Required Files for Importing Products

This article describes the files (content, configuration, and format) required to import products into your DecoNetwork Fulfillment Center. See the article, Importing Products, for a tutorial on how to import products.

To completely configure a single product, the following components are required:

• Product Data
• Marketing Images
• Product View Images/Templates

Files need to be created for each of these components.

Introduction to CSV Files

CSV stands for Comma Separated Values, a file format (.csv) used for spreadsheets. For the purpose of DecoNetwork product import, CSV files contain the data relevant to the products you are looking to add.

When you create or view a CSV file using a text editor, each entry represents a cell in the spreadsheet. A comma indicates where each entry ends and another one begins. The first line represents the column headers, i.e. the field names. Each subsequent line represents the product data for those fields.

You may also find working with CSV files easier in a spreadsheet application such as Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, or OpenOffice Calc.

Sample Files

Example complete import dataset (Download)
(SKU CSV file, Color Palette CSV file, Size Chart CSV file, Sales images, Size Chart images, PSD template product images, and PNG product images)

Product Data

Three sets of information make up the product data:

• SKU data
• Color data
• Size data

Each data component requires a separate CSV file to be created.

SKU data

The product SKU data CSV file contains the main product information used to build the products. It includes information such as the product's name, description, code, color name, size, price, and category. The first line of your product CSV must include the field headers, explained below. Each new row contains the data for each product SKU.

Product SKU Data file Column Headings and Content

The following are a product's style fields. Only fields that stop import if excluded are marked as "Required" however other fields are still recommended (depending on your requirements).

• ProductName – Required – The name of the product
• ProductDescription – The description of the product can be plain text or HTML-formatted
• Supplier – The name of the vendor that supplies the product. This must be an existing Supplier already configured under Admin > Products > Supplier Account Details.
• Brand – Required – The name of the brand under which the product is marketed (This field must be provided for each SKU. If some products do not have a brand, use, "Generic", as the value)
• DNProductType – Required – The name of the Product Group that your products will be filed into. This must be an existing Product Group already configured under Admin > Products > Product Groups.
• VendorStyleMatchKey – Only add this column in the rare scenario that your product SKU data includes product styles from different brands that share the same VendorProductCode. In that scenario, you can use this field to keep the styles from unintentionally merging. The recommended value for this field is Brand+VendorProductCode.
• VendorProductCode – Required – The style number for a product (MUST be unique for each style)
• VendorSkuCode – Required – The SKU number for the product (MUST be unique for each line)
• ColorName – Required – The color name for the SKU line. This should match a color name already in the system for the Brand or one defined in the color palette CSV file (If the product has multiple colors, separate using a '/' i.e. White/Red).
• SizeCode – The size code for the SKU i.e. S, M, L, XL
• SizeName – The size name for the SKU i.e. Small, Medium, Large, X-Large
• SubSizeCode – The sub-size code for the SKU. Sub sizes are typical on products like pants where you have a waist size and leg length (eg. regular length). The format for the sub-size code is written with the size code as a prefix separated by the "-" character. For example:

  • 82-reg (where 82 is the size code and reg is the sub-size code)

  • 87-reg

  • 87-reg

• SubSizeName – The sub-size name for the SKU. Sub sizes are typical on products like pants where you have a waist size and leg length (eg. regular length).
• Category1 – Each product can be assigned to 3 categories through the import. Column headings are labeled Category1, Category2, Category3. (You can specify sub-categories, separated by the | character. i.e. Apparel|Mens|Shirts). Category structure will be based on the default category of the assigned Product Group. If you prefer the category structure to be based on the root level, add a separator at the beginning of your value (i.e. |Apparel|Mens|Shirts)
• ColorPaletteName – Required – Filename of color data CSV palette file used to look at color codes (Should be unique to a brand see "Color data" section below for more details)
• SizeTable – Filename of size data CSV.
• SizeChartImage – Filename of the size chart image for the product.
• LifestyleImage – Filename of the marketing image used to promote the product. A single lifestyle image can be specified per product and will be shared across all product SKUs.
• ProductViews – This field contains names of the products' views separated by the | character. i.e. Front|Back|Left Sleeve|Right Sleeve (A maximum of 4 views is supported through import).
• VIEW IMAGES - View images can be provided as dynamic PSD templates or flat PNG or JPG images. A product style should use one type of image or the other, not both. You cannot for example use a PSD template for view 1 and a PNG image for view 2. A product style should use the same type of image for all its views. The import process supports specifying up to 4 views. (see more details about preparing images in the section "Product View Images/Templates" below)
  • DecorationTemplate1 – Filename of the PSD file used for the first view defined in 'ProductViews' field
  • DecorationTemplate2 – Filename of the PSD file used for the second view defined in 'ProductViews' field
  • DecorationTemplate3 – Filename of the PSD file used for the third view defined in 'ProductViews' field
  • DecorationTemplate4 – Filename of the PSD file used for the fourth view defined in 'ProductViews' field
    
