Use of CSV files for Bulk Upload
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The e-Commerce business industry trends keep on increasing at a higher pace and so as the will to develop an online multi-seller marketplace.
As we know converting a store into a fully-fledged marketplace requires to put a ton of effort.
From the very prior step of adding sellers in bulk to allow sellers to bulk upload products, every step requires the things to work in a systematic manner.
Now, to minimize the effort, you can use CSV files to perform these bulk tasks.
Through this guide, we will walk through the general guidelines of Use of CSV files in bulk uploads.
What CSV exactly is?
CSV stands for “Comma-separated Value” file is a basic file format that helps the user to save data in a tabular form.
CSV stores tabular data in a plain text with a comma separator. Each line of tabular data will be a record & each record consist of multiple fields separated by commas.
So, if you own a marketplace with Shopify, You might have experienced a massive use of CSV files for uploading products in bulk, adding sellers, export & import of store data, etc.
Before using the CSV files for bulk tasks, you must understand the CSV formats & have a good practice of using it.
So, let’s proceed to learn how to use CSV file on a multi-seller marketplace & in case you sell products on auction.
Learn to Convert Your Store into a Marketplace!
How Useful a CSV file is?
CSV files are widely used in data migration from one platform to another.
With the use of CSV files, you can easily transfer all your existing customer’s accounts as well as product & order details via CSV file in a go.
This is why a large number of companies prefer to use the CSV files to import or export a high volume of data.
The Multi-vendor Marketplace users prefer to use the CSV files to perform the following actions:-
-Use CSV files to import-export product details.
-Import-Export App labels for translation.
-Add products in bulk via CSV upload.
-Add sellers via CSV.
-Allow sellers to add products in bulk via CSV.
As CSV files are widely used for your eCommerce store, you need to find a manageable way to use the CSV file perfectly on your Shopify store.
Shopify believes that Google Spreadsheets work perfectly with the CSV files.
How to Use Google Spreadsheet in creating a CSV file?
It’s always painless to use a spreadsheet program to edit a CSV file.
This is the reason the Multi-vendor Marketplace app provides sample CSV files for bulk product upload, add seller via CSV, etc.
You can easily download the sample CSV in the app & edit it using Google Spreadsheet.
For this, let’s walk through the steps to understand the complete process of how to use Google Spreadsheets:
Sign in/Log in to Google Account.
In the side menus, You will get the option to select the Google Sheet.
Select a blank sheet to get started.
Now, the best option is to import the CSV file into the Google Spreadsheet.
IMPORT CSV FILES TO GOOGLE SHEET
For this, you need to click the File menu where you will get the Import Option.
Clicking the Import button, a pop-up appears and you will get the option to upload the CSV file. You can upload the sample CSV file over there that you have downloaded from the app.
Once the CSV file gets uploaded, you can proceed to import the CSV file data & then an option to Open the imported CSV file.
Once you click the Open now button, you will get the imