Change Shopware sales channel visibility in bulk

Shopware sales channel visibility decides in which shop a product appears at all and whether it can be reached in the listing, only via search or only via a direct link. With PIM for Shopware you assign channels to hundreds of products in one run, find products without a channel via the dashboard and bring variants back in line with their main product.

How visibility works in Shopware

In Shopware visibility is not attached to the product alone but to an assignment per sales channel. Without this assignment the product does not exist for the channel, even if it is active and has stock. If the assignment exists, one of three levels defines how the product can be reached:

• Search & navigation: the product appears in the category listing and in search.
• Search only: the product does not show up in the listing but can be found and reached via a link.
• Direct link only: the product is neither in the listing nor in search, only reachable via its URL.

To appear in the listing, a product also needs the active status and a category inside the sales channel's category tree. Variants are a common trap: as long as a variant has no visibilities of its own, those of the main product apply. As soon as it has its own, for example after an import, they replace those of the main product completely. If a channel is missing there, the variant cannot be found in that channel, and nothing in the admin shows it.

Change Shopware sales channel visibility in bulk with the PIM

Find products without a channel

The dashboard counts products without a sales channel in the tiles "Without sales channel assignment" and "Active without visibility"; one click leads to the filtered product list. There the filter "Shop visibility" narrows things down: assigned at any level, visible everywhere, search and direct link only, hidden, or not assigned to any channel. You can also filter by a specific sales channel.

Assign channels to many products

In bulk edit you switch on the action "Visibility" in the "Assignment" tab, choose "Add to shop", the level and one or more sales channels from the searchable list. If a product is already assigned to the channel, the PIM only sets the new level, otherwise it creates the assignment. This lets you lift a whole range from "Search only" to "Search & navigation", for example.

Single products in the detail view

In the "Status & Visibility" section of the detail view every sales channel has a selection: "- Not visible -", "Direct link only", "Search only" and "Search & Navigation". With "- Not visible -" you take a product out of a channel.

Copy visibility to variants

There are two ways to fix the variant problem. In the detail view of a main product, "Copy visibility to variants" transfers the visibilities to all variants after a confirmation. In bulk edit the action "Visibility to variants" does the same for many products. The variants' own rows are removed and replaced with a copy of the main product's rows. In the same run, copying deliberately runs after assigning the channels, so a newly added channel is included.

Show only the relevant channels

Shops with many sales channels hide the ones they do not need via "Visible sales channels" in the config matrix. They then disappear from the detail view, the translations and the visibility configuration in the PIM.

Visibilities via CSV

On import the PIM reads the column visibilities in the format channel:level, several entries separated by |, for example Storefront:30. The channel can be given by name or ID, allowed levels are 10, 20 and 30. Unknown channels and invalid levels end up in the error list.

Step by step: offer a range in a new sales channel

1. Filter products: narrow the product list down to the category or manufacturer the new channel should carry and save the result as a preset.
2. Open bulk edit: choose the preset as the source and switch to the "Assignment" tab.
3. Set visibility: switch on "Visibility", choose "Add to shop", the level "Search & Nav" and the new channel.
4. Include variants: also switch on "Visibility to variants" so that variants with their own rows get the new channel too.
5. Run: check the overview of planned changes and start the run.
6. Check: filter by the new sales channel and look at "Active without visibility" in the dashboard.

Use cases

• New country shop: assign an existing range to the new sales channel via a preset.
• Import follow-up: find imported products without a channel via "Without sales channel assignment" and assign them.
• Invisible variants: bring variants that are missing in a channel back to the main product's state with "Visibility to variants".
• Accessories in search only: set spare parts and accessories to "Search only" so they are found but do not fill the listing.
• B2B products: assign products only to the dealer channel and leave them on "- Not visible -" in the consumer shop.

Frequently asked questions

Read more

• Bulk edit in PIM for Shopware: guide - the Assignment tab at a glance
• Activate, deactivate or delete Shopware products in bulk - status and clearance sale
• Shopware variant inheritance explained - why variants deviate
• Dashboard in PIM for Shopware: data quality - find products without a channel
• Import Shopware products: CSV and Excel - visibilities on import
• Config matrix in PIM for Shopware: guide - set visible sales channels

Try PIM for Shopware

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