Upload product data

Catalog management

Uploading data involves two different steps, namely the product data feed and the sales details feed (offer data). Below, we take a closer look at the product data feed.

Product data needs to be uploaded to the backend first. This is necessary because otherwise, it’s impossible to assign the accurate sales details to each product.

Product data is information that doesn't change much, such as the relevant product categories, MPNs and manufacturer/brand names.

 

Formats

  • .csv (default format as UTF-8, works for all uploads)
  • .xlsx
  • .xml / BMEcat (BMEcat requires manual conversion)

Creating the files

When it comes to importing and creating product master data, you’ve got two options. One is using a excel template from mirakl, the other one is exporting the data from your PIM system.

However, we recommend you export the data yourself and configure them in line with the Conrad requirements using the Mapping Wizard provided by the shop system backend.     

Below, we’ve compiled information about attributes relevant to the product data feed.
It includes both details on mandatory attributes and some pointers on recommended attributes that will help you increase the visibility of your products on our platform.

<= List of mandatory attributes (products)
Mandatory attributes (products)
Product category  (Code: category)
Please provide a category for each item (either smallest subcategory or entire category tree). 
Assigning your product to the lowest level is mandatory and one of the most important foundations for sales success. It is therefore important to ensure that the assignment is factually correct.
  • The category has a significant influence on how well your product is later found by the shop search or how many relevant impressions you get via external entries.
  • The category also controls the possible and required product features. This means that you may have to specify mandatory attributes for your product even though they do not apply.
Seller Product ID (Code: Product.SellerProductID)
The unique product code you use to identify the product and its orders. Usually, this is the product ID assigned by your ERP system. This ID will later also be the reference for uploading your offers and order processing.
Product title  (Code: SHOP.PRODUCT.TITLE) 
Keep content unambiguous: each product is unique and thus should be given its own name.
The name of a product must be at least 20 characters and can be up to 120 characters.
Depending on ranking, channel and mobile device used to view the page, titles might be truncated.
Some search engines (e.g. Reco Engine) truncate titles with more than 70 characters to save space. Please make sure that the first 70 characters of each title describe the product in a distinguishable manner. Google PLAs are limited to 70 characters by default.
Start with purpose/item title, brand and MPN/type, followed by other product features sorted by importance. Research the keywords, no generalisation. Use descriptive names/titles as this improves findability and helps customers engage.
Add additional keywords afterwards.

Brand  (Code: ATT.GLOBAL.Brandname) 
Please provide the product brand name.

The detailed requirements for creating new brands can be found here.

Manufacturer’s part number / MPN (Code: ATT.GLOBAL.ManufacturerAID) 
Unique manufacturing part number (MPN.) The MPNs are crucial when it comes to online product findability and matching on price comparison sites.
All brands (i.e. items not classified as "no name" products) require an MPN.
Sales unit / Selling unit of measure (Code: Product.BaseUnit) 
Provide the sales unit of your product. Choose one of the following units:
Piece: One unit, may also include accessories if applicable. Examples: One tube of glue, one notepad, one digital camera + battery + charger.
Pair: Two units of the same kind constitute a pair. Example: Gloves (as selling one single glove doesn’t make sense.)
Pack: Multiple identical products that are sold together. Example: 10 highlighters in one wrapper.
Meter: Product is sold by the metre. Prices are quoted per metre. Example: Cables. HOWEVER, tape is sold as a piece or pack.
Note:
Sales units are unrelated to unit prices, to SKUs and to the order units you want us to use when purchasing a product.
Content / Content units per selling unit (Code: ATT.GLOBAL.NoCUperOU)
Specify the content (numerical). “Piece” refers to one item. “Pair” refers to two items. “Pack” usually means more than one piece.
Content quantity unit  (Code: ATT.GLOBAL.NoCUperOU__UNIT) 
Unit describing the sold quantity of a product.
For instance, if you sell a pack of 10 identical items, you need to choose “piece” (i.e. “10 pcs”.) 
Other content quantities are g, kg, ml, l, cm, m, m².
VAT - Sales (Code: Product.TaxIndicator) 
VAT rate applicable to the product. Usually, this means the standard rate (e. g. 19 percent in Germany). Reduced rates might apply to books or food.
<= List of recommended attributes (products)
Recommended attributes (products)
EAN / GTIN for Item as sold  (Code: Product.EAN.Main_MP)
Please enter the EAN / GTIN of the sales unit.
Leave blank if no EAN applies because you do not stock the item yourself. If this is the case, make sure you complete the “Brand” and “MPN” fields instead.
Unique selling points  (Code: ATT.Text.ProductFeatures)
List any deal making and distinguishing features of the product. -> Start with the most discernible ones.
  • Provide the same content in the same order and use the same spelling across similar categories.
  • Put a middle dot (·) after each feature.
  • Do not use bullets or other types of bulleted lists.
  • Repeating the main technical specs helps customers navigate
Commercial text (Code: ATT.Text.ProductTextLong)
  • Running text in the form of prose, use of HTML tags allowed (<br />, <p>, <b>, <em>, etc)
  • No listings of product features.
  • Create easy-to-read content, focussing on product highlights and resulting user benefits.
  • Structured writing (paragraphs).
  • Include keywords
Keywords (Code: ATT.CPCS.ArticleKeywords)
Select keywords for individual products to optimise SERP rankings. Separate keywords or phrases separated by a comma. Do not use general terms such as product categories or practical examples, make sure you choose the accurate synonyms.