    
  • OR
    
    
  • ViewSrc1 – Filename of the PNG/JPG image used for the first view defined in 'ProductViews' field
  • ViewSrc2 – Filename of the PNG/JPG image used for the second view defined in 'ProductViews' field
  • ViewSrc3 – Filename of the PNG/JPG image used for the third view defined in 'ProductViews' field
  • ViewSrc4 – Filename of the PNG/JPG image used for the fourth view defined in 'ProductViews' field
• PRICING - Product pricing can be set either at the SKU level or at the style/color level. If you want your products to use SKU-based selling prices, use the PiecePrice column. If you want to use color group pricing instead, use the VendorRetail column.
  
  You can also include both and the system will use VendorRetail as the selling price and PiecePrice as the cost price.
  • VendorRetail - Sets the product selling price using one of three color groups white/light/dark in conjunction with size modifiers. (see more details about this price mode in the section "DecoNetwork Product Pricing Structure" below).
    
    If the PiecePrice column is not included, the VendorRetail field will also determine a product's cost price.
  • PiecePrice - This field sets the cost price (used in the purchase order step) using SKU-level pricing.
    
    If the VendorRetail column is not included, the PiecePrice field will also determine a product's selling price using SKU-based pricing mode.
• AND/OR
• DiscountName - the name of the volume discount table that will be assigned to the product. The name specified must belong to a discount table already configured under Admin > Products > Volume Discounts.
• ShippingHeight – The height of the product once it's prepared for packaging
• ShippingWidth – The width of the product once it's prepared for packaging
• ShippingLength – The length of the product once it's prepared for packaging
• ShippingWeight – The weight of the product
• GTIN – The Global Trade Item Number for the product (not required)
• SpecSheet – The filename of the PDF product spec sheet
• VendorCostType - The cost-type setting of the product. Use values 1 to 4 to denote how the cost (specified for each PiecePrice) is applied as follows:
  1. Single cost across all SKUs
  2. Price x Height/Width/Length
  3. Price x Height/Width/Length by size
  4. Full SKU table pricing

DecoNetwork Product Pricing Structure

NOTE: DecoNetwork now supports SKU-based pricing using the PiecePrice column. If you want to price using color type groups instead read on about the VendorRetail column.

VendorRetail pricing model groups related SKUs into light, white, and dark color types, then has size modifiers. See the table below to get an understanding of what this means.

When looking at this data, you can see the product style shown has 32 SKUs (8 colors x 4 sizes). However Vendor retail only supports 12 prices in this example (3 color types x 4 sizes).

For best results when importing data using VendorRetail, make sure the data is already grouped and priced accordingly into White / Light / Dark Pricing.

If the pricing contained within the import file is not grouped accordingly, DecoNetwork will make intelligent decisions on how to import and group the data during the process, however, the end result may not match expectations. Best to group and price the Skus before import!

Here is a quick example using the above data as the base scenario.

The Fulfillment Center owner wants to update the pricing for his yellow/white combination. He edits his yellow/white combination to be $12.

He doesn’t update white and grey combinations of small to also be $12.

When he re-imports, the system will see the change. However, as yellow is now at a higher price than the white combination for small, it will move yellow up to light. This will mean the yellow pricing for the other sizes also reflects the light pricing.

