Stationery and craft supply stores have enormous product catalogues — a single ink pad can come in 30 colours, and a paper range might cover 20 weights and finishes. Managing this at scale in Shopify requires deliberate variant and metafield design. Getting it right during migration means customers can filter, find, and buy faster.

Stationery and craft product categories

Paper and card: Copy paper, cardstock, tissue, kraft, watercolour paper. Key specs: weight (gsm), size (A4/A3/A5/SRA3), finish, colour, acid-free flag.
Pens, markers, and pencils: Fineliner, brush pen, alcohol marker, graphite, coloured pencil. Sold in individual units or sets. Tip size variants.
Ink and stamps: Stamp pads, ink refills, rubber and clear stamps. Colour variants, ink type (dye/pigment/archival).
Adhesives: PVA, double-sided tape, foam tape, hot glue sticks, washi tape. Width and length variants for tape.
Cutting and shaping: Scissors, craft knives, die cutters, embossing folders, punches.
Fabrics and fibres: Felt, cotton, canvas, yarn, embroidery thread. Colour and weight variants.
Printed stationery: Notebooks, planners, greetings cards, gift wrap. Personalisation variants.
Digital downloads: SVG cut files, printable planners, embroidery patterns, stamp sets. PDF and ZIP delivery.

Colour range management

Stationery and craft products often have very large colour ranges. An alcohol marker set might come in 200+ individual colours. Managing this in Shopify:

Individual colour products: Each colour is a separate product with a colour code in the title ("Copic E31 — Brick Beige"). Suitable for markers, inks, and paints where customers browse by colour code.
Set size as variant: "Set of 12 / Set of 24 / Set of 48 / Set of 72" as Option 1. Colour selection in the set is fixed — no customisation.
Mixed variant approach: Smaller colour ranges (5–20 colours) use colour as a variant. Larger ranges use individual products per colour.

During migration, k-sync preserves the WooCommerce attribute structure. If pa_colour has 40+ terms, splitting each colour to a separate product is likely the better long-term approach in Shopify — flag this in the k-sync mapping screen for manual decision.

Paper product metafields

Metafield	Example	Product type
craft.paper_weight_gsm	80 / 120 / 160 / 300	Paper, card
craft.paper_finish	Smooth / Laid / Textured / Glossy / Matte	Paper, card
craft.paper_size	A4 / A3 / A5 / SRA3 / 12x12	Paper, card, scrapbook
craft.acid_free	true / false	Paper, card, adhesive
craft.archival_quality	true / false	Paper, ink, adhesive
craft.compatible_with	Cricut / Silhouette / Canon / Any inkjet	Paper, vinyl, heat transfer
craft.ink_type	Dye / Pigment / Archival dye / Chalk	Ink pads, refills
craft.tip_size_mm	0.1 / 0.3 / 0.5 / 0.8 / 1.0	Pens, markers
craft.medium	Watercolour / Oil / Acrylic / Alcohol	Paints, markers
craft.lightfastness	I / II / III	Professional art materials
craft.colour_code	E31 / BV29 / WN0005	Brand-specific colour codes

Subscription craft boxes

Craft subscription boxes (monthly kit with project materials and instructions) are a popular business model in the stationery and craft sector. WooCommerce handles these via WooCommerce Subscriptions.

For Shopify, the subscription box model requires:

ReCharge or Skio for recurring billing management
A separate "subscription" product type with monthly frequency variants
Box contents described in the product description or via a craft.current_box_theme metafield updated monthly
Subscriber-only pages or discounts managed via Shopify customer tags

The subscription product itself migrates as a standard product in k-sync. The subscription billing engine must be reconfigured in the Shopify app after migration — WooCommerce Subscriptions data does not transfer directly.

Digital downloads for craft patterns and SVG files

Craft stores frequently sell digital products: SVG cut files for Cricut/Silhouette, printable planner pages, embroidery patterns, knitting patterns.

In WooCommerce, these are type: downloadable products. In Shopify, digital downloads are handled via apps (Digital Downloads native app, SendOwl, or Sky Pilot for large catalogues).

During migration, k-sync records download URLs and product type from WooCommerce. After migration:

Re-upload digital files to the Shopify Digital Downloads app or your chosen app
Tag digital products with "digital-download" for collection segmentation and no-shipping-required logic
Set digital products to "no shipping required" in Shopify (weight = 0, no fulfilment)
Consider licensing terms — add a craft.licence_type = "Personal use / Commercial licence" metafield

Washi tape and tape products

Tape products (washi, masking, foil) in stationery stores often have complex variant structures: width × design × roll length. A typical washi tape range might have:

Option 1: Design → 30 designs
Option 2: Width → 10mm / 15mm / 25mm

30 designs × 3 widths = 90 variants — within Shopify's limit. If a fourth width is added, it exceeds 100 variants and requires splitting. Monitor variant counts during the k-sync validation step before pushing.

Post-migration checklist for stationery and craft stores

Paper weight (gsm) metafield populated for all paper products
Paper size variant or metafield present
Acid-free and archival flags on relevant products
Ink type metafield on all stamp pads and ink products
Cutting machine compatibility (Cricut/Silhouette) metafield on compatible products
Digital download products tagged and marked no-shipping in Shopify
Large colour ranges reviewed for individual-product vs variant approach
Subscription box products flagged for billing app reconfiguration
Variant counts checked — flag any product approaching 100 variants
Colour codes stored as metafields for brand-code products (Copic, Pantone, etc.)

Migrating a stationery and craft store from WooCommerce to Shopify (2026)