Add Products Via Upload | Brightpearl Video Lecture | Using Brightpearl: Product Management - Data & Analytics

in this video we're going to see how to
import new products into Brightpearl
using an excel file first of all we're
going to have a look at the process and
then we're going to have a look at a few
tips and tricks so it's a four-step
process we need to create what we call a
data map in bright pole which defines
the columns we're going to import then
we'll create the spreadsheet save it
import the file in test mode to make
sure the data is okay and then finally
import the file to actually create the
products so the first thing we need to
do is create a data map go to set up and
then data / import and then click inbox
this takes you to the list of data maps
where you can create a new data map or
work with one of your existing ones so
let's have a look at the one we have at
the moment let's click Edit on the
left-hand side we can see the columns
that this data map contains sku through
to a couple of price lists and then on
the right-hand side of columns that we
can choose to add into this data map if
we want to once you've built your data
map scroll down and click Save next what
you might want to do is click export
sample which gives you an excel file
that contains the column headers so
here's an empty XLS file into which
would paste our data we've got the
product SKU the name-brand category
whether we manage stock for these items
or not the item weight and it doesn't
matter what unit you use here as long as
you're consistent whether it's taxable
or not in sales tax mode or if you're in
the UK or V 80 countries then the tax
code itself t 1 t 20 and so on and then
as many price lists as you choose to
import and the prices exclude tax save
the file in XLS format which in this
version of Excel is called xl5 / 95 and
now you're ready to import so going back
to our bright pile account from the data
map screen click import on the data map
we're going to use on the left hand side
you can see all the column headers that
we've got in our spreadsheet and on the
right hand side we've got some options
let's quickly run through the
top one is the option we're going to use
when we actually do the import but if we
don't tick that it's just a test run you
can click to be emailed a report which
is pretty useful and then you can tick
to skip items not found using the match
column a which is this skew the first
column and you'd use that when you're
updating data so that's going to skip
products that don't exist in right pal
but in this particular import we want to
create products so we don't want to skip
them just to clarify that if a product
is found in bright pub with the same
skew as the one you give in column a
that product will be updated not created
you can also use other values in that
first column such as Brightpearl product
ID which is useful if you're using a
bright pole product export for a further
import to then update products we've
also got the option to create any
missing brands and create any missing
categories so you can use the import to
create this data and then this final
option here we can choose to update data
only rather than create products so for
now we're just going to do a test run
import the file and then upload this
uploads the file and then takes you back
to the import screen where you've got
any messages displayed on screen so
because we've got brands in the
spreadsheet that don't exist in bright
pole Cisco for example we've got an
error here so we can't create a product
with that brand unless the brand exists
and similarly telephones is not a valid
category so what we can actually do is
reinforce the file and create these from
the spreadsheet so let's untok skip
items but this time we're going to
create missing brands and create missing
categories upload the file but we can
see there are no problems the brand
cisco has been added the category
telephones has been added and also
category reuters has been added we
haven't yet created any products because
we didn't take the import values at the
top so this time we're going to actually
import the file to create the products
take to import on tick skip items choose
the file and then upload we're taken
back to the import screen where the
message says that two products have been
created
if I do a product search for the ones
that I've just imported we can see the
products that we've just imported let's
compare that to the spreadsheet file
which I've got at the bottom of the
screen here the skew and the name manage
stock has been selected as yes which
means that there's a number in here
rather than a dash and it's important to
mention that inventory levels are
imported as a separate step from
creating products the weight the tax and
the prices of course they're coming from
our spreadsheet as well if I drop into
one of these products we can see that
the brand cisco has been created as well
as a couple of categories Reuters and
telephones now that you've seen how it
all works let's go into a bit more
detail so this slide shows us the
required columns that we need when we're
creating new products in bright pole
that's the name the brand and the
category the sku is not actually
required but definitely recommended
because it's what you use for uniquely
identifying this product both with later
spreadsheet imports but also as you
integrate with other sales channels
other recommended columns include the
prices don't forget prices exclude tax
whether you manage Dok levels yes or no
if you're in the UK import the tax class
if you're in the u.s. import taxable yes
or no one or zero import the weight and
don't forget variant information such as
size or color and then it's quite often
