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

 

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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

 

 

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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 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.

 

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.

 

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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:   Clothing > Pants > Denim Collection > 2017 > AW17 Men > Bottoms > Casual Pants > Denim 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

 

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. 

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. 

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.

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.

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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! 

 

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What's next?

• Learn about the process of importing your products
• Learn how to upload and import assets
• Learn how to set up automated imports

 

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

 

and please let us know 👇