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Set Up Guide: 2+ Locations

Self Guided Set Up Guide for 2+ Locations

Natalie avatar
Written by Natalie
Updated over a week ago

⚠️ Heads up: These setup steps are examples and may not exactly match your account. If you follow them and notice unintended changes in your inventory, Thrive won’t be able to undo them.

Not sure which setup is right for you? Our Customer Care team is happy to help—reach out before moving forward!

This guide will walk you through three different ways to set up two or more locations in Thrive, all depending on your specific case and needs. Find the option that is right for you, then follow the steps to set up your locations and integrations.

Want extra support?

Our paid onboarding packages provide personalized help every step of the way! Reach out to your account executive or email help@thrivemetrics.com for more information.

Option 1: Choose a Master Catalog & Clone to Remaining Locations

Use this option if you want one location to serve as the "master catalog," which will then be cloned across your other locations. This is often the best choice if one location already has the cleanest, most up-to-date product data. Or if you have one location and one or more new locations of which you want to duplicate your original catalog.

Option 1 Step-by-Step Guide Here

  1. Start with a clean slate in Thrive.

  2. Update Location Settings in Thrive for each Location. Make sure the Location Name, Address, and Timezone are correct and up to date

  3. Decide which Location and Integration will be the master catalog. We will refer to this as "Location 1"

  4. Connect and import the master catalog to Thrive.

    • From the locations and integrations page, connect the integration to Thrive.

    • Import when prompted. Select 'Yes' to all options.

    • Before moving forward, ensure the task of importing from Shopify is marked as 'Complete' on the Tasks Page.Set tax rate for the Location 2.

    • Since Thrive handles the taxes, you need to assign items within Thrive for Location 2. This is handled under the Tax Rates Page.

  5. Clone Location 1 catalog to Location 2.

    • Copy the full catalog from the master location (Location 1) to the new location (Location 2) by cloning.

  6. Set tax rate for the Location 2

    • Since Thrive handles the taxes, you need to assign items within Thrive for Location 2. This is handled under the Tax Rates Page.

  7. Clearing the Location 2 integration of items

    • To prevent conflicts or sales interruptions, delete all items from the Location 2 integration outside of business hours

    • If you do not do this, you will have duplicate items/items that are not the same item at both locations.

  8. Connect the second integration to Thrive

    • Connect the empty second integration to the corresponding location in Thrive.

  9. Populate the second integration with inventory

  10. Add quantities for Location 2

  11. Repeat steps 3-9 for the rest of your locations.

Things to Note:

  • Taxes must be manually assigned in Thrive for each new location after cloning.

  • Deleting items from the secondary integration should always be done outside business hours to avoid disrupting sales.

  • Do not connect the second integration before removing the catalog.

  • Each new location requires repeating the steps from cloning through exporting.


Option 2: Using the Consolidation Tool

Use this option if you already have products spread across multiple integrations/locations and want Thrive to merge them into a single catalog automatically.

The tool will only work if the format of the items is the same at all locations & they meet the consolidation tool requirements [Product Names are the same (both spelling & punctuation), Categories match (both spelling & punctuation), no modifiers are associated to the items, barcode & SKU fields are consistent, & the products are simple items without variants.}

Option 2 Step-by-Step Guide Here

  1. Start with a clean slate in Thrive.

  2. Update the Location Settings for each location.

    • Enter the address, correct timezone, and phone number for every location in Thrive.

  3. Connect and Import one of the integrations.

    • From the locations and integrations page, connect the integration.

    • Select Yes to all Import and syncing options when prompted.

    • Check the Tasks page & ensure it is marked as 'Complete' before moving forward.

  4. Connect the remaining integrations for the other locations.

    • From the locations and integrations page, connect each additional integration one at a time. Do not add the remaining integration(s) at once.

    • Select Yes to all Import and syncing options when prompted.

    • Check the Tasks page & ensure it is marked as 'Complete' before moving forward.

  5. Use Consolidation Tool

    • This will grab and merge any items that qualify for it.

    • Learn about this task here: Consolidation Tool.

    • This shouldn't take too long, but it will consolidate your data so the same item can exist at multiple locations.

  6. Set up your Tax Rates

    • Clean up unneeded tax rates and assign all items to one tax rate at each location.

  7. Optional: Inventory Count Reconciliation

Things to Note:

  • Qty will have to be reconciled/added into Thrive for any location that is not selected as the 'master' location

  • If Price/or fields differ, they can be edited after using our bulk upload spreadsheets.


Option 3: Multi-location Shopify & Clover

Use this option if you are running Shopify across multiple locations but also have Clover POS devices tied to one or more locations. This configuration is for users with Shopify as the master catalog, where Clover's catalog lists the same or fewer products.

This route will bring in your up-to-date catalog from Shopify, then Thrive will act as the source of truth and export to Clover.

Option 3 Step-by-Step Guide Here

  1. Start with a clean slate in Thrive.

  2. Update the Location Settings for each location

    • Enter the address, correct timezone, and phone number for every location in Thrive.

  3. Connect Shopify to Thrive

  4. Import from Shopify

    • When prompted, select Yes to all import options

    • Confirm import is marked 'Complete' on the Tasks Page before continuing.

  5. Delete Items from Clover

  6. Connect Clover to Thrive

    • Connect Clover to the corresponding location in Thrive (or Connect Clover to the same location as Shopify in Thrive). Do not create a new location. How to connect a 2nd integration

    • Choose No to import options and Yes to real-time syncing

  7. Ensure Tax Rates are properly assigned

    • Since Thrive handles the taxes for Clover, you need to assign items within Thrive.

    • Find how to Assign Tax Rates in Bulk to items so they are properly charged at checkout on Clover

  8. Export to Clover

    • Push products from Thrive to Clover to sync the Shopify catalog to Clover.

    • How to Export Track progress on the Tasks Page

  9. Set up the second location.

  10. Download an Export of inventory that includes quantity counts from the Location 2 Clover

    • This way it preserves the counts to use for a later step

  11. Repeat steps 5 - 8 for the additional location Clover.

  12. Update Location 2 Quantities using Export from Clover

  13. Disable Any Unwanted Items from the additional location Clover

    • If you need to disable items for Clover so they are not available to purchase there, you can do so in a few different ways. Find out here: Managing Product Availability

Things to Note:

  • Shopify should always be connected and imported first, since it acts as the primary catalog.

  • Items must be deleted from Clover before connecting it to Thrive to avoid duplication — do this after business hours if selling.

  • If some products shouldn’t be available at a specific Clover location, you can disable them directly in Thrive.


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