REC & REC+

Requires a Multi Store licence, a master site and at least one replica site. Contact us for pricing.

Quicklinks

Setting Up Multi Store

Auditing & Reporting

Admin Features & Usage

Multi Store Manager replicates products from a master REC+ store to other REC+ store(s).

You can select which product categories are replicated and apply rules to control what gets copied across.

What Data Gets Copied?

Multi Store replicates product data from the master store to the replica store(s) including main product data, prices, images, options, variations, associated products and downloads if required. 

What Doesn't Get Copied?

It does not set up or copy across categories, manufacturers or user groups on the replica site. However, if you want to keep them the same you can export this data from your master site via Export Manager and import it into the replica site via Import Manager.  You also need to manually upload files and images via FTP when using 'Force Push'. 

What If I Want An Entire Site Copied Across?

We can clone a site in its entirety so everything is copied across and you have an exact duplicate. You can then make the amendments you need for branding etc and use Multi Store Manager for sync'ing products afterwards.

Setting Up Multi Store

Once you have purchased a licence we will enable Multi Store on your master site.
Note: This doesn't need to be enabled on the replica site(s)

Tip: We recommend setting the Admin Centre theme to different colours on each site if you are administering more than one site yourself to help avoid confusion. Enter this via Admin > Site Settings > Display > Admin Message Bar.

1. Replica Store

Go into the replica site > API Accounts > Add API Account

Set up the API to generate your API key as follows:

Account Details

• User name - enter the name of the replica store
• Domain - enter the master site domain name
• Contact email - to receive email notifications
• Status - set to Active

Access Scopes

• Store Content - tick this to sync all your product data
• Content - tick this if you use downloads e.g. product spec sheets
• Users - tick this to allow access to user group syncing

Enable API Caching / Enter API Cache Length - leave unticked.
Ticking this means your products will be refreshed on the replica site after the specified time and not in real-time when you make the change on the Master store. A cache length of 1440 minutes = 24 hours.

This has now created your API key on the replica site which you can access via:

Return to API Accounts > Edit 

Extras

• Multi Store Settings
  Multi Store is set to none  (this is only used on the Master Store to identify each replica site)
  
  
• Exclude fields
  Select any fields you wish to exclude/remove from replication when products are created and/or updated. For example, you might not wish to have stock updated onto the replica site as they hold their own stock levels locally.

2. Master Store

Go into Multi Store  > Add Multi Store Site

• Domain - enter the replica store URL
• Comments - enter as required

            Sync Scopes

• Products - tick this to sync all your product data
• Downloads - tick this if you use downloads e.g. product spec sheets

API Connection

Enter the replica store's Full API username and  password 

You can access this on the replica store > API Accounts > Edit

Data Modifiers

Mark new products as Enquiry Only? 

Tick this to send new products across set as Enquire Only mode with no prices showing. This is particularly useful if the replication store is in a different country and you will want to set the prices in the local currency prior to making the products live. Note: this field is then removed from update objects to prevent conflicts.

Weight Unit

Convert to this unit when sending weights to this site. E.g. for sending UK kg weights and auto converting them to lb for the US.

Select categories to sync across or leave blank to sync all categories.

Sync'ing To Different Categories

You can sync a product across into a different category on the replica store. 

Go into Product Manager > edit a category > Multi Store Mappings > select one of the available categories
(these are categories that exist on the replica store)  

Next set up an API account 

This allows the Replica store to communicate back to the Master Store.

Go to  > API Accounts > Add API Account

Account Details

• User name - enter the name of the replica store
• Domain - enter the replication store domain name
• Contact email - to receive email notifications
• Status - set to Active

Access Scopes

• Store Content - tick this to sync all your product data
• Content - tick this if you use downloads e.g. product spec sheets

Extras

• Multi Store Settings > Multi Store > select the replica site
• Note: Exclude fields are set on the replica store and do not need to be set here

3. Complete Setup On The Replica Store

Go into Connect > Utilities > REC+ Multi Store Replication

• Is this a replica site? 
  Tick this.
  
  
• Track Replica product changes?
  Tick this if you want to ensure any locally made changes to products are not overriden from the master store.
  Leaving this unticked means the master site will override any local changes on the replica store.

Enter the Master store's URL and the Master store's Public API key
Retrieve this via API Accounts > Edit record for the replica store.

4. Syncing Your Products

Once you save the new Multi Store site it will automatically synchronise from the Master to the Replica site and will sync automatically from then on. Remember: if you have enabled API caching then sync'ing will take place after the time interval you have entered. 

