This article will guide you through the easy steps to upload product data for your customers
01. Log in to the Supplier Portal, and on your main Dashboard, you will see a request pending from your customer. Click on the Permission button and select the option to Check the Products First. If you have a catalogue request, you can proceed to the step to upload your products, then click on the Send Catalogue button to continue sharing your products.
02. You will then be taken to the Customer Requests page to view the full list of products your customer is requesting from you. Alternatively, you can also view this list of requests by clicking on the menu tab on the left.
If there are no products on the list, it means your customer wants your entire range you have available and you can upload all the products that you are able to sell to your customer. To do this, jump to no. 12 below explaining how to share a catalogue
The requests page will show the list of products that your customer might have listed previously and could contain discontinued products. See Step 12 below on how to send new products or replacement products to your customer via the Catalogues page.
03. To export this list to an excel spreadsheet for you to full in the attributes, click on the Export Data button at the top, and a link with the spreadsheet will be emailed to you.
You can now go through the list to review the requested products in the spreadsheet, to add missing attributes and images.
04. If there are any products that are no longer active, out of date, or deleted, add another column next to the product code. Title the column “Status”, and then put the words Discontinued, Deleted, or Live. When you reupload the spreadsheet on the portal, any products that have been marked as Deleted or Discontinued will automatically be declined.
05. If your products have images, insert the image file name and extension (For Example product123.jpg) in the image column. When you upload your spreadsheet later, you will be prompted to upload the related images - the system will then sync the images with the product lines based on this image file name column.
How does the Image File Name column work?
Here you enter the actual image file name and extension. For example, your file is saved as:
You will fill in the following in your sheet:
For more information, see our support article for Broken Images and Image Issues.
06. Once you have completed your spreadsheet and added all your product attributes, navigate back to the Supplier Portal to begin the import process. Once you log back into the Supplier Portal, click the Upload Products button on the Dashboard.
07. You will then be moved to the Fields Mapping screen. This will allow you to match your spreadsheet headers to the Vesta headers.
The first few columns displayed are examples of the products from your spreadsheet.
08. Once you are done matching up your columns, click Process the Data. The Import Check page will load and give you the results of how many products were uploaded successfully, and/or if there are any errors in your spreadsheet. If there are any errors, you can click on the Fix It button to download a spreadsheet with the line items with errors to fix.
09. In the meantime, you can continue to upload the balance of the products by clicking on the Looks Good. Let’s Do It! Button and re-upload the errors spreadsheet with the amended fields at a later stage.
10. The Image Uploading page will load - and you will be asked if you would like to add images to your products. Click on the blue hyperlink to go to the next page, where you will be able to load your images.
You will then be prompted to drag across or select from your computer, any related images from your spreadsheet.
If you already have a window open with your images, simply bulk select the images and drag them across to the grey area. If you want to select the images by finding the location on your computer, simply click anywhere in the grey area and a pop up box will appear, enabling you to find the images.
The system will then match the images with the Image File Name column from your uploaded spreadsheet. A green check mark will appear once the images have all successfully been loaded to the Portal.
Once the images have finished loading, you can view your newly added products and images by navigating to the My Products > All Products tab on the left menu.
11. Once you have finished uploading your images, click on the Customer Requests > All Requests button on the left side. Filter on the customer name in the customer column - the system should have automapped your uploaded products and images to the list of requested products. This can take a few minutes depending on the number of products you have. You have now successfully completed the customer request!
You can also check the status of the request at any time by navigating to your Dashboard, and hovering over the Info provided section - this will give you a more detailed overview of the request.
If your customer has asked you to check your products against their product validation rules, this step is for you:
To make sure your products conform to the retailer's product requirements, you can run the product validation engine in the Vesta portal. To start, make sure your products are mapped, then navigate back to your All Products screen, select your Customer in the validation dropdown at the top of the grid and click validate > this will make sure your products conform to the retailer's product rules.
Sharing additional products with your customers:
12. If you have any NEW or ADDITIONAL products to add and share that your customer has NOT requested, they can be sent via the Catalogues tab on the left menu. You can add the products to the same spreadsheet template and upload them as shown above. You can also upload your entire range and you do not have to create a product group, in this case, skip to no. 13 below.
Once you have uploaded your NEW or ADDITIONAL products, navigate to the My Products > Product Groups tab, add a new Product Group, and copy/paste the product codes in there. Another way to add products is to type in the name or product code in the search bar function under "Individual Product".
You can repeat these actions to add as many products as you like.
Once you have finished adding products to the group, click the Save button.
13. Navigate to the Catalogues tab and click Create Smart Catalogue. Select your Products you wish to send, then follow the prompts to send the Smart Catalogue to your customer. They will then receive the catalogue and be able to view and download your products:
You have now successfully sent your product data to your customer(s)! If you need any further help, feel free to reach out to our friendly Vesta support staff via the LiveChat button in the bottom right or support@vesta.us.