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      Importing Data: Preparing Your CSV

      How to set up a successful product import into the Plytix platform

      In this article, you will learn how to structure a CSV file to successfully import data into the Plytix platform. We will go over suggestions for sanitizing data, the required fields, and how to import different entities like categories, variants, and relationships.

       

      Creating Your Master Spreadsheet(s)

      Required Fields and Settings

      Other System Fields

      Custom Fields

       

      * Skip to any section in this article by clicking on the links above

       

       

      Creating Your Master Spreadsheet(s)

      To make sure data is uniform when entering Plytix, we suggest creating a sanitized master spreadsheet or spreadsheets. To test the importer and your formatting, start with a small selection of your products.

      The functions below will help you reformat your data from multiple sources.

       

      Google Sheets

      Excel

      Merge Sheets

      Consolidate data in multiple sheets

      Merge Values

      Combine text

      Remove Duplicates

      Find and remove duplicates

      Split Names

      Split a cell

      Advanced Find and Replace

      		  

      Find Fuzzy Matches

      		  

       

      ⚠️  CSV Files cannot be more than 20MB 

       

       

      Required Fields and Settings

      SKUs

      All products in Plytix must have a unique SKU. This is how we identify your products in the system. Your spreadsheet must include one SKU column. These SKUs are not limited by characters and can include a combination of letters and numbers.

       

      ⚠️ The SKU is required. If you do not include a column with SKUs, you will be unable to complete the import.

       

      The SKU is the only required field. This is one of the 7 pre-defined attributes (system attributes) that you can import into Plytix. All other product information can be created using unlimited user-defined attributes.

       

      💡 For your first import, we suggest gathering a small sample of your data (20-50 products and 5-10 attributes) to get familiar with the PIM. If you're unsure of what attributes to include with your products, take a look at Lesson 2 in our Plytix Academy.

      Required Settings

      In your spreadsheet:

      1. The first row of your sheet must include headers to identify attributes in each column
      2. There must be one product per row. Each row below the header row will be read by the PIM as a separate, unique product.
      3. All values of an attribute must be contained to one cell

      Attributes with multiple values such as colors, materials, etc. must be contained to one cell in that row, separated by a delimiter like a comma. You'll be able to choose a format such as multi-select or dropdown for these kinds of attributes during the import process.

      ℹ️  When importing attributes with multiple values, you can use a different separator other than a comma by configuring the import settings.

       

       

      Other System Fields

      The Plytix platform has 5 other pre-defined fields, or system attributes, that can match with your information upon import. These are all optional.

       

      Categories

      Variant Of

      Thumbnail 

      GTIN

      Label 

      Categories

      Plytix Categories is a special hierarchy attribute. Each root category can have up to 6 subcategories contained within it. To import category structures, follow the instructions and example below:

      1. Category structures (categories and subcategories) need to be defined with a separator (the examples will use the default separator ">")
      2. If a product is in multiple categories, separate category structures with a comma

      For example:

       

      A pair of pants could have the following category hierarchies:

       

      1. Clothing > Pants > Denim
      2. Collection > 2017 > AW17
      3. Men > Bottoms > Casual Pants > Denim
      4. Men’s Clearance > Denim

       

      In a cell it would look like this:


      Clothing>Pants>Denim,Collection>2017>AW17,Men>Bottoms>Casual Pants>Denim,Men’s Clearance>Denim

       

      ℹ️  The ‘>‘ sign is the default option used to define the hierarchy of the categories from top to bottom. To keep the multiple values in the same cell, we separate them with a comma (other options for defining hierarchies and separating values may be used, and can be set during import).

      Variant Of: Defining Product Links for Variants and Sub-variants

      The "Variant of" system attribute allows you to define the link between product levels.
      This means that if your product is a variant or sub-variant, you can define the SKU of the product in the level above it in the "Variant of" field. 

      In the example below, the Parent product is a t-shirt (SKU "NSP-10172-P") that comes in multiple colors (variants). Each color comes in multiple sizes (sub-variants).

      In the spreadsheet, the "White T-Shirt" variant is linked to the parent SKU in the "Variant of" column. And, each size of the white t-shirt (i.e., XL, XS, etc) is linked to the white variant SKU in the "Variant of" column. 

      Importing Data Preparing Your CSV - subvariants (1)To import variants and sub-variants correctly, make sure that:

        • The SKU noted in the "Variant of" column is in the level right above the product you're importing. For example, a variant will always be linked to a parent, while a sub-variant will always be linked to a variant.

        • Parent products are at Level 1 so they should always have the "Variant of" column empty. 

      💡 Parents of variants can be sellable or non-sellable products. While no company is the same, we recommend setting them up as non-sellable products. Learn why here.

      Thumbnail

      The Thumbnail system attribute can also be defined upon import. The Thumbnail is the product's visual identifier in the system. This also requires a public URL to be imported.

      GTIN

      The GTIN system attribute is an optional unique identifier in Plytix and is compatible with EANs, UPCs, and other Global Trade Identification Numbers. This attribute will validate the structure of the GTIN and its uniqueness, prohibiting any duplicates.

      💡 If you are facing issues validating your GTIN value, we recommend using a website such as this one to identify the right digits for your barcode number.

      Label

      The Label system attribute is the product's textual identifier in the system. This corresponds to your product's name or title. We suggest using a descriptive product name to give a clear idea of the item you're selling.

      Custom Fields

      Custom Attributes

      You can create an unlimited number of custom fields in Plytix. These are called Custom Attributes. These can all be created upon import.

      Learn about the different attribute types you can create in this article.

       

      Now that you have all you need to create a sparkling spreadsheet, you are ready to import your products! 

       

       

      What's next?

       

      If you have any questions just click on the chat box in the bottom-right corner and we'll be happy to answer them...

       

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