Decide where each piece of product data lives before you need it
Place recurring merchandising data in the Shopify field and resource level that matches how it must be governed, reused and consumed.
Skip this if new-brand-launcher at pre-launch: with a small catalog the cost of getting this wrong is usually low and reversible. Learn the placement rule, then revisit when catalog or channel requirements grow
Product data creates rework when its storage format or resource level cannot support the people and systems that need it. The correction is not to move every attribute into metafields. It is to give each recurring fact one documented home that matches its job.
The decision: start with the required use, then choose the narrowest existing Shopify field and resource level that supports it.
The rest of this lesson is available once the Atlas is unlocked.