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To bring your products into Product Manager, the file needs to look a certain way and have specific components. This page will guide you through the specifics so you can have a load-ready file.
Format of your data
Accepted file types for import into Product Manager:
XLSX
CSV
TXT
Data must be in a flat file format for upload. For example, there can only ever be one row in the import file per item (SKU) that you wish to import into Product Manager. You cannot upload a file that contains multiple tabs. If the data in additional tabs needs to be imported, please either combine these into one sheet of data or split out into multiple files.
If your product data spans multiple files and these cannot be combined into a single file for import, there are a few common data points that need to be present in each file to ensure PIM allocates the data to the correct product and/or item during import, these data points are:
External ID
Product Name
SKU
Ideally, your product file will contain column headers to describe the data you are importing. The naming convention of such column headers does not need to match or conform to any PIM terminology that you may see referenced in this help guide.
Structuring your data
Before we can start importing data into PIM, you’ll need to review your source data to identify your product relationship and multiple elements that make up the product records in PIM. Please read the following article to understand the terminology:
In order to bring your products into Product Manager, the file needs to look a certain way and have specific components. The data dependencies change slightly based on the type of product data you hold.
Product and Item Relationships
First, you’ll need to identify whether you want your product data to be configured in a parent and child type relationship if you offer products in multiple colors, sizes, flavors etc. We refer to this as a 1-many relationship. For example, this could be a boot that you sell in multiple colors and sizes. If you have data that you’d like to configure in a similar fashion, your product data will need to resemble the following example. Use the zoom in feature of your browser to enlarge the image or click CTRL+.
Specifically, your file needs to contain these key fields:
External ID – This is a unique identifier for the product you are selling (the boot in this example). This product identifier must be common to all items that you will sell under this product.
Product Name – Similar to above, this should be a product name/description that is common to all items.
SKU – This is a unique identifier for the item (e.g. the boot in a size 6) that the customer would purchase. This can be a SKU, barcode or something similar.
Variant data – If products are to be setup as a 1-many relationship, the data used to distinguish one or more items assigned to a product needs to be included in the import file. Each variant should have its own column in the import file. See Size (column E) in the above example. If you were to use Color as another variant, this data would also need to be presented in it’s own column. Note, every item assigned to a product must have a unique combination of the variant.
Now here's an example of what this would look like once imported into Product Manager:
Alternatively, if your products do not contain any variations and are all standalone products (e.g. sunglasses, bag), your product data may resemble the following example:
Once you have identified the product relationship within your data, there are now a few other elements to define within your data set which will help you in the next step when we start to configure the PIM system. You may want to mark or make notes internally on the fields within your product file that fall into each of the following elements of a product record:
Categorization
Every product that you import into PIM must have a category. This can be either a single category or a hierarchical structure. You may have to decide how you’ll categorize your products internally before you import into PIM so you can follow a standard going forward.
If your categorization structure is hierarchical, you can represent this in your product file by providing a delimiter after each category. We have used a ‘/’ in the above product file example, but this could be a comma, semi colon etc. as an alternative.
Additional Descriptions
Aside from the initial product description/name, you may want to import additional descriptions specific to the marketplaces you’re exporting to. For example, a short overview of the product, extended/technical descriptions, B2C/B2B descriptions etc. Additional descriptions are assigned at the product level which means that all items assigned to that product will share these descriptions when exporting to your marketplace.
Attributes
We will use attributes in PIM for all supplementary product information to help enrich your product data. This could range from general product information such as serving instructions, ingredients, fabric type, styles etc. to marketplace specific content. Attribute data can be stored at both the product and item level in case you have data that is specific to a particular colour/size combination of a product.
Digital Assets
PIM can store various forms of media against a product/item including images, videos, PDFs etc. To import and assign media to a product in bulk, it must be made available on a publicly facing URL that PIM could access.
Before we move on, have a look at your file with these questions in mind:
Does it contain all of the products you want to export to a channel? Each product needs to have a constant value: it may be a number or a name.
Have you identified any variants?
Are your products 1:1 with items/variants or do you have many items/variants for each product? For example, if you have shoes that come in different sizes, the product file needs to reflect that.
Does each item contain a unique SKU? What is the variant that drives that SKU? Is it size? Color? Both?
Did you include descriptions and any additional attributes for each?
Once your file is ready, click here to go to the next step, Prepare the System for Products.
To return to the beginning of the quick start, click here.
rev: 1/11/22