Create a Product List for Vend using a CSV

To learn how to create a product CSV, follow the steps below.

1. Get your Vend product CSV template here.

2. Open this in Excel or use free spreadsheet software such as Google Docs, Open Office or Libre Office.

Important: Be careful when using Excel as it can sometimes truncate numbers. You can read more about this here.

3. Add your new products to the CSV file.

4. Save, and upload.

5. Add inventory using our Stock Order module (this makes sure your stock levels are correctly recorded)

You may also find the Vend product CSV template by using the link on the Import Products page in Vend. You can also create a product in Vend first, and export your product list so that you have an example product.

If you use the Vend Product CSV template:

Make sure you update the outlet name for the inventory fields to match your store. For example, change Inventory_Main_Outlet to Inventory_Outlet_Auckland.
If you have two stores with similar names (e.g. Inventory_Outlet_Auckland and Inventory_Outlet_Auckland_Warehouse), you will need to update the name of the second store. You could change it to Outlet_Akld_Warehouse for example.
For tax-exclusive retailers, the tax is set per outlet. You will need to change the 'tax_name' field to 'outlet_tax_your_outlet_name'. You will need a column for each outlet.

Add your products

Once you have downloaded the Vend CSV template or generated your own, you will need to add in your product information. Below is a CSV glossary of all the different columns you might want to include and fill out in your product CSV.

For your information:

SKUs and Handles will be automatically populated if you don't include these as columns in your CSV.

The name field is now the only mandatory field required to import your products. /This is unless you are working with variant or composite products.

A column matcher will fix any columns that are incorrectly used when you import your product CSV.

Field Name What it's for

ID This is a number Vend generates as a unique ID for each product. Please don't change this, and leave the field blank when you're creating new products.

Name (Mandatory) The name of your product. You can have letters, numbers, and symbols in this field. Do not include #, $, or & symbols.

Handle

This is an ID for your product. Make sure it only has letters and numbers. You cannot have spaces or symbols in here.

You can also choose to leave this column blank and allow Vend to automatically generate unique handles for your new products. This will be a system generated unique code, so we only recommend doing this if you don't already use a pre-existing handle format.

SKU

The stock keeping unit for your product. You can scan or type the existing barcode number for your product here if you have one.

Otherwise, you can leave this column blank and Vend will automatically generate unique SKUs for your new products.

Every product must have a unique SKU. Make sure it only has letters and numbers. You cannot have spaces or symbols in here.

Supply Price

The supply price for your product, excluding tax. Don't include a currency sign, just put the number.

You should always include a supply price - if your product price fluctuates, you can specify the exact price for each order when you complete a stock order.

Retail Price

The price you sell your product for. Don't include a currency sign, just put the number.

If you display the prices of your items including tax, this is the tax inclusive price.

If you display the prices of your items excluding tax, this is the tax exclusive price.

Tax_name INCLUSIVE ONLY

For tax-inclusive stores, this is the name of the tax rate you want to use for this product. Leave this blank or type 'default tax' to use the default tax for your store. Do not type the name of your tax, e.g. GST, into this field if that is your default store tax.

If you want to use a different tax rate for this product, this needs to exactly match the name of the tax you have set up in Vend.

Important: Leaving the field blank will not overwrite existing data. If you want to update a rate to default tax, type 'Default Tax'.

Outlet_Tax_Your_Outlet_Name EXCLUSIVE ONLY

For tax-exclusive stores, this is the name of the tax rate you want to use for this product in this outlet. Type 'default tax' to use the default tax rate for that outlet, or specify the name of another tax rate you have set up in Vend. Do not type the name of your tax, e.g. GST, into this field if that is your default tax for that outlet.

You need a column for each outlet.

Important: Leaving the field blank will not overwrite existing data. If you want to update a rate to default tax, type 'Default Tax'.

Loyalty_value If you've got loyalty turned on , this sets the amount of loyalty earned for the product. Leave this blank if you want to use the default loyalty ratio you set, or type a number in here to set a custom value.

Composite_Handle If your product is a composite product, add the handle of the item that's a part of the product here. Don't forget to leave the first line of the composite product blank - this creates the composite product.

Composite_SKU Add the SKU of the item that is part of the composite product here.

Composite_Quantity Add the quantity of the item that is a part of the composite product here. This can be a whole number or a decimal.

Variant_Option_One_Name The first category/option for variant product. For example 'Size' or 'Colour' or 'Flavour'. Follow the same guide for the Variant options 2 and 3.

Variant_Option_One_Value The value for the first variant category. For example 'Small' or 'Black' or 'Chocolate'. Follow the same guide for the Variant options 2 and 3.

Active Set this to 1 if you want the product to be available to be sold, or 0 if you don't. If you leave this blank, it will default to 'active' (available to be sold).

Description The description of your product. This field can have letters, numbers, and symbols.

Type The high-level category this product belongs to. For example 'Clothing' or 'Accessories' or 'Services'.

Important: leaving this column blank will overwrite any existing types you have on these products. If you do not wish to replace these types, delete the column (along with the 'Type' header)

Tags Lower-level categories this product belongs to. For example: 'Casual; Cotton; Summer Range; Mens'. You can have as many of these as you want. Separate each tag with a semi colon ;

Important: leaving this column blank will overwrite any existing tags you have on these products. If you do not wish to replace these tags, delete the column (along with the 'Tag' header)

Brand_name The brand of your product. This can have letters, numbers, and symbols.

Supplier_name The supplier of your product. If you have more than one supplier for the product, leave this blank.

Supplier_code If your supplier has an order code for the product that you don't use for your SKU, add this here. You can set one for each variant.

Account_code Used for Xero integration. If you want sales of this product to post to an account other than your default sales account (set in the Xero integration settings), add the account code you'd like to post to here. Leave this blank if you don't use Xero, or want to post to the default account.

Account_code_purchase Used for Xero integration. If you want stock orders of this product to post to an account other than your default purchases account, add the account code you'd like to post to here. Leave it blank to use default or if you don't use Xero.

Track_inventory Set this to 1 if you want Vend to keep track of your inventory levels. If you want cost figures, you need to track inventory.

Reorder_point_{outlet_name} When you create a stock order, if you choose to autofill the order, we'll check to see if your current inventory is less than this number. If it is, we'll add the item to your stock order.

Restock_level_{outlet_name} If an item is added to an autofilled order, this is the quantity of the item that will be ordered (you can change this once it's added to the order if you want a different amount).

3. Adding Variant Products

When you set up variant products, the products have the same name and handle, but each has their own SKU. The first line (which also includes a variant option) needs to include all the information about that product family, such as type, tags, brand, supplier, description.

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4. Adding Composite Products

When you set up a composite product, you need to use the first line to create the product. This is where you need to specify the name, handle, SKU, price, tax, description and other information for the item.

The lines below this are where you add the composite handles and SKUs. These rows will have the same handle and SKU as the one creating the product. You do not need to specify pricing and other details in these lines. These products must already exist in Vend, or must also be created in the same CSV file.

Composite products do not need any inventory information as their quantities are set by the component items.

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Now that you have created your product list for Vend using a CSV, you can import your product list into Vend. For more information on how to import your product list for Vend using a CSV, check out this article.

You may also wish to edit your products using a CSV file. For more information on how to do this, check out this article.