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Inventory Management

Imports

Inventory Import Sheet

In this article we will explain the inventory import sheet and how to prepare to import your product

In this article

• Important Tips
• Single Location Business
• Multi-location Business
• Building your Import File
• Sample Import files - different business types
• Simple Products (products with a single, discrete entry per product; plate, bag, toy or per stock unit: foot, metre, pint, litre), including mandatory fields
• Complex Products (products with different variations; size, color, type), including mandatory fields.
• Optional Fields - All products
• Inventory Import Process
• Putting Products on your Website

Important Tips to remember when building an inventory import file

Preparing your data. Collect together the following information. These fields make up your mandatory cells in your import file.

Keep the size of the file less that 150MB, or around 50,000 lines (depending on how detailed each line is)

• Product Type
• Supplier
• Brand
• Name of the product
• Attribute names : Color, Size (only for complex multi-variant products)
• Variant names: Red, Blue, Green or Small, Medium, Large (only for complex multi-variant products)
• Barcode or SKU that is on the barcode labels from suppliers (if this is not available, aptimyz will create a unique barcode)
• Retail price (tax exclusive for Canada and USA), tax inclusive for Europe)
• Cost per unit of each product

• Tax Name (this will be the name you give the Tax Group name in US/Canada or the Tax Rate name in Europe that apply to this product, e.g. Sales Tax, HST, Exempt, VAT)

Other Useful fields

• Supplier Product code (used for purchase ordering/supplier style numbers, etc)
• Std Reorder Qty / Box Quantity (used in Purchasing to show the re-order quantity the supplier will deliver)
• Price code (user defined analysis code)

Hints and Tips

• When saving your import file - use lowercase letters and numbers. Do NOT use special characters or spaces.

• Always remember to save the import file as an excel or CSV UTF-8 file

• Always check the SKU field if using MS-Excel to build the file. MS-Excel often truncates numbers and removes leading 0. If your SKU is something like : 517897548621, please change the format of the SKU column as follows:

a) Highlight the whole SKU column
b) Right click > Format
c) Number - then set the decimal points to 0
d) To include leading zeros, a single quote (') at the beginning of the number will make it into a label and Excel will show all leading zeros for that entry.

• Creating inventory import files is slightly different if you operate a multi-location or a single location business.

• If you are exporting your current inventory from your current retail solution, this sheet can be used an Aptimyz will try it's best to configure the data to the correct suggested columns. These can be viewed and changed if necessary at the time of import

Single location business

• All sales taxes can be imported in the original import
• All quantities can be imported at the original import
• Purchases with new products can be imported via Inventory Import
• Replacement stock for existing products can be imported using the Inventory Import process

Multi-location business

• The inventory imported at business level is automatically replicated to all of your locations, with no quantities and no tax rates
• All inventory at the business level is available to all locations, but dependent upon the Business settings, only stock with positive quantity in that location can be sold at a specific store.
• Tax rates are set at the local level, as each location may have different taxes.
• Each business has their own stock quantity, this can be imported at the local/store level
• Replacement or restocking of existing products can be imported at the local/store level

Building your Inventory Import File

Please download an empty MS-Excel import file here

Open the file
Enable editing
Start building the inventory file (see below for different product types, mandatory and optional fields)

Sample Files

• Pharmacy import file with very few complex products here
• Newsagent import file with a few complex products (e.g. Monthly Magazines, etc) here
• Gift/Jewellery here
• Fashion with multiple variants here

Adding Simple Products

• Simple products are defined as products that are typically sold as "each" items with no variations (Teapot, Necklace, Book, Hat)
• Products that are sold by another type of unit, e.g. length, volume, area, will need to have Stock Unit field completed

Mandatory Fields (All products)

Column A : Product Name

• Name of the product throughout all parts of the system
• Description will be replicated on POS receipts
• Up to 250 characters, alphanumeric
• E-commerce is integrated, this description will be the default website product name.