Productimage 1 URL  (Code: Product.PrimaryImageURL_MP) 

  • Product image link (URL) for the main product image 
    example: https://servername/imagename1.jpg
  • Accepted file types: PNG, JPG, TIF, GIF, WebP 
  • Minimum short side size: 500 pixels (Recommended: 1000 pixels)
  • Minimum file size: 350 kB (Recommended: 1.6 MB ; Maximum up to 10 MB)

For each item, you can use all other attribute fields for product images, illustrations, symbols or even PDFs for data sheets, operating instructions and more.
Be sure to always follow the requirements of the PDF document from the site 
 => product image requirements !

please note:
1. Cloud storage (e.g. Google Drive, Dropbox, Apple iDrive, YouTube, Vimeo, etc.) does not work as a file source for the marketplace. This applies to all media, whether images, videos or PDFs.
2. Some systems restrict access to deep links. To ensure that access is not interpreted and blocked as crawler or bot attacks, it would be important to allow access (whitelist).

 

 Carbon footprint (Code: Product.CO2.Footprint)

Optionally you can include information per item about the CO2 footprint.
We can include and publish your informations information in the product data.
Source: https://klimapi.com/de/use-cases/ecommerce

Attention: specification refers to 1 sales unit!

Carbon footprint UNIT (Code: Product.CO2.Footprint__UNIT)
Description: List of values for Product.CO2.Footprint 

Type = Value List:
kg CO2e  (code: unece.unit.kgCO2e) 

Please also note and submit attributes that may be legally necessary depending on the product group.
Follow the rules of the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)

Find more about in the following examples: 
- erweiterte Herstellerverantwortung (EPR)
    - ElektroG / WEEE

A complete overview of all individual attributes can be viewed directly: 

Marketplace-Configuration

More details here: Manage Product Data
 

If data export from your systems is not possible for individual reasons, an Excel template could also be filled and uploaded manually. More about it here:

manual upload via mirakl Excel template

1. Configure & Download

Mirakl Menu  -> "Price and Stock" -> “File Imports” 
On the right side under File Templates, select the Excel template under "Products and Offers". This means you have product information and the associated offer in one document.


“Select Attribute Requirement Level”:  All
Tip:
It is better for you as a seller to maintain a lot of product information so that your product is easier to find and more appealing to the customer.

“Select the category” :
Using the search bar, you can quickly and easily find the correct category without having to manually click through the structure. Tick the according product categories. (Maximum 100 categories can be selected per document)
Then use the “Create template” button below and, once generated, download it locally using the “Download” button.
You can also rename the downloaded file, for example with the category it contains.

2.  Edit

Open the downloaded file in Excel. The table is divided into two main areas. Columns with green headers refer to technical data about the product, while columns with blue headers are referring to the offer information for that product .

Once the drop down menu in column “A” has been activated and categories have been selected, the cells are changing their colour to red, yellow and white. Cells highlighted in red are mandatory and must be filled out in order to import the products. Yellow fields are recommended to use, white fields are optional.

We strongly recommend filling out as many fields as possible to provide the customer with as accurate information as possible. This also improves your findability and visibility on the website.

Tip:
In the 2nd tab (ReferenceData) you will find possible lists of values; i.e. all usable values for the respective attribute (terms that mirakl already knows) 

3. Upload

Once you are finished editing the file, upload it to mirakl as described below in this docu.

Tip:
Even if the file contains product and offer data, for technical reasons we would like to ask you to upload this first as a "products" file and then the same file again as a "offer" file.

Archive your file because it will be needed again for every update!

 

 

Import Options

There are different ways to import product data:

FTP server

Mirakl allows setting up a server connection that enables automated product data imports. Log in to:

"Settings"=>"Shop" and there the Tab: "Imports"’

Here’s a short checklist with information you need to provide to ensure a working server connection:

  • Transfer Protocol (only HTTPS or SFTP)
  • Host / server address
  • Port
  • File path (without host)
  • Login details (username and password)

Product data uploads are limited to “Normal” import mode. For instance, any changes made to product titles will be applied automatically when you import an updated file. 

 

API

Product data, offer data and pricing data need to be uploaded using separate access points.

  • Product data upload -> Access point P41
  • Offer data upload -> Access point OF01 (“Normal”, “Delete & Replace” import mode)
  • Pricing data upload -> Access point PRI01 (“Delete & Replace” import mode only)

Import Manually

You can upload product data manually by using the Mirakl dialogue box.
To do so, go to "Catalog"

Here you can “Track Product Imports” and view the respective files and created error reports that help you rectify any mistakes. 

New product imports are done here using the button "Import products"  at the top right of the page.

Common product data import errors

Importing product information doesn’t always work right away. There are many reasons why your first attempt to create product master data might fail. This is why you always need to check the import history, looking for error reports. Likely errors are either data conversion errors or errors occurring during data integration.

Download your Product import error reports "Non-integrated products report" and/or "Source file error report" in your mirakl account menue "Catalog" > "See details"

 

You can find information and solutions to the different error messages in this article:

Product Import Errors

Legally relevant problems are listed in your dashboards in the Seller Portal. Check there regularly to rectify errors.

 

 

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