Your products stay in Shopify

The most important thing to understand is simple: Konfigr does not ask you to rebuild your product catalogue.

If your spare parts already exist as Shopify products, you use those products.

Konfigr links them to a diagram. It does not create a second product system for you to maintain. That means your product titles, images, prices, stock levels, SKUs, and variants stay where they belong: in Shopify.

The Konfig is the visual layer that shows how those products relate to the parent item.

Start with the parent product

Every Konfig needs a parent product.

That might be a pump model, gate motor, appliance, tool, machine, or kit. The parent product gives the customer a clear starting point.

From there, you attach the parts that belong to that parent product.

This is different from sending customers into a generic collection. A customer looking for parts for one machine should not have to browse every part you sell.

Search and select the parts

Inside Konfigr, you add products from your Shopify store to the Konfig.

For a smaller diagram, you can search and select products manually. That gives you direct control over which products appear in the parts list.

For larger diagrams, CSV import can help during setup, but the idea is the same: the Konfig points to real Shopify products.

You are building relationships, not copying catalogue data.

What Konfigr reads from Shopify

Because the product remains in Shopify, the parts list can use Shopify product data.

That includes the product title, featured image, price, stock status, SKU, and variant information where relevant.

If you update the product in Shopify, the Konfig displays the current product information. You do not need to update a second copy of the part inside a separate parts database.

This matters for spare parts because product data changes. Prices move. Stock runs out. Images improve. SKUs get corrected. Shopify should remain the source.

Use variant pinning when a product has options

Some spare parts are stored as variants inside one Shopify product.

That can be useful for sizes, colours, materials, lengths, left/right versions, or supplier options. But on a diagram, you often need one specific variant for one specific position.

Variant pinning lets you show the relevant variant in the Konfig.

This prevents confusion where a customer clicks one diagram position but then has to choose from variants that do not apply to that part of the product.

Use variant pinning when the diagram position already determines the correct option.

Use multiple products where one position has options

Sometimes one diagram position has more than one valid product.

A common example is OEM and aftermarket. The part position is the same, but the customer can choose between the original manufacturer part and a compatible alternative.

In Konfigr, you can attach multiple products to one hotspot position.

That keeps the diagram clean. You do not need two markers on the same part just because there are two buying options.

Use the same product where it appears in more than one place

The same part can appear more than once in a product.

A washer might be used in four places. A screw might appear across an assembly. A clip or O-ring might be repeated.

You do not need to create duplicate Shopify products for each appearance.

Konfigr can use multiple hotspot positions for the same Shopify product. Each position helps the customer identify where the part appears, while the product remains one product in Shopify.

Shared parts across models stay clean

The same idea applies across multiple Konfigs.

A seal kit might fit three pump models. A bracket might be used across several gate motors. A set of carbon brushes might appear in more than one power tool.

The same Shopify product can be linked to each relevant Konfig.

Each Konfig has its own diagram and hotspot placement, but the product data stays centralised in Shopify.

Be careful with product naming

Linking the right products is only part of the job.

The product names still need to make sense to customers. A title that works internally may not be clear enough on a parts page.

Use names that help customers confirm what they are buying. If a part is model-specific, include that where useful. If a part is OEM or aftermarket, make that clear. If a part is left-hand or right-hand, do not bury that detail.

The diagram helps with visual identification, but the parts list still needs to remove doubt.

Check every link before publishing

Before you publish a Konfig, test each diagram position.

Click the hotspot. Check the part in the list. Confirm the product image, title, price, stock, SKU, and variant selection. If a product links through to its full product page, check that too.

Most mistakes in a parts diagram are simple linking mistakes. Wrong product. Wrong variant. Right product, wrong marker. They are easy to fix before customers see the page.

A clean Konfig depends on accurate product relationships.

The diagram should reflect your real catalogue

Konfigr is not there to create a pretend catalogue beside Shopify.

It is there to make your existing Shopify catalogue easier to use for spare parts.

Keep the products in Shopify. Link them to the diagram. Pin variants where needed. Reuse shared parts where they belong. Let the Konfig show the customer how everything fits together.

That is the difference between a product list and a useful parts page.

Related Articles

Continue your learning with these related resources: