challenges include syncing inventory in real-time and ensuring that product information is consistent across the catalog and Shopify store. Addressing these challenges typically involves using integration tools that automatically update product details and stock levels, reducing manual oversight and minimizing errors.

Nothing can beat an effortless shopping experience 

My final argument to convince you in trying catalog integration with Shopify is the increase in sales and the seamless buying experience you can offer your customers. Let’s recap a bit. What do customers want when shopping online? The least amount of hiccups possible! Then use a catalog maker tool – such as Flipsnack – that will empower you with the right assets to achieve just that. After you go through the process of catalog integration with Shopify, you’ll never want to stop. Cut out barriers and maintain a lean shopping experience. Try the Shopify integration now!

Leave A Comment