Relay for Shopify is an integration built by the Run Free Project specifically for run specialty retailers running large, complex eCommerce operations using Shopify. It enables you to extend your online product offerings to include virtual (a.k.a. drop ship) inventory from participating brands' B2B warehouses.

This article describes what Relay is, how this service works, how to use it, and what to do if you need help.

Relay for Shopify allows retailers to expand the selection of products available in their eCommerce store by including items stocked in a brand’s B2B warehouse—even products or variations they don’t physically have in their own inventory.

From the shopper’s perspective, Relay products appear just like any other items in the retailer’s online store. However, instead of being stocked by the retailer, these products are available "virtually" and fulfilled by the brand.

Retailers can manage Relay products just as they would their own inventory—toggling availability on or off within their Shopify store as needed.

When a shopper purchases a Relay product, the retailer is notified just like with any other order. In the order details, the retailer will see that the product is linked to the Relay location, signaling that they need to place an order directly with the brand. The retailer uses their existing relationship, ordering systems, and processes to have the item shipped either to their store or directly to the customer.

Relay for Shopify consists of an automated inventory feed that enables you to provide a dropship-style endless aisle experience to customers who visit your Shopify store.

The Run Free Project connects its Relay database to your Shopify account via an API-based integration. Relay for Shopify product and inventory data is fed by daily feeds sourced from brands and enriched with metadata by the Run Free Project on a daily basis.

Within Shopify, Relay appears as a separate location (titled "Relay" or "Dropship") which contains products that are automatically created via the Relay service as they flow over from the Relay database to mirror vendor availability feeds. The product catalog and its inventory availability updates every 24 hours automatically.

During the onboarding process, the Run Free Project team will request an admin login to your Shopify account to connect our API and set up the Relay location (often titled "Dropship" or "Relay").

Once the Relay location is set and the API connection is live, Run Free begins the first data push. That push consists of products and product information. You'll see products populating on the Shopify back end at the Relay location as this process unfolds. Please note, the initial product push can take as long as 48 hours. Shopify has tight constraints around the acceptable use of their APIs and will only let our system make calls to it one time every few seconds (if we go any faster, it blocks us from sending anything at all).

Once the product data has synced, Run Free will begin the second data push. That push consists of inventory data associated with the products previously populated. After the initial inventory sync (which can take up to 24 hours), Relay for Shopify is ready to use.

Users are instructed to tick the "Fulfill online orders from this location" box (shown below) to "turn on" their Relay inventory, making it available to shoppers.

Go to Settings > Locations > All Locations

Click the Relay (or Dropship) location, then check the Fulfill Online Orders from this Location box

Each evening, Run Free's Relay for Shopify Service will push new inventory information it receives from the brands. That can consist of new products, new inventory counts, and/or the zeroing out of existing inventory that has gone out of stock during the previous day.

To review and edit products, simply treat the Relay Dropship location just like a physical location. In inventory, choose Relay or Dropship from the drop-down and all Relay items will be displayed.

But remember...

Run Free uses The SKU to cross-reference product information and updates each evening as new information is propagated to Shopify. Thus, although you can freely change the pricing information, images, description, name, and product organization Information, the variant data, UPC, product ID, and SKU should never be changed to ensure a complete sync each cycle.

All products that come over from the Relay for Shopify API connection will populate into the Relay/Dropship location in draft Status. You will need to promote them from draft status to active to show them as available to shoppers.