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Do you face daily problems updating balances, prices and information from suppliers? Are you planning to start selling through online stores? Online project management consultant Anna Titovich shared many years of experience with Pro Business in automating the updating of information from suppliers in online stores with an assortment of more than 50,000 items. Clear instructions are in our article.
Online Project Management Consultant
Ways to update information in the online store
— There are several ways to update information in the online store. Each has its pros and cons. I will tell you about all the nuances.
API
The most convenient way to update information between the supplier and the online store is through the API. It allows you to connect directly to two Internet resources, match the required cells from the supplier and recipient, and set the refresh time for all information, including photos, descriptions, characteristics, balances and prices.
Feed
Electronic catalog of .yml, .xml formats and more. For the main CRM systems that run online stores, there are ready-made solutions for integrating updates through feeds. The feed contains all the necessary information from the name to prices and balances, the number of packages and logistics features. This data is strictly structured and marked with the necessary tags (for example,
Both described options cannot be implemented without the involvement of programmers. If you are able to prepare a feed for the requirements of the online store you plan to work with, then you can safely skip part of the article below. to the list of required components of a good update file.
Excel
The good old tabular format is still one of the most common options for price lists and balance files. And it is he who is the biggest stumbling block. Getting a price list file in .xlsx (.xls, .csv) with a size of 80+Mb and a nesting size of an annual accounting report is a nightmare for any data update specialist: it doesn’t matter if it’s a content manager or a programmer.
Perhaps the competent and working versions of the files are over. But I will write below which ones are still found and bring a lot of dances with tambourines or a direct refusal to the supplier.
Word
No matter how many beautiful photos and detailed information you collect there, this is an inconvenient format for updating data. It is not suitable for working with information, only for familiarization with the goods.
There is an old rule that a successful company with a good reputation sends out its proposals only in PDF format, as short and to the point as possible. To advertise services – maybe. But if you are looking for partners to sell your products, then the most complete, but structurally simple .xlsx is the best option, including for evaluating the ease of working with you.
Presentation
Yes, power point (.ppsm, pptx, pptm) is also still sending files to work with suppliers’ goods. And this is one of the worst options, because the most inconvenient.
An example of assessing a future supplier to make a decision on cooperation
I will describe an example of evaluating a future supplier in an online store. After receiving the initial offer, the price list and other files are evaluated by the specialists of the category department and the marketing department for the profitability and demand for goods on the market. After that, the price goes to the information relevance department on the site (often the head of the content department deals with this assessment). In this case, I am evaluating files for further work on automating information updates.
Files are sorted in several directions:
- integration via api;
- automation of supplier feed processing;
- automation of supplier excel file processing;
- semi-automatic excel template;
- manual processing of the file.
The worst option is the last one (manual processing) and it is acceptable only with the personal approval of the store management. The reason to accept such a supplier can only be a super-demanded assortment with unique conditions for profit and logistics. These almost never happen. That is why, if you are not a monopolist of a super-needed product, then you should immediately abandon the word, pdf, power point formats and turn your attention to excel.
And even in it it is worth adhering to 5 basic principles:
- simple structure
- Convenient shape
- visibility
- Completeness of information
- Unique product codes
Basic files for updating information on the site: key mistakes
If you are already using excel to the fullest, do not rush to rejoice. According to the most superficial estimates, more than 1000 price lists of various external characteristics passed through my hands for evaluation and work, and many had to be refused due to the inability to apply their price lists to update information as quickly and correctly as possible. Below I will describe several errors that greatly complicate the processing of the price list.
1) There are no unique codes for each individual item in the price list.
2) Unique codes are entered in one column with the name. In the example, they are not only inscribed, but also not unique.
3) There is a huge amount of nesting or tabs in the price list.
4) There are a lot of merged cells in the price list, and when you remove the merger, all data is either lost or turns into an incomprehensible mess of letters and numbers.
5) The format simply does not allow to process the data and apply basic formulas to them. In the example below, this is a .doc file with no unique codes. We eventually found a way out, but instead of several days for placement, correspondence and display took more than a month for 100 positions.
6) The text is divided into cells under each other, while giving data for all color options, without inserting unique codes and photos for each color of the product.