Column B: Categories

• Name of the product categorie
• Will be used in reports when searching for categories
• Up to 250 characters, alphanumeric

Column C: Supplier

• Usual supplier for the product
• Used for reporting and purchasing
• Up to 100 characters, alphanumeric

Column D: Brand Name

• Brand name for the product
• Used for reporting and Promotion creation
• Up to 100 characters, alphanumeric

Column Y: Cost Price

• Cost price is always input net of tax
• for reporting, margin analysis and purchasing. .
• Decimal Number in format 8.2 (nn,nnn,nnn.nn)

Column Z: Retail Price

• Retail price is shown including/excluding tax dependant upon local rules
• for reporting and Promotion creation .
• Number in format 8.2 (nn,nnn,nnn.nn)

Column AD: Tax Rate

• Used for POS, reporting and tax analysis.
• This should include the Tax Code entered in your store settings

Screenshot 2023-08-10 at 10.55.46

Saving the file

• When you have made all the entries necessary to your inventory import file, please save the file somewhere safe with a unique name.
• Ensure your import file is saved as a CSV UTF-8 file

Adding Complex Products

• This section is for products with variations.
• See the sample files above for worked examples of attributes and variations

Mandatory Fields (Products with variations)

See above for Mandatory Fields for Simple Products.
For products with variations, each type of variant needs an Attribute (colour/size/weight/length/etc) and a corresponding Variation (Red/Blue/Green or Small/Medium/Large or 29"/30"/31"/32", etc).
Each product can have up to 5 Attributes and Variations
There is a maximum number of 150 Variations across all 5 Attributes.
Saving the file

• When you have made all the entries necessary to your inventory import file, please save the file somewhere safe with a unique name.
• Ensure your import file is saved as an excel file or CSV UTF-8 file

Column H: Attribute 1

• Attributes are the identifiable elements of a product (e.g. Color, Size or Volume, etc)

• Up to 100 characters

• You may enter up to 5 attributes for a product. (e.g. Colour / Size / Lengths / Weights)

Column I: Variation 1

• Variations are a way to describe the attribute (e.g. Red, Blue, Black or Small, Medium, Large or 50ml, 100ml, 250ml, etc)

• Up to 100 characters

• You may enter any amount of variants up to the screen limit of 150 variations in total across all 5 options.

Repeated Attributes and Variations

• Column J: Attribute 2 - Up to 100 characters
• Column K: Variation 2 - Up to 100 characters
• Column L: Attribute 3 - Up to 100 characters
• Column M: Variation 3 - Up to 100 characters
• Column N: Attribute 4 - Up to 100 characters
• Column O: Variation 4 - Up to 100 characters
• Column P: Attribute 5 - Up to 100 characters
• Column Q: Variation 5 - Up to 100 characters

Optional Fields

Column E : Supplier Product Code

• A supplier provided code for the product
• Used in purchasing, reporting and inventory management.
• Very useful if using a link between Aptimyz and a website
• Up to 50 characters, alphanumeric

Column G: SKU (also known as Barcodes / Stock Keeping Unit / UPC / EAN)

-Note SKUs MUST be unique as they are used in the barcode label and scanned at the POS to identify a stock item by product and variant. If you have not filled the import table with SKUs the system will create them.

• Up to 15 characters
• This SKU relates to the specific stock item. Every stock item must have a unique SKU (e.g. T-shirt, Color - White, Size - Medium)
• If blank, Aptimyz will generate a Barcode unique to the Business

Column R: Non-stock Item

• Y/N
• Set to yes if stock quantity is never recorded for this product (e.g. shipping charges, bags, merchandising)

Column S: Age Challenge

• Y/N
• If Y - this will send a message to the till operator to verify the customer's age

Column T: Min Stock Level (Minimum Stock Level)

• This number represents the stock level that would trigger a purchase requisition.
• Number (integer)
• Defaults to 0

Column U: Reorder Qty (Reorder Quantity)

This number represents the usual reorder quantity from the default supplier, for this stock.
If you are using the Purchasing elements of Aptimyz, this number will represent the volume/quantity you must order from your standard supplier (1, 4, 24, etc). The purchase system will then automatically enter the correct quantity for that supplier.

Column V: Stock Units

• Will price the product in the POS by stock unit
• Only used where standard units aren't required
• User defined field
• Examples include : metres, inches, pounds, kg, etc

Column W: Stock location

• Up to 15 characters
• Location in your Store/Warehouse where the stock is held. For example, “Row 5 Bin 2”

Column X: Stock Qty

**Note: Stock Quantity and Tax Group can only be added at store level. If you are creating a stock import for a series of stores, all with different stock quantities, please create an import file without quantities or taxes and import that at business level first.
Then, log into each store and reimport the file with the local tax group and the local quantities**
• Number (integer) Defaults to 0