Connect your master product catalog to every sales channel and warehouse — so inventory, orders, and tracking flow seamlessly across platforms.
A channel mapping is the link between a master product in WarpWare and its representation on an external platform. Every sales channel and warehouse uses its own identifiers — Shopify has variant IDs, Amazon has ASINs, Extensiv has warehouse item IDs. Channel mappings tell WarpWare that all of these refer to the same physical product.
Without these links, WarpWare cannot route orders to the correct warehouse SKU, sync inventory levels across channels, or match incoming fulfillment data back to the right product. Channel mappings are the foundation of multi-channel operations.
Inventory cannot flow between systems without knowing which Shopify variant corresponds to which warehouse SKU. Orders cannot be fulfilled correctly if the platform item cannot be resolved to a master product. Channel mappings close this gap.
variant_id, inventory_item_id
ASIN, FNSKU
item_id, warehouse_item_id
product_id, variation_id
product_id, sku_alias
inventory_id, product_id
Each platform link stores the platform-specific identifiers needed to push inventory and resolve order line items.
WarpWare provides four methods for creating channel mappings, from fully automatic to manual override.
When you connect a new sales channel, WarpWare automatically pulls the product catalog and attempts to match each item to an existing master product by SKU. If a match is found, the platform link is created automatically.
The matching engine runs a multi-pass lookup: first by exact SKU, then by UPC, then by barcode. If any field matches a master product, the link is created. This handles cases where different platforms use different identifiers for the same item.
From the Channel Mappings page, you can manually link any platform item to a master product. This is useful for edge cases where automatic matching fails — renamed products, kit/bundle components, or items with non-standard SKUs.
Bulk-import channel mappings from a CSV file. Upload a spreadsheet mapping platform SKUs to master product SKUs, and WarpWare creates all links in one pass. Compatible with standard middleware export formats for easy migration.
Each channel mapping can include a buffer — a number of units held back from the available quantity pushed to that specific channel. Buffers prevent overselling when multiple channels share the same physical inventory pool.
Warehouse available: 100 units
Product buffer (global): -5
Shopify channel buffer: -10
Shopify sees: 85 units
Tip: Use channel buffers to reserve inventory for high-priority channels (e.g., hold 20 units back from Amazon to prioritize your DTC Shopify store), or to account for in-transit stock that hasn't been received yet.
The /products/channel-mappings page in the WarpWare dashboard provides a complete view of all product-to-platform links. From here you can:
Get in touch to connect your channels, or explore the rest of the documentation.