I have a Merge replication that sources on a subscription from a Transactional Replication. I know that the triggers regarding the Merge replication are not fired by 'bulk inserts':
Microsoft: When data is loaded into tables using the bcp Utility or the BULK INSERT command, by default, the merge replication triggers that maintain tracking data in the MSmerge_contents system table are not fired.
For establishing the transactional replication a snapshot is needed. Question: is the snapshot a bulk insert; will it not fire the merge triggers?
Snapshot can only be done when the merge publication is dropped. Otherwise I get an error saying that the tables are locked by replication.
Bottom line is that it is not possible to do a snapshot on a replication where the subscription database is a source for an other replication.
Besides this, according to Microsoft: "The snapshot is generated as a set of bulk copy program (BCP) files."
So to my knowledge the snapshot is processed as a bulk insert.
Please correct me if I am wrong!