Populate / Overwrite Products On A Replica Store Using Force Push

This will sync all your product data from your Master site to your replica site (excluding deleted products) based on the rules you have set up (e.g. Enquire Only, excluded fields). 

This is useful when:

• First synchronising to a replica store when you want to push everything over to the replica store.
• Overwriting what exists in a replica store after imports or a lot of updates have taken place on the master store.

Images & file please note: Images and other files will need to be sync'd manually via FTP.

You can check synchronisation is taking place as explained in Auditing & Reporting.

SITE SETTINGS

Because of the way multi store needs to replicate, settings may need to be set in a special way for the circumstances listed below via Site Settings > Prices & Tax tab

Master site charging tax >  Replica site not charging tax

Master site not charging tax >  Replica site not charging tax

Temporarily tick this field just so we can reveal some hidden settings, then leave it unticked afterwards

Hidden settings:

Check these settings next:

Auditing & Reporting 

The most obvious way to check replication is working is to check the number of products showing on the main dashboard are initially the same. This number can change over time if extra products are added/deleted differently on each of the sites.

Checking For Products On One Site & Not The Other  

You can run a report which identifies products on one site and not the other.

Log in to your Master site > Multi Store > Compare 

Comparing the 2 sites. 

There are 2 main ways to compare your sites. 

First, as mentioned above, we have a compare screen for products listing codes that are not found on either site. 

This screen now also shows tabs for categories, manufacturers & user groups where you can see how these will map across from the master site to the replica site. 

A second way to compare would be on a product by product basis, on both the master site & the replica site, there is a tab on the edit product screen showing details about the other sites version of the product. 

E.g. on the master site, find a product, click to edit and to the right of the other tabs click the Multi Store tab. 

This will reveal some quick details about the replica product. 

Now, click the edit link on here and it'll take you to the replica site version of this product (or find it manually on the other site). On the replica's edit product screen you'll see a similar tab however it shows differences between it and the master product. If you have difference tracking enabled, you'll be able to see the ones you've saved and able to reset each difference. 

Technical Audits

This section is intended for technical support staff to check replication at a technical level.

You can see a log of synchronisation activity going from the master store in Multi Store > API logs or directly in API Webhooks to the replica store in API Accounts > Logs  so you can monitor both sending and receiving of data. 

Note: The data in API logs  is not a straight count of products as these can be sent in batches, it is a count of how many times the endpoint has been used. 

Admin Features & Usage

Replication in its simplest form copies all products across from the master store to the replica store.

However, you are able to apply more controls to replication:

• Select which categories of products are replicated.
• Map whole categories of products to appear in a different category on the replication store.
• Map products to different manufacturers. 
• Make 'local' changes to the replication store's products and prevent these being overwritten.
• Exclude individual products from being replicated.
• Define which product fields are replicated upon product creation and update.
• Replicate an individual product

1. Mapping Products Into A Different Category On The Replica Store

You can map a category so that all products in that category are copied to a different category on the replica store.  

On the replica store go into Product Manager and set up all your categories

On the master store go into Product Manager > Edit Category > Multi Store Mappings > 

Select required category (these are the ones set up on the replica store)

Only Want To Map Certain Products?

If you only wanted some products mapped to different categories on the replica store then you can make these changes locally on the replica store instead. Follow step 3 below to make sure this is set up to prevent them being overwritten during replication. 

2. Changing Manufacturer On The Replica Store (may be called Brand on your site) 

You can map a manufacturer so that products with that manufacturer are copied to a different manufacturer on the replica store. 

On the replica store go into Manufacturer Manager and set up all your Manufacturers

On the master store go into Manufacturer Manager > Edit  > Multi Store Mappings > 

Select required manufacturer (these are the ones set up on the replica store)

3. Preserving & Viewing Locally Made Changes On The Replica Store

You may wish to allow local changes made on the replica store to be preserved so they are not overwritten during replication from the Master store. 

On the replica site go into Connect > Utilities > REC+ Multi Store Replication

Track Replica product changes?
Tick this so any locally made changes to products are not overriden from the master store.

Leaving this unticked means the master site will override any local changes on the replica store.

Locally made changes  can be viewed on the replica store for a product via Edit Product > Multistore tab. 

4. Excluding Individual Products From Synchronisation

You can stop individual products from being synchronised to replica sites.

Go to Product Manager > Multi Store tab  > tick 'Exclude this product from API Webhooks?'

Notice you can also see the replica feed is live. 

5. Sending Individual Products To Replication

You can send an individual product for replication in Product Manager > Multi Store tab  > Edit > Send to replica now