When managing products across multiple Sales and Fulfillment Channels, maintaining an accurate catalog is crucial. To achieve this, techOMS uses the Master Product Source concept, designating a single system as the source of truth for all product data in your ecosystem.
This article explains how the Master Product Source works, the product matching logic during synchronization, the available configuration options, and best practices.
Prefer listening? This podcast-style audio walks you through the article's key points.
 | AI-Assisted & Human-Reviewed: For general information only. Please double-check important details. | |
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Definition
The Master Product Source is the origin system from which all Product data flows.
This setting is configured at the Account level. Once selected, techOMS will import product data from that designated system (whether it is techOMS itself, a specific Sales Channel, or a Fulfillment Channel) and seamlessly propagate it to all other connected Channels.
Usage and Requirements
techOMS uses the SKU as the primary product identifier and strictly does not support duplicates. If duplicate SKUs are detected during an import or sync process, they will be skipped, and the system will log a warning.
 | For this reason, creating unique SKUs across your catalog is mandatory. | |
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| Validation for the SKU is case-insensitive. To prevent accidental duplicates and synchronization errors, techOMS automatically trims any leading or trailing whitespace from incoming SKU values. | |
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The Master Product Source is typically defined during specific lifecycle events:
- Setting up a new Account.
- Migrating Product management from another system.
| While you can change the Master Product Source at any time, doing so in a live (production) environment:
If you are planning this transition, we highly recommend carefully reviewing the following configurations before and after changing your Master Product Source:
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Product Matching Logic During Sync
When pulling product data from a Sales Channel configured as your Master Product Source, techOMS uses a specific matching hierarchy to prevent duplicates and maintain catalog accuracy:
- Primary Search by Product ID: For supported channels, techOMS first attempts to match products using the external channel's unique Product ID.
- Fallback to Title: If the Product ID is not found, or if the specific channel does not support ID tracking, techOMS falls back to matching the product by Title.
| Channel support for Product ID tracking can be verified in the techOMS Sales Channels - Master List [Guides List]. | |
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To ensure stable connections for supported channels, techOMS automatically stores the Master Product Source's identifier in the References tab of the Product during the import process. These references use channel-specific prefixes (for example, ChannelNameExternalProductID) containing the numeric or alphanumeric ID value.
| Storing this external reference ensures that future synchronizations rely on the exact ID, preventing broken synchronization links even if the product Title is changed in the external Sales Channel. | |
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Available Options and Sync Flows
You can select one of the following as your Master Product Source:
techOMS (Default)
All product management occurs directly within techOMS. The system becomes the origin of truth, and all Products are actively exported to your connected Sales Channels and Fulfillment Channels.
Sales Channel
Product management takes place directly in the selected Sales Channel.
Product data is imported from the selected Sales Channel into techOMS, which then systematically distributes it to the other configured Channels.
| Only Sales Channels that technically support product imports can be selected. For a complete list, refer to techOMS Sales Channels - Master List [Guides List]. | |
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Fulfillment Channel
Product management takes place directly in the selected Fulfillment Channel.
Product data is seamlessly imported from the selected Fulfillment Channel into techOMS, which then distributes it to the other interconnected Channels.
| Only Fulfillment Channels that support product imports can be selected. For a complete list, refer to techOMS Fulfillment Channels - Master List [Guides List]. | |
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Final Considerations and Set Up
Product creation, editing, and deletion operations within techOMS remain available regardless of the selected Master Product Source. However, if techOMS is not set as the designated Master Product Source:
- Changes made in techOMS will seamlessly propagate to non-master Channels.
- They will not sync back to the designated Master Product Channel.
- They may be entirely overwritten during the next import cycle from the Master Product Source.
This behavior occurs because techOMS will automatically disable the Product Import recurring job for any non-master Channel to prevent data conflicts and ensure the Master Product Source remains the strict single source of truth.
| For this reason, it is strongly recommended to manage all Products directly in the Master Product Channel whenever possible. | |
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Inventory synchronization is completely unaffected by this setting. Regardless of the Master Product Source, techOMS will always consistently sync Inventory Levels.
To learn how to configure the account setting, refer to How to Configure the Master Product Source [Step-by-Step Guide].
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