[intro]Before you begin this guide, you should understand how to use the EKM Edit Product window, bulk add Product Images, Product Variants, Attributes and have generated a template Product and a spreadsheet from your EKM online shop to work with. When you have completed this guide, you will have populated your spreadsheet with new Products which can then be uploaded onto your EKM online shop.[/intro] 

If the Products you want to add to your EKM online shop have Variants, such as different colours and sizes, please use this guide instead. This guide is intended for Products that are standalone and have no Variants and for Products with Variants that you want to export to an eBay store in the near future, where all Product Variants have to be listed as individual Products.

Populating your EKM Spreadsheet

Don’t worry too much if you’ve not used spreadsheets before; you don’t need to know any complicated formulas to complete this task. To populate your spreadsheet, you just need to how to paste data into the different columns and rows. ‘Rows’ refers to the horizontal lines across the spreadsheet, whilst ‘columns’ are the vertical versions. ‘Cells’ are the individual boxes within columns and rows.

Looking at the spreadsheet you have downloaded from your EKM online shop, you need to delete the details of all other Products apart from your template Product. This is so that you can use it as an example when populating the spreadsheet with the rest of new Products.

Bear in mind that the format of existing Products and new Products on the system does have some differences, but the format of the data within the cells is exactly the same. When we have finished adding the new Products to the spreadsheet, we simply delete the row containing the template Product before saving the spreadsheet.

Action
In this column, you need to add Add Product which is the command to the system that this item is completely new. There are other commands that can be added in this column, but for the purpose of uploading new Products, simply enter Add Product:

CategoryPath

The CategoryPath signifies which category the product ‘lives in’ on your website. When you are adding your new Products to your spreadsheet, you need to add in which Category they should be displayed within in this format:

Home > Category Name > Sub Category Name

If the category or subcategory does not exist on the site already and you reference it within this column, when you upload the spreadsheet the system will automatically create this category and assign the product to it for you.

ID
For the purpose of adding new Products to your EKM online shop, this column needs to remain empty. When new Products are added to your EKM online shop, the system will automatically generate an ID for each one. If you were editing existing Products via a spreadsheet, this column would be populated with all of the ID numbers of the Products.

Name
In this column, paste in the name of your new Product.

Code
You need to populate this if your Product has a code assigned to it, for your own identification purposes.

Description
In this column, paste in the description for each product. If you are copying the product descriptions from elsewhere, such as a Microsoft Word document or a website, ensure that you paste it into the NotePad application first (if you’re using a PC, run a search for Notepad, however, if you are on a Mac, use TextEditor) and then copy the text from that file onto your spreadsheet.

Using this method ensures that any code used to format the text elsewhere or third party coding is not carried onto your website, so you will not encounter any issues such as bullet points that don’t line up properly and text in different sizes and colours throughout the paragraphs.

Brand
This cell should include the name of the Product’s Brand if you know it and especially if you intend to use Product Filters on your Categories.

Price
Paste your product prices into this column, removing any currency signs such as £ or $.


RRP
This is the Recommended Retail Price for your Product. If you have enabled RRP within the Product Attributes feature on the Features tab, you need to populate the rows within this column - if not, simply leave it blank.


Image1-5
In this column, the main image for the product is Image1, whilst columns Image2, Image3, Image4 and Image5 are for additional product images. When you have bulk uploaded your images to the File Manager each product image will have an address. In each cell, the link to each image must be laid out in this format:

/ekmps/shops/[your Account ID]/resources/products/[Image Name]

To populate this cell, open your File Manager and locate the Product Image you want to add to your Product:

Right-click the Image Name beneath the thumbnail and select copy:

This will copy the address to your clipboard. You can then paste this directly into the Image1 column of your spreadsheet.

MetaTitle, MetaDescription, MetaKeywords

You only need to complete these cells if you have specific data for them. If not, and you have the Custom Meta Data feature added on the Features tab of your EKM online shop, the system will automatically determine this data for you, using the Product Name and Product Description.

Stock
If you have turned on the Stock Control functionality, this is where you would enter the stock level of the Product. However, if you are not using Stock Control, you just need to enter 1 in this column for the Add Product row.

Weight
In this column, you would add the Weight of your Product. Weights need to be added in kilos, so 1 kilo would be 1, 750 grams would be entered as 0.75 and 75 grams would be .075. Adding Weights to your Products at this stage makes it a lot easier to set up Weight Based Delivery Methods later on.

TaxRateID
For this column, you need to ensure that it is populated with the right single digit number to signify the Product’s tax rate. It is usually 1, but if you have any doubts, check the Tax settings page on your EKM online shop.

Condition
If you have ticked the box within the Product Attributes feature to assign Product Condition to your Products, you need to complete this field with either NotApplicable, New, Used or Refurbished.

SpecialOffer
This refers to whether the Product is a Featured Product or not. If you want the Product to display on your homepage as well as it’s assigned Categories, add Yes to this column, otherwise add No.

OrderLocation
This is for your own use and pertains to the order which you would like to see Products ordered on the Category Page of their Master Category. '99999' is the default number, but you can set them to display in a specific order, where '1000' is the first position on the Category Page, and '1001' being the second, and so on. Numbers below 1000 will be ignored and not have any effect.

Hidden
Add No to this column to ensure that all of the products that you upload via this spreadsheet are displayed on the front end when they have been imported into your EKM online shop. Adding Yes to the Add Product row of this column means the Product will be uploaded, but it will be hidden from your customers.

CanBeAddedToCart
Add TRUE to all of the cells in this column to ensure that every product that you upload has a visible Add To Cart button. Adding FALSE to the Add Product Row of this column means that the Product will be uploaded and will be visible, however, it will not have an Add To Cart button to allow customers to purchase it.

Attributes:
If you are using Custom Attributes on your Product, you need to add format them accordingly:

[Attribute Value] : [The order this Attribute is added to the Product] : [The visibility of the Attribute] : [The Name of the Attribute]

If we look at the first cell in the AY column in the picture:

  • Accessories = The Value of that Product Attribute; Type is the Attribute Name and Accessories is the Value;
  • 1000 = This is the first Attribute added to this Product Variant (a second one would be 2000, whilst a third would be 3000);
  • True = This Attribute is visible (which means if the Theme allows it, the Attribute can be seen on the Product Page, and can also be used with Product Filters on your Category Pages;
  • Type = This is the Attribute Name.

When you have finished adding your new Products onto your spreadsheet, you need to delete the row containing the details of your template Product, and then save the spreadsheet before you upload it onto your EKM online shop.

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[contact] If you need our help with your EKM online shop, contact your Ecommerce Expert or the Customer Support Team, who will be able to point you in the right direction. We're open from 8am-6pm weekdays and 9am-5.30pm weekends. If you'd like to suggest a feature or an upgrade on any of the EKM platforms, please let us know on the EKM Suggestions Board. If you have a non-account-specific question to ask the EKM Team, join us in the EKM Community. [/contact]