How Product Data Syncs from Your Ecommerce Platform to Your Storefront
Your Zest Storefront pulls product information — including images, titles, descriptions, pricing, and variant details — directly from your connected ecommerce platform (Shopify, BigCommerce, or Magento).
Shopify is the source of truth for most brands. Zest reads the standard product description field (descriptionHtml) — not metafields, custom Liquid, or custom product page logic.
When you update a product in your ecommerce platform, those changes sync to your storefront automatically via webhooks (Shopify and BigCommerce) or scheduled polling (Magento). Updates typically appear within moments, though there may be a brief delay.
Important: If your Shopify store uses metafields or custom Liquid templates to display product details on your website, that content will not appear in Zest. You must also populate the standard Shopify product description field for your content to show up in your storefront.
What syncs
Data | Source field |
Product title | Standard product title |
Product description | Standard description field (HTML supported) |
Product images | All images attached to the product (up to 10 for Shopify, up to 50 for BigCommerce) |
Variant images | Images assigned to specific variants |
Pricing | Variant prices from your ecommerce platform |
Variant info | Options, SKUs, and availability |
How to update your storefront product data
Edit the product directly in Shopify (or your connected platform). Changes will flow through to Zest automatically. Make sure you are editing the standard product description field, not metafields or custom fields.
Image Best Practices: Dimensions, Format, and What to Photograph
Use square images
Square images (1:1 aspect ratio) are strongly recommended. Zest Storefronts display all product images in a square aspect ratio at 500×500 pixels. Rectangular images may appear cropped or distorted due to responsive scaling — especially on mobile devices.
If you also need hero banner images for your storefront, shoot those as separate horizontal images. The recommended banner size is 1728×456 pixels with a center focal point (for responsive cropping across screen sizes).
Use high-resolution source images
Zest serves your images at up to 800×800 pixels for featured placements. Make sure your source images are at least this size to avoid blurriness. Low-resolution images that get scaled up will appear soft or pixelated.
What to photograph
Capture the complete gifting experience — what the recipient will see when they open the box:
The gift packaging and presentation — the outside of the box, tissue paper, ribbons, or branded materials
The products inside — clearly showing what's included
Lifestyle shots — the box on a kitchen counter, someone holding it to show scale, or the products being used
Unboxing sequence — use your image carousel to tell the story from box to final presentation
Avoid plain floating product shots on white backgrounds, or black boxes with price labels. These don't convey the premium gifting experience your recipients expect.
Using the image carousel
If you add multiple images to a product in your ecommerce platform, recipients will be able to scroll through them in the storefront product detail view and in the gift swap interface. Use the carousel to show different angles, packaging, and the unboxing experience.
Optimizing Images for the Corporate Gifting Audience
Corporate gifts may reach recipients with varying backgrounds, sensitivities, and preferences. Keep these tips in mind:
Choose broadly appropriate imagery. Avoid images with potentially polarizing elements — what works for one-to-one personal gifting may not be ideal for a company sending gifts to hundreds of employees or clients.
Maintain your brand identity while selecting images that work for a professional context. Brand-forward imagery is great, but consider how it reads in a corporate setting.
Show the full gifting experience. Corporate buyers want to know exactly what their recipients will receive. Include images of the packaging, the products, and any personalization or branding included in the gift.
Reference other Zest brands for inspiration. Brands like American Spoon, Flamingo Estate, and Levain are great examples of product imagery that works well in the corporate gifting space.
Product Descriptions: What Displays and What Doesn't
What displays
Zest renders the standard product description field from your ecommerce platform as HTML. This means formatting like bold text, lists, line breaks, and headings will display correctly in your storefront.
The following fields display on your storefront product page:
Product title
Product description (HTML from the standard description field)
Variant title (when a product has multiple variants, e.g., "Small," "Large")
Pricing (variant-level pricing)
What doesn't display
Metafield content: If your store relies on Shopify metafields to display product information (ingredients, specifications, FAQs, etc.), that content will not carry over to Zest.
Custom Liquid or custom PDP logic: Any content rendered through custom Liquid templates, third-party apps, or dynamic product page code will not appear.