useful to import the supplier
information to other things to bear in
mind that all products are imported with
a default product type if you want to
update your products later to a certain
product type you can do so by importing
the type as a custom field then looking
up these products by custom field and
batch updating using the product list
screen in bright pole if you've got lots
of products to import we recommend a
maximum of 1,000 items per file and that
speeds up the process make sure your
import file is XL 95 which is an xls
ending not an xlsx make sure your xls
file has headers that match your data
map and the system will reject your file
if they don't match you can use the
import process to create new values for
brands category and option values but
you can't actually create the options
themselves so if size already exists
that's great
you can add small medium and large by
import but if size didn't exist you'd
actually have to create sides first
similarly you need to create suppliers
before you can import products and
assign them to those suppliers if you
want to create lots of bundles from a
spreadsheet then create the products
first and the components and then import
a later file to update those to connect
the components into the bundle and
there's a separate video that shows you
how to create bundles by spreadsheet
let's also have a look at some tips for
managing Product data in Excel so good
tip is not to start skews or barcodes
with a zero because XL often formats the
cell is a number which means you'll lose
this leading zero products queues need
to be less than 32 characters and all
products should have a unique skew and
that's a unique skew for each of your
variance so small medium and large would
all have their own skew if you're
importing categories make sure the names
are unique Brightpearl doesn't support
the import of hierarchical categories so
what you'll need to do is create your
category structure and Brightpearl first
and then import the file to assign
products to those categories so before I
show you another demo there's an
important note here about importing
variance so products with the same name
are automatically grouped in Brightpearl
into a product group and each of those
products becomes a variant so each
variant needs to have unique option
values and every variant must also have
a value for all of the options and to
show you what I mean by that let's have
a look at this red example below so
we've got four products let's say they
will have the same name variants a b c
and d the first variant is size small
color red then we also have medium red
and we've got another size small and
another size medium but these ones don't
have a color which means that this grid
is not fully populated every option does
not have a value and that's invalid and
the system will complain when you try to
import that if we import it red for
these two then again would not have
unique values because we'd have variant
a and variance see that were both small
red so what we need to do is play this
green example is to make sure that every
option has a value and that every
combination of these is unique so now
let's see how to import products with
variants into bright
we've got a spreadsheet here that's very
similar to the one we imported a while
ago and this first product here the sony
phone doesn't have any options there's
no sighs and no color the generic phone
case however these next three items does
have three different colors it's not got
any sizes so that's fine this is just a
product that has a color and then the
final products that we Tooting cap have
size and color and you can see that each
of these variations are unique and each
of them has their own skew so what I
need to do now is go back to my data map
and add the size and color columns so
from the data map screen I just click
Edit and then on the right hand side
because i already have color in size i
click the + to add them to the left and
then i need to make sure they're in the
right order so i just drag them around
we've got size and color and then save
going to import gives me all the columns
on the left hand side which match my
spreadsheet I won't tick to import I'll
first of all do a test run I luntik skip
items but I'm going to tick create
missing option values which will add the
colors and sizes if they don't already
exist in Brightpearl create missing
brands and create missing categories
there's good practice to have those
ticked if you know that your data is
good let's choose the file and then
upload it so just like before it's added
any values that were missing we've added
a brand's Sonia category cases a color
that wasn't in bright pole before and
then a category clothing and then a
further color so it looks like all of
our sizes were already in Brightpearl
the next thing we need to do is actually
import the file so let's click to import
untok skip choose the file and then
import
all late products have been created
successfully so now let's do a product
search for those cases and here we've
got three phone cases see that they've
all got the same name which is what
groups them into a product group and
then the color is red black or purple
similarly if I search for the cap let's
go for shooting we can see four
different shooting caps each of which
you've got two different options so size
and color so that takes us to the end of
the video where we see how to create new
products in bright pearl from an excel
file there are a few other documents
that are well worth reading one is
understanding skews so search on Google
for that bright pearl understanding
skews and the other one is managing your
data so designing your product database
have a look at our resources area for
more information