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How Do I Import My Products?

  • Updated

A guide to Importing a Product list to your Stor Shop

Getting Started with Imports

  • Once you are ready to import your products, you'll need to head over to your shop's admin area and click Products.  A drop down list will appear. Click All from that list. To the right of your screen, you will see a button with three dots: 
  • Click on the button. Once expanded, it will give you an option to Import or Export.
  • Click the Import option to bring up the step-by-step guide. 
  • Follow the steps.

Product Templates

  • Our template is a CSV (Excel) file which can be modified in Excel, Google Sheets or Numbers for Mac.
    • Just remember to save the sheet as an CSV file once you're done.
  • Hit the "Sample Import" button to download the template.
  • Required Fields
    • The only required field within the template is Action Group, Product title, SKU and product Visibility.
  • All of the other information can be added after the import if necessary. However the import process needs a Product Title in order to build a product within the platform.
    • Note: To avoid import errors, each product should have either a Unique Product Title OR a Product Title AND Unique SKU.
  • Categories -
    • Optional (but advised)
      • When importing your products you are able to assign each product to multiple categories, where necessary. In order to do this you will need to add the information under the 'Categories' column. Each category will need to be separated by the pipe (|) character with no spaces.
        • For example, "Clothing|T-Shirts"
      • Categories will be created each time you import so ensure that you are spelling the category name correctly if you're planning on doing multiple imports e.g. T-Shirts rather than "Tshirts" or "T Shirts".
  • Attributes -
    • Optional
      • Attributes, not to be confused with variants, are shop wide. These could be Condition, Brand Name, Manufacturer or similar. They are variables that allow you to group certain products. Customers can then see these on the product page (if enabled in your template settings). You do not have to add an Attribute to every (or any) product if you so wish. You can add these after importing in the Product Edit page under Custom Attributes
  • Images -
    • Optional
  • Tags -
    • Optional
      • Tags aid customer searches for particular products. These are optional but advised, where possible. Separate each tag with a Pipe (|) character with no spaces. You could for example have tags with brand names, type of material e.g. Denim, periods of time e.g. WW2, or similar.
  • Days to Ship -
    • Optional
      • If particular products have a delay prior to shipping out then you can stipulate this under the 'Days to Ship' column.
    • For example, if you're producing bespoke items or manufacturing from scratch then add the time period prior to shipping here. Again, this is optional, but it's useful to keep the customer informed and to manage their expectations.
  • VAT Rates -
    • Recommended
      • Each Product line requires a VAT Rate; Standard, Reduced, Exempt or Zero. This is a Strongly Recommended column, especially if you have any Reduced, Exempt or Zero rated products. Otherwise this will default to Standard 20%.  If you're unsure which rate to apply to your product, check out the HMRC VAT page [here](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/rates-of-vat-on-different-goods-and-services).
  • Product Variants -
    • Optional
      • Most products will have a variant of some kind, whether that is a choice of colour, size, scent or taste or a combination of them.
        • Note: Each variant for the product needs to be entered into the Variant section on the line directly underneath the product name. You will see that the variant name (Colour) is repeated with each different colour option.
    • Note: The first variant should be in column AP "(41) Variant Name" with any subsequent variants being in columns 43 and 45. You can enter specific prices, weights, weight units, quantities as well as SKUs for each variant if needed. The VAT Rate, Days to Ship, Attributes, Images, Visibility, and Categories are set at the Product Level.
    • If you have multiple variants for example, a t-shirt that comes in 2 colours and 3 sizes you will need to add each option as a variant. Your products can have up to 3 variant names e.g. size, colour and material.
    • If you need more than this please get in touch with the Support team to discuss further.

Other Fields:

  • ID Number:
    • Leave this column blank. Once your import template is uploaded the Platform will automatically create a unique ID for each product. SKU: Required The Stock Keeping Unit field is included to aid inventory management and for product identification. The Stor platform can auto-generate an SKU for your product from the Product Edit page if needed in the future. Just click the wand icon within the Product Edit page under the Detail panel as shown below.
    • Note: To avoid import errors, each product should have either a Unique Product Title OR a Product Title AND Unique SKU.
  • Visibility:
    • This column allows you to set the product as Disabled (not active) or Enabled (active) on your shop Front. You can edit these manually later in your Shop's admin area if needed. This could be used in cases where you need to add further information like the product description or for items that are out of stock.
  • Price/Sale Price/RRP/Cost Price:
    • If you have this information already then you can add these to the relevant columns. All prices, excluding Cost Price are visible on the front-end of your shop so ensure that these are correct prior to uploading.
  • Quantity:
    • If you know how many products you have in stock then you can add the Quantity here. If you have an unlimited supply then simply leave this field blank.
  • Descriptions: You have 2 fields for descriptions; short and long.
    • The Short Description can be viewed on Product Previews and is limited to 550 characters.
    • The Long description is visible on the Product Page and does not have a limit.
  • Hide Product if Zero Stock or Sold (true/false):
    • If you want to hide the product once the stock level reaches 0 then set this option to 'TRUE'. Otherwise you can set this to 'FALSE', in which case the product will remain visible on your shop with an 'Out of Stock' label. 
  • Weight & Weight Units:
    • This information is used to calculate shipping rates (if setup by cart weight) and is not visible on the shop front. The units available for weight are Kilograms (kg), grams (g), pounds (lb) and ounces (oz).
  • Pre-Order & Pre-Order Release Date:
    • If you're bringing new products to the market or adding new products to your inventory you can start building hype and accepting pre-orders by using this feature. If you want to accept pre-orders set the 'Pre-Order' column to 'TRUE' and add a 'Pre-order Release Date' in yyyy-mm-dd format in the relevant column.

Work Sheet Setup

In order to upload successfully your import sheet needs to have certain limits set.

These are:

  • All Cells must be set as "General" - you can quickly do this by selecting all (CTRL+A or CMD+A) and Cell Category (under Format Cells option) to 'General'
  • Borders, text size, text formatting, colours, etc will not effect the import.  
  • Price columns should not have currency symbols. e.g. 9.99 rather than £9.99
  • Save the sheet as a CSV document

Upload Your Edited File

Once you're happy with the product information in the file, including descriptions, pricing, weights, VAT rates, etc. then go ahead and 'Choose [the] File' then hit the 'Import' button.

This will bring up a preview of the first 5-10 products so you can double check you're happy with them and everything is matching up okay.

Simply hit the 'Import Product Data' once again. Depending on how many products you are adding, this may take some time. Grab a cup of tea and we'll send you an email once it's all done.

If you have any queries about this feel free to get in touch with our Support team on Live Chat or via email.

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