Screenshots are given strictly for example, without the purpose of reproaching or discrediting someone. I don’t give company names because many are already moving towards improvement, and some are even switching to using feeds, which is good news. But every day I have to work with dozens of price lists and balance files, which can be simplified and their processing improved.
What basic files should be on hand in case of a request from an online store (and not only, because they will be convenient for offline use)?
1. General price. Includes the entire range with purchase and retail prices + photos adapted for web, so as not to turn the price list into a heavy file.
We remember an important point. Now even commercial offers are studied from the phone screen, so no one wants to download 90 MB and wait until all the pictures are loaded there.
2. Residue file. Includes the entire assortment or only the current assortment with stocks and current prices.
With prices it is better than without them, especially if your price depends on the cost of materials and is recalculated weekly or more often.
3. A single file for working with an online store. A convenient and simple file of the entire current assortment, which includes the necessary data on goods and even leftovers. With a complete “Single File” that is updated promptly, the first two documents can be neglected. It is such a file that should be sent along with a proposal for cooperation.
Next, we will consider the key indicators that should be in such a “Single File”.
Contents of update files
Do not make a big header in the price list with all the details and conditions for choosing wholesale prices if you have several of them. Designate this as a separate tab or a separate online file in google doc, a link to which you can give in the price header.
Don’t try to fit all the bars into the viewport to fit the width. It doesn’t make sense. It is better to fix the header with the names of the columns, so that in the case of a large number of lines it would be convenient to scroll down.
The first columns indicate the Name, Unique codes and Prices. This will be the main criteria for studying at all stages.
Merging cells is possible only horizontally – to indicate the transition from one brand or type of goods to another (a different line filling is appropriate here). And remember that if we merge cells, then if they are separated, the information that we placed in neighboring ones can move out and confuse your potential partner.
If your items are prefabricated and consist of several parts, consider whether these parts can be sold separately. For example, computer chairs or prefabricated tables from different options for legs and tops. Most likely, the online store already sells whole goods and they need the balance of the collected positions, as well as unique codes for the collected positions. Not all online stores have a constructor of product assembly options.
It is better to enter each basic characteristic in a separate column, and technical characteristics can be stated in one column or give a link to the product page on your site, if there is one.
Basic characteristics are mandatory and these are:
- Name for the site / for sale.
- Item name, if it is important for your accounting department.
- Product SKU (a unique SKU, do not start with zeros and it is better to use numbers and Latin letters). Each product color variant and size must have a unique code.
- brand, if you have one.
- Width (if the thing is round, just indicate the width and depth are the same, it makes no sense to take out the diameter as a separate parameter), depth / length (depending on the size format you have adopted) and height. For different types of goods, the dimensions may have their own characteristics: for example, for clothes, these will be the length of the sleeve, the length of the product, the width along the back.
- Weight (you can net and gross, you can at least some to calculate the cost of delivery in the online store).
- Volume, m3 (calculated according to the dimensions of the package and is also needed to calculate the cost of delivery).
- Producing country.
- Product color.
- Number of places during transportation (important for bulky goods that are shipped in several boxes and take up several places during transportation).
- Purchase price.
- Selling price.
- current balance.
- Link to the photo of the product in the desired quality. Online trading is unlikely in the absence of good photos. It is convenient to give links to photos (the main one in a separate column and additional ones in another column).
Win-win situations for an online store and a supplier/manufacturer: conditions
And here are a few rules, life hacks, or just conditions under which it will be convenient for both parties to work and both will receive long-awaited sales without unnecessary gestures. Subject to quality, of course.
You may not follow all of my advice except for one: enter a unique code for each of your positions. Pass this code always in a separate column and in no case change it.
Now for those who want more tips. Use your unique code in all your files, no matter how much you produce them. If the packaging has changed in some commodity item, notify the partners that the new item in the new bundle will have a new code, or save the code, but inform the old product about the new bundle and provide fresh photos.
If you sell some items strictly from a certain quantity in the order, indicate this in the title and mark what price is indicated in the price list (per piece or for the minimum number of pieces).
And a little about the actual balance file. Sometimes it is impossible to make a single file with the current balance, because it is uploaded, for example, from 1C and is done daily, and the price is formed based on the site data or even by hand. Then the main thing remains: to use a unique product code in all your files. Then an experienced specialist in updating information on the site himself will be able to combine the necessary and your unique code will be the link.
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