Maintain Shopware unit price, content quantity and pack unit

The Shopware unit price (base price) is calculated by the shop itself as soon as content quantity, reference unit and product unit are right. If one of them is missing, the unit price is missing in the storefront. In PIM for Shopware you maintain the fields in the detail view and in the variant window, set them for whole ranges via bulk edit and exchange them via CSV with the plain name of the unit.

Key facts

Four building blocks: content quantity (purchaseUnit), reference unit (referenceUnit), product unit (unit) and the pack unit (packUnit) as text.
In bulk edit in the "Shipping" tab: the actions "Base price", "Product unit" and "Pack unit".
You write the pack unit into several languages at once.
CSV columns purchaseUnit, referenceUnit, packUnit, packUnitPlural and unitName with the name of the unit.

How the unit price is created in Shopware

For the unit price Shopware needs three values on the product. The content quantity says how much one sales unit contains, for example 0.75. The product unit names the unit of measure for it, for example litre. The reference unit defines the quantity the unit price refers to, usually 1 or 100. From the selling price and these values Shopware calculates the unit price: a bottle of 0.75 litres for 9.00 euros results in a unit price of 12.00 euros per litre.

The product unit is a separate entry in Shopware that you create once and then choose on the product. Its translation belongs to the unit itself, not to the product. The pack unit, on the other hand, is free text on the product, for example "bottle" and in the plural "bottles", and is maintained per language. Variants follow the usual inheritance: without a value of its own, a variant takes over the values of its main product.

The effort arises across the range. A drinks retailer with hundreds of bottles or a shop selling goods by the metre has to set the values correctly for every product, and a single wrong reference unit distorts the displayed unit price.

Maintain Shopware unit price, content quantity and pack unit in the PIM

Detail view and variant window

In the detail view content quantity, reference unit, pack unit (singular and plural) and product unit sit side by side in the section with availability and dimensions. In the variant window the PIM shows the main product's value in grey as a placeholder for empty fields, for the product unit with the addition "(Hauptartikel)". This shows at a glance whether a variant has its own values or inherits them.

Set the unit price for many products

In bulk edit you find the action "Base price" with the fields content quantity and reference unit in the "Shipping" tab. Decimal values may be entered with a comma, for example 0,75. Empty fields are skipped by the run, so you can change only the content quantity and leave the reference unit as it is.

Assign the product unit

The action "Product unit" assigns one of the units created in Shopware to all chosen products. If the selection stays empty, the run removes the unit from all chosen products. Check this in the overview of planned changes before you start.

Pack unit in several languages

With the action "Pack unit" you set singular and plural, for example "carton" and "cartons". Empty fields are skipped. As soon as a value is entered, you choose under "Channels & languages" which languages it is additionally written to. Without a selection it lands only in the default language, and the other languages inherit it.

Via CSV

In the CSV export the profile "Prices & stock" contains the columns purchaseUnit, referenceUnit, packUnit and unitName. unitName carries the name of the product unit, for example "Liter", instead of an ID. On import the PIM resolves this name to the matching unit. Unlike manufacturers or delivery times, the import does not create unknown units but reports them in the error list. This keeps typo units out of your system. The columns packUnitPlural and unitId are available as well.

Find gaps

The dashboard checks completeness with, among others, "With content quantity", "With base price unit" and "With purchase unit". This shows how many products still lack a complete unit price.

Step by step: unit price for a drinks range

Create the unit: check in Shopware whether the product unit "litre" exists and create it otherwise.
Filter products: narrow the product list down to all 0.75 litre bottles, for example via category or property, and save a preset.
Open bulk edit: choose the preset as the source and switch to the "Shipping" tab.
Enter values: switch on "Base price" with content quantity 0.75 and reference unit 1, plus "Product unit" with "litre" and "Pack unit" with "bottle" and "bottles".
Choose languages: for the pack unit choose the languages of your country shops and, if needed, enter the translation there in a second run.
Run and check: start the run and check the unit price on a product page in the storefront.

Snapshot: the snapshot before the run saves content quantity, reference unit, product unit and pack unit in singular and plural. In the config matrix in the Snapshots tab you bring back the previous state.

Video: the bulk edit video for PIM for Shopware shows how a bulk change runs from selection to snapshot.

Use cases

Drinks: set content quantity 0.33, 0.5 or 0.75 per bottle size, unit price per litre.
Food and cosmetics: reference unit 100 with the unit gram or millilitre.
Goods by the metre: content quantity per roll with the unit metre.
Containers: pack unit "carton" and "cartons" for a whole range in all languages.
Supplier data: take over content quantities and units via CSV with unitName.

Frequently asked questions

How does Shopware calculate the unit price?

From the selling price, the content quantity and the reference unit, shown with the product unit. 0.75 litres for 9.00 euros result in 12.00 euros per litre.

Can I set content quantity and reference unit for many products at once?

Yes, with the action "Base price" in the "Shipping" tab of bulk edit. Empty fields are skipped by the run.

What is the difference between product unit and pack unit?

The product unit is a unit of measure such as litre or kilogram that you create in Shopware. The pack unit is free text on the product, for example "bottle", and is maintained per language.

Does the CSV import create missing units?

No. The column unitName is only resolved against existing units. Unknown names end up in the error list.

Do variants inherit the unit price?

Without values of their own, variants take over content quantity, reference unit and product unit from the main product. The variant window shows the inherited values in grey.

Bulk edit in PIM for Shopware: guide - Shipping tab with language selection
CSV import and export in PIM for Shopware - unit as plain name
Change Shopware delivery time, tax rate and manufacturer in bulk - further master data
Shopware variant inheritance explained - inherited values for variants
Check Shopware data quality - find missing values
Bulk edit Shopware products - all fields at a glance

Try PIM for Shopware

All licence models and terms are listed on the pricing page. Want to know up front whether the PIM fits your shop and your processes? Get in touch via the contact form - we answer personally.

View pricing