Tip: Populate the standard product description field with all the information you want visible in your storefront, including details like quantity per case, availability dates, ingredient lists, or allergen information. Don't rely on metafields for this content.
Description length
There is no hard character limit on product descriptions. However, longer descriptions are truncated in list views (showing roughly 100–400 characters depending on screen size) with a "Show More" option. On the full product detail page, the complete description is displayed.
Test how your descriptions render — especially on mobile — to ensure they display cleanly and don't overwhelm the layout.
Troubleshooting: Missing, Blurry, or Distorted Images
Blurry images
Blurry images typically result from low-resolution source images being scaled up. Zest displays product images at up to 500×500 pixels (800×800 for featured cards).
Fix: Replace the product images in your ecommerce platform with higher-resolution versions. Changes will sync automatically.
BigCommerce note: Zest uses full-size images (urlZoom) from the BigCommerce GraphQL API for product syncing. However, search previews use the url_standard size, which is smaller. If your preview images look blurry but full product images look fine, this is expected behavior.
Distorted or squished images
Zest Storefronts use a 1:1 (square) aspect ratio with object-fit: cover for product images. Non-square images (e.g., tall book covers, images with gray padding) may appear cropped or distorted, particularly on mobile.
Fix: Create square-cropped versions of your product images specifically for your storefront products. This ensures consistent, clean display across all device sizes.
Note: Rectangular images with extra padding (e.g., a product centered on a large gray background) are especially prone to looking awkward. If you can't create square versions, Zest support may be able to crop images on your behalf, though this may add white borders.
Missing images
Missing images are usually caused by one of the following:
The product doesn't have images in your ecommerce platform. Verify the product has images attached in Shopify or your connected platform.
A sync delay. After adding or changing images, wait a few minutes for the sync to complete.
A collection change. Manually resorting Shopify collections may temporarily cause images to disappear or display incorrectly in storefronts. Allow time for re-syncing after collection changes.
An integration issue. If images exist in your platform but aren't appearing after waiting, contact Zest support — the issue may require investigation.
Missing product descriptions
If your product description isn't appearing in your storefront:
Check that the standard description field is populated in your ecommerce platform (not a metafield or custom field).
Wait for the sync — description changes flow through the same sync process as other product data.
Verify the field you're editing — in Shopify, this is the "Description" field on the product editing page, not a metafield section or third-party app field.
Current Limitations and Workarounds
You cannot override product images or descriptions within Zest (Shopify)
Zest mirrors your product data directly from your ecommerce platform. For Shopify stores, there is no way to use different images, titles, or descriptions in your storefront than what appears in Shopify.
Workaround: Create a separate, Zest-specific product in Shopify with the desired images and descriptions, then add that product to your storefront. Note that inventory for this duplicate product must be tracked separately, which adds operational overhead.
BigCommerce exception: BigCommerce brands can use custom fields named "Zest Image" and "Zest Description" on their products to override the primary image and description that appear in Zest, without creating duplicate products.
Shopify image limit
Zest syncs up to 10 images per product from Shopify. If your product has more than 10 images, only the first 10 will appear in the storefront.
Duplicate or deleted images from BigCommerce
When syncing from BigCommerce, Zest uses the GraphQL API (filtered to images explicitly added to the product and sorted by sort order) to avoid pulling in deleted images. However, edge cases may arise where duplicate or previously deleted images still appear. If this happens, contact Zest support for investigation.
Slow image loading
Some brands have reported slow image loading times on their storefronts. This is a known issue the Zest team is aware of. If you experience this, reach out to support so the team can investigate your specific storefront.
Variant-specific image behavior
When a recipient selects a variant (e.g., a different flavor or size), the product image updates to show the image assigned to that variant. Unassociated product images (not tied to any specific variant) will also continue to display.
However, dynamic image generation based on variant selection (e.g., showing a customized cake preview) is not currently available for self-service storefronts.
Note on unavailable variants: Zest automatically filters out images associated with unavailable variants from the product image gallery. If all variants are unavailable, all images are shown as a fallback.