Importing Inventory

1. Go to Inventory--->Products in the left navigation menu.

2. Select the arrow to the right of the New Item button on the top right--->select the Import Inventory option that appears. 

2. If importing inventory for the first time, select the Get Template button and then click on the template download that appears on the bottom of the screen. 

Note: When importing inventory for the first time, you can only import this same template file that downloaded after selecting the Get Template button. You cannot import any other Excel file, even if it follows the same template or it is copied and pasted over to the other file, nor can you delete any columns from the file that opens or the import will not be successful.  

3. If you have exported the inventory data that was in the system, you can make updates to the data within that sheet. 

In either the template or exported file, fill in all the required fields for each column. Each row represents a different product. In the template, replace the data in the example rows with what inputting. 

• If you are inputting long SKU's in the Vendor SKU field or long UPC's in the UPC field, you may need to change the formatting of the column. To do this, click on the Vendor SKU or UPC column header ---> select Format cells---> Select the Number tab---> Input 0 in the Decimal places field. 

Note: To ensure that the formatting changes are saved in the import, you will need to save the .csv file as a  worksheet before working in it, then, when done, save it as .csv file and without closing it, upload it into RetailTime. 

The Required Fields Are: 

• Product Name: The name of the product in the default language of that store
• Inventory Type: Input one of either Inventory, Non-Inventory, With-ingredients, or Serialized into the field, depending on the product type.
• Department: The Department the product falls under.
• Category: The Category the product falls under. 
• Product Status: Input either Active (item will appear in product catalog) or Inactive (item will not appear in product catalog).
• Cost (if Vendor or Vendor SKU is filled out): The cost of item from Vendor. The value should be inputted in the format 9.99 and will be represented in the currency that was set in Company Settings. 
• Price Type: Input either Fixed (sales price of item will be at a fixed amount) or Manual (sales price of item will be entered manually each time selected for shopping cart). 
• Unit: The unit of measurement that the item is sold by. Only the short names for units may be entered. The supported units are: Item, Inch (in), Foot (ft), Yard (yd), Mile (mi), Ounce (fl oz), Pint (pt), Cup (cp), Gallon (gal), Liter (l), Ounce (oz), Pound (lb), Gram (g), Kilogram (kg), Hour (hrs), and Minute (min), Bottle (bot), Slice (s), Teaspoon (tspn), Tablespoon (tbls), Pinch (pn), Meter (m), Kilometer (km), Decimeter (dm), Centimeter (cm), Millimeter (mm), Centiliter (cl), Nip (np), Milliliter (ml), Middy (md), Schooner (sc), and Keg (keg).
• Sales Price: Price per each unit of product. The value should be inputted in the format 9.99 and will be represented in currency that was set in Company Settings. 
• Taxable: Insert either Yes (product is taxable) or No (product is not taxable). Will apply to each store in company unless store-specific Taxable field is inputted, which will override the company settings for that store. 
• Discountable: Insert either Yes (product is taxable) or No (product is not taxable). Will apply to each store in company unless store-specific Discountable field is inputted, which will override the company settings for that store. 
• Vendor (if Cost or Vendor SKU is filled out): The name of the primary vendor of the product. Note: Once imported, the default Vendor Type in Back Office will be Vendor and the vendor will be Active by default.

The Optional Fields Are:

• All store-specific fields: If you have multiple stores, additional column headers for Price, Qty, Recommended Qty, and Minimum Qty will all appear for each of your stores (your store name will appear in parentheses in these columns), in addition to one for the company as a whole (store not in parenthesis). Any values entered in the store-specific fields will override what is entered in the respective company-wide column for that particular store.
• Product Variant: In this column, the first row of each matrix item should display the attribute names separated by a / (Ex: Size/Color/Type). Then, under those attribute names, each combination of the matrix variants should be entered in a separate row (Ex: Large/Blue/Short sleeve), with the Product Name being the same for each row as the original product name for the matrix product. If you have not installed the Inventory Matrix App, the column will not appear.

• Description: A description of the product. It should not exceed 255 characters.
• UPC: The product's universal code. Must be unique for each item and can contain numbers and letters but no symbols. 
• SKU: The product's internal code that you would like to identify it by. Can contain numbers, letters, and dashes and must not exceed 25 characters. Note: If you would like all product SKU's to be auto-generated automatically, ensure that the "Autogenerate product SKU" box is checked in Company Settings. Any entered Product SKU's in the import will not be affected. 
• Vendor SKU: The Vendor SKU of the product. Should be a unique numerical number for each item. 
• Quantity on Hand: Number of units of product that are currently in stock. Should be inputted as a numerical value, as either a positive number (ex: 50), 0, or negative number (ex: -50). Will apply to each store in company unless store-specific Quantity on Hand field is inputted, which will override the company settings for that store. 
• New Quantity on Hand: This column is for when you had previously updated quantities of a product in the system and would like to replace a previous quantity with a new updated quantity. Simply input the new quantity into the field to replace the previous data. If this field  is left blank, the previous quantity on hand will remain in the system.

• Minimum Quantity: Number of units of product that is the minimum you would like to be in stock in each store of company at any given time. Should be inputted as a numerical value, as either a positive number (ex: 50), 0, or negative number (ex: -50). If the store-specific Minimum Quantity field is entered, it will override the company settings for that store. 
• Recommended Quantity: Ideal number of units of product that you would like to be in stock in each store of company at any given time. Should be inputted as a numerical value, as either a positive number (ex: 50), 0, or negative number (ex: -50). If the store-specific Recommended Quantity field is entered, it will override the company settings for that store. 

Note: Though inputting info into these fields are optional, the column headers must remain.

Do Not Input in Fields For:

• Cost if Vendor is not filled out
• Vendor if Cost is not filled out
• Vendor SKU if Cost or Vendor is not filled out

4. If using the template file, in the Inventory Type column, delete the 3 options that do not apply in each row.

• If you do not do this, the following error message will appear when importing.

5. Once all necessary data is filled out and you are ready to import, save the file.

6. Return to the Import Inventory screen and select the Browse button. 

7. Select the inventory file that you saved. The file will start loading into the system. 

• If there are errors, please refer to this article to ensure everything was entered correctly. 

8. Once successfully imported, select the Done button. 

Requirements

• Must be imported from a .csv file. 
• The maximum size of the file to upload should be 10MB. If file is larger, split it to smaller files and update them individually.
• The same items can be imported more than once. Any changes made to the item will be overridden. The only field that will not be overridden is Inventory Type. In addition, you must change one of the item's Product Name, Department, or Category in order to make changes to those fields.  
• If an error message appears when importing, the file will not be uploaded. The particular error stated will be the first one the system sees. Any additional errors will be stated in future import attempts.
• Cannot have same category name under multiple departments or same product name under multiple categories. Combination of Product Name, Department and Category should be unique. An error message like the one below will appear otherwise.
  
• To change a product's Department, you must first either delete the product and import it with the change or change it manually in the General screen of the product section in Back Office. 
• Cannot have the same SKU for more than one product or category. 
  
• If you change the category of a product, you also must use a different SKU.