NOTE: When using this pricing method, make sure of is that the product type the data is being imported into supports White/Light/Dark pricing. Otherwise, the prices will be merged back into 1 base price (still with size modifiers).

Color data

The color data CSV file contains color names and the RGB values for each color name specified in the Product SKU data file. The color data file name should be linked to from within the Product SKU file (ColorPaletteName field). DecoNetwork uses this information to render the product colors.

Color data file Column Headings and Content

It's important to mention that imported colors are tied to a Brand and a named color can only have one value per brand. For example, if you are importing Product X and Product Y from Gildan, and both have a Red color option, both will use the same RGB value for the color Red. For this reason, all product styles from the same brand should use the same color data CSV file. You can choose to create a separate sheet for each brand being imported or you can use a single sheet that will apply the same values across all brands.

If your SKU data contained multi-color product styles ie. White/Red you should split each of these colors on its own line in the color data file. i.e. White will be a row with its value and Red will be a separate row with its value.

The following fields are required in the color data file if you are using Hexadecimal (RGB) values to define each color.

• ColorName - Name of the color (i.e. Black)
• Hex1 - Hexadecimal (RGB) value of the color (i.e. #000000)

The following fields are required in the color data file if you are using decimal Red, Green, and Blue values to define each color.

• ColorName - Name of the color (i.e. White)
• Red1 - The decimal value (0 to 255) representing the level of red in the color being defined
• Green1 - The decimal value (0 to 255) representing the level of green in the color being defined
• Blue1 - The decimal value (0 to 255) representing the level of blue in the color being defined

Size data

The size data CSV file contains the physical dimensions of the product (i.e. chest measurements) for each product size. The size data file name should be linked to from within the Product SKU file (SizeTable field).

Size Chart SKU Data file Column Headings and Content

The following fields are required in the Size Chart SKU data file to define product sizes.

• Area - This is the name of the area in which measurements are being provided (i.e. Chest).
• Size field(s) - A separate column should be added for each size code in which sizes are being provided (i.e. S, M, L, XL).

Here's an example with the required area column and four additional size columns added.

Product SKU data, color, and size relationship

When you import the files, the system cross-references the data in the CSV files to match the data to configure the products, render the product colors, and generate the size charts accordingly.

The ColorName value specified in the product SKU data file ( A ) is used to look up the ColorName value in the product color values file ( B ), which renders the product in the correct color using the RGB value ( C ).

The SizeCode value specified in the product SKU data file ( 1 ) is used to look up the matching SizeCode value in the product size chart file ( 2 ), which generates the size chart on the front-end website ( 3 ).

The relationship between the files is illustrated in the following image:

Marketing Images

Marketing images are JPG/PNG images used to present the product on the website. These include sales images and size chart images which give context to the measurements used in the size chart.

Sales image

Size chart image

Product View Images/Templates

Product view images are the product images that will be shown to your consumer when viewing the product details page or when viewing the product in the design tool. These should be flat views of the product by itself in a way suitable for use in the design tool or to create decorated products. A typical garment might have four view images: Front, Back, Left Side, and Right Side.

These images can be provided in one of two ways: Dynamic template or Flat image. There are use cases for each of these types of images.

Decoration Template Image - useful for products with multiple color variants which is typical for garments. These are specially prepared Photoshop document (PSD) files that our system can auto-colorize to generate the view images for each color variant offered in a specific style. The file should be at least 600 x 600px in size and be as close to 50% grey as possible (RGB 128, 128, 128) with a transparent background. See the Create a Custom Product Image Template with dynamic recoloring help article for instructions on how to create product template files.

View Source Image - useful for products with a single color variant or no color variant. This is typical for some promotional products like awards, pins, and plaques. It can also be used to provide images for as-is products like pre-designed enamel pins, flags, etc. The file should be at least 600 x 600px and either a PNG with a transparent background or a JPG.

When setting the image filenames on your SKU sheet, input the value into the relevant column, Decoration Templates should be input into DecorationTemplate1-4 columns and View Source Images should be input into ViewSrc1-4 columns.