Last Updated on by Dan S
Originally Published August 16, 2023.

You might want to create a custom table for storing a certain piece of information in Shopify. For instance, if you want to display information for store locations, you may want to load it dynamically from a source instead of hard-coding it.

Here are some popular methods to storing custom data on the Shopify platform.

Storing Data In Shopify

If you want to store data in Shopify, you can use custom fields known as “Metafields“. These are accessible with the Liquid template and can store any additional information beyond Shopify’s standard fields.

You can add metafields to the following types of resources:

  • Products and Product Variants
  • Collections
  • Customers and Companies (Plus only)
  • Orders and Draft Orders
  • Pages and Blogs/Articles
  • Store Locations
  • Carts

Properties Of A Metafield

Each metafield has certain properties and components. Here they are:

  • Name: The display name that identifies your metafield in the Shopify admin.
  • Namespace and Key: A unique identifier that groups similar metafields together. Each combination must be unique.
  • Type: The content type that determines what kind of data the metafield stores (text, number, file, date, reference, etc.). Shopify now offers over 30+ metafield types across categories like Text, Files, Measurements, References, and more.
  • Description: Optional information that explains what the metafield is used for.
  • Access: Controls whether the metafield is accessible on the storefront or restricted to admin only.
  • Validation: Optional rules such as character limits, minimum and maximum values, or preset values to ensure data consistency.

You can learn more about metafields, definitions, and the GraphQL Admin API in the official Shopify custom data documentation.

Create a new model or object

If you want to create entirely new custom data structures, you can use “Metaobjects”. Metaobjects allow you to create standalone custom objects that exist independently and can be referenced across your store. Unlike metafields that attach to existing resources, metaobjects are reusable content structures.

For example, if you want to create an Author record with multiple fields like Author Name, Author Description, and Author Image, you would create a metaobject definition. You can then create multiple author entries and reference them from your products.

Metaobjects are perfect for structured, reusable content such as:

  • Product features and specifications
  • Size charts and care guides
  • Designer or brand profiles
  • FAQs and informational blocks
  • Collection banners and promotional content

You can access and manage metaobjects from Settings > Custom data in your Shopify admin. Once created, you can display this information on the storefront through theme sections, dynamic sources, and Liquid. Metaobjects can also be accessed via the Storefront API and GraphQL Admin API.

There is a great video below which walks you through how to work with metaobjects:

Other Ways To Add Data

Apart from metafields and metaobjects, there are some other ways to store data on Shopify. You can store content directly on pages using the page editor, which is straightforward to edit with HTML or the rich text editor.

Blog posts are another option if you need to store and display a lot of information in a structured, chronological format. For smaller pieces of categorization data, you can use product tags or collection tags.

Meanwhile, navigation menus (link lists) are suitable for organizing hierarchical data and creating structured navigation on your storefront.

For more complex scenarios requiring external databases or third-party integrations, you can connect content management systems like Sanity to Shopify using the Storefront API or GraphQL Admin API.