Setting up your product catalog

Updated December 21, 2020 19:42

Vend caters for many different types of retailers, each with specific goals and needs; which is why we offer a range of data fields to capture your product catalogue. Adding your product catalogue into Vend is essential, however entering data into every field isn’t. Each field has its own purpose in Vend and is used to achieve different goals.

To make setting up your product catalogue as simple as possible and to ensure you achieve your goals, we've broken down exactly what each field is used for and how you can get the most from it.

We've broken this down into three goals:

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We understand the desire to get selling fast, so here's all the information you'll need, and how it will benefit you, if you want to Just Get Selling.

Click the field name to quick jump to: Name, SKU Code, Handle, Classification, Supply Price, Current Inventory, Tax, Retail Price, Attribute, and Value.

Field Name	Description	Requirements
Name	This what your product is called; e.g "Tiger T-shirt". The Name will form the cashier-facing product name on the sell screen. It will also be displayed on customer-facing material, such as receipts and printed on labels. It is also used for Admin-facing functions, i.e reporting and stock orders/transfers.	The Name can have letters, numbers, and symbols in this field but do not include #, $, or & symbols. Each standard product name must be unique. If your product is a variant, the Name will be used alongside the Handle to validate variant products in CSV imports. All variant products within the same family MUST have the same Name and Handle.
SKU Code	The SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) Code for your product. One of the biggest benefits to retailers is the ability to use a scannable product barcode as the SKU, which allows you to scan the barcode on the sell screen in order to add it to a sale. The SKU also adds a uniquely identifiable metric in reporting that allows you to drill down to a specific product.	Every product must have a unique SKU. Make sure it only has letters and numbers. You cannot have spaces or symbols in here. This can be your own existing identifier or an existing barcode number on the product. If you don’t have existing SKUs, Vend can automatically generate unique SKUs for your products. Multiple SKUs can be captured on one product, see the + Optimize Inventory Management tab for more.
Handle	The Handle is an important identifier for variant products. The handle is also important when it comes to e-Commerce integrations and SEO, which you can read more about under the + Sell Online tab.	The Handle is unique from the SKU. If you are adding products individually via the Add Product page, the handle is automatically generated by Vend and will not be visible or editable. If you are using a CSV/XLSX to bulk import your products, the handle field is visible. When adding variant products, the Name and Handle MUST be the same — this is how Vend recognises the products are variants within the same family. If you aren't creating variant products, but are using a CSV/XLSX to add products, we advise you to leave the handle field blank.
Classification	This is the type of product that you are creating. Standard products allow you to create a single, standalone product. Variant products allow you to create a product that is offered with different attributes and/or values. E.g size, colour, flavour, etc. Composite products allow you to sell standard products that have been bundled together into one special product. This simplifies sell screen operation and reporting.	For more on Standard Products For more on Variant Products For more on Composite Products
Supply Price	The regular Supply Price for your product. The Supply Price is added when creating a product. This is the value that you purchase the item for per unit. It can be tax exclusive or inclusive, depending on your accounting needs. If your product price fluctuates, you can specify the exact supply price for each order when you complete a stock order.	It is strongly recommended to include a Supply Price when creating products. This enables accurate reporting/accounting as Supply Price directly affects both Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) and Average Cost. If the Supply Price isn't added before an inventory movement/sale is made with the product, the COGS will be calculated at $0, affecting the Average Cost and reporting.
Current Inventory	The Current Inventory is the quantity of each product available at an outlet. This allows you to monitor stock levels within Vend for accurate sale and replenishment data.	Current Inventory MUST be added at the same time as, or after, a Supply Price is added. Use the Adding inventory to your products guide to learn how this should be achieved.
Tax	The Tax rate allows to charge tax at the product level. This is automatically set to your default tax rate and can be changed to suit the desired product tax rate.	The Tax rate will need to be created before applying it to a product. These can be added/managed by navigating to Setup -> Sales Taxes
Retail Price	This is the dollar value that a product will be sold for. It offers the ability to set, edit and maintain the price your customers will be charged for a product.	Tax exclusive stores: This is the price of your product BEFORE tax is added Tax inclusive stores: This is the price of your product INCLUDING tax
Attribute (variants only)	The Attribute (for Variant Products) allows you to create and sell products that fall within the same family but are offered in variations. This makes adding a variant product to the sell screen quick and accurate. It also streamlines product management and reporting.	The Attribute needs to define the type of variation that the product is offered in. E.g. "colour", "size", or "flavour". A variant product can have up to three individual attributes.
Value (variants only)	The Value (for Variant Products) allows you to create and sell products that fall within the same family but are offered in variations. This makes adding a variant product to the sell screen quick and accurate. It also streamlines product management and reporting.	The Value needs to define the type of variation for the selected attribute. E.g. "red", "large", or "strawberry". Each variant product can have up to 200 values total.

Want to optimize your inventory as well as get selling with Vend? These are the additional fields required to Just Get Selling + Optimize Inventory Management.

Click the field name to quick jump: SKU Code, Brand, Product Type, Tags, Sell on Point-of-Sale, Supplier, Supplier Code, Track Inventory for this product, Re-order point, Re-order quantity, Markup, Composite Products

Field Name	Description	Requirements
SKU Code	Vend allows you to capture multiple barcodes for your products without sacrificing the use of a primary SKU Code (Stock Keeping Unit). These barcodes are scannable for selling and inventory management, while only the first code entered (primary code) is visible on customer facing material such as receipts, labels and e-Commerce.	Vend supports EAN, ISBN, ITF, JAN, UPC, custom codes, and Vends auto-generated SKU code types. Every product must have a unique primary SKU. This can be your own existing identifier; if you don’t have existing SKUs, Vend can automatically generate one. Or you can use any of the above supported codes.
Brand	The Brand can be used for filtering, searching and reporting. It is also one of the metrics that can be used to set promotions.	This should be the name of the brand your product falls under. E.g "Nike" This can can be made up of letters, numbers, and symbols.
Product Type	The Product Type is the high-level category that a product belongs to. Used for product grouping to optimize filtering and searching. This can be used to define reporting on a certain group of products, and to set promotions.	The Product Type can be made up of letters, numbers, and symbols. E.g "Clothing", "Accessories", or "Services". Only one Product Type can be applied per product.
Tags	Tags are lower-level categories that the product belongs to. Much like the Product Type, the tags are used for product grouping to optimize filtering and searching. These can be used to define reporting on a certain group of products, and to set promotions.	Tags can be made up of letters, numbers, and symbols. E.g "Casual", "Cotton" "Summer Range", or "Mens". There is no limit to the amount of Tags that can be added to a product.
Sell on Point-of-Sale	Sell on Point-of-Sale is the function the determines whether a product is available to be sold. This allows retailers to keep products in their catalog but make them inactive for selling. This is particularly useful for seasonal products, such as holiday-related items, and for reporting on older products that are no longer sold.	Sell on Point-of-Sale is turned on by default unless edited within the product settings or through a .CSV. Once a product is created, you can bulk change the active/inactive status of products using the Product page.
Supplier	The Supplier name is used when creating purchase orders. It can also be used to set promotions and for reporting purposes.	The Supplier name can be made up of letters, numbers, and symbols. If you have more than one supplier for the product, leave this blank.
Supplier Code	The Supplier Code is the code used by a supplier to identify the product. And can be useful when creating a purchase order. It can also be used for product filtering and searching.	The Supplier Code name can be made up of letters, numbers, and symbols. Not all suppliers will use their own codes or these may be the same as your SKUs/Product Barcodes, which is why the field is not mandatory.
Track Inventory for this product	Track Inventory for this product allows retailers to disable inventory management. This is useful for services which have no inventory limitations.	Inventory Tracking is turned on by default. You can change this status using the Add/Edit Product function and clicking the toggle (or using a .CSV and entering 'no' under the track_inventory column)
Re-order point	The Re-order point is used when creating a purchase order. All products at or below the re-order point can be quickly added to the purchase order. This is NOT an automatic re-order function.	The Re-order point should be set to the minimum inventory level you wish a product to reach before it needs to be re-ordered. E.g when a product inventory level reaches 5 (or below), it can be added to purchase order via the re-order point function.
Re-order quantity	The Re-order quantity is used when creating a purchase order. Determines the quantity to re-order for an outlet when a product is at or below the re-order point. This is NOT an automatic re-order function.	The Re-order quantity should be set to quantity you wish a to re-order for a product once it reaches the Re-order point.
Markup (%)	The Markup (%) can be used to calculate the retail price with a specific percentage of markup applied to the supply price. This is also automatically calculated if a retail price is manually set.	The Markup must be input as a percentage (%) value, not a dollar ($) value. If you wish to add a set dollar value to your products, this must be added to the Retail Price instead.
Composite Products	A Composite Product allows retailers to offer special multi-product bundles as one product. This simplifies adding the product(s) to the sell screen and reporting on the product(s) performance. Inventory for each standard product within a composite is altered as the composite product(s) are sold/moved.	A Composite Product comprises multiple standard products (components) bundled together into one single product (composite). In order to create a Composite Product, you must first create the components as standard products.

Note

If you have an existing Shopify, BigCommerce or WooCommerce platform, we strongly advise you to integrate and import your products into Vend BEFORE creating and editing any products within Vend.

After the initial import of your products from the e-Commerce platform, Vend becomes the master record and products must be managed within Vend.

If you have additional products which are sold in-store, but not online, these can be added into Vend at any time using the Add Product function or by importing a CSV/XLSX.

Vend's Shopify, BigCommerce and WooCommerce integrations are the perfect way to manage selling online. To Sell Online, here's the information your products need.

Click the field name to quick jump: Description, Handle, Upload Image

Field Name

Description

Requirements

Description

When integrating with an e-Commerce platform, the Description will form the customer facing description of your prouct.

This can can be made up of letters, numbers, and symbols.

Handle

The Handle is critical for the Shopify e-Commerce integration.

This links products between Vend and Shopify to ensure product information is correctly synced.

Shopify also uses the Handle to form the product URL, which forms part of your Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).

The Handle in Vend and Shopify MUST match.

You should import any existing products from Shopify into Vend, then treat Vend as the master record for creating future products (and adding them to Shopify).

For SEO optimisation, your handle should not be condensed words such as "TigerTshirt". Each individual word should be hyphenated such as "Tiger-Tshirt".

Upload Images

Images form the cashier-facing visual representation of your product seen on the Products page and product search/quick keys on the sell screen.

These are also what will sync over to your e-Commerce integration platform of choice to form the customer-facing visual representation of your product.

Images can be in .jpg, .png, and .gif formats.

These must be added to a product within Vend.

For variant products, individual images can be added for each variant

Additional Information

How to Add a Single Product
How to Bulk Import Products

Setting up your product catalog

Note

Additional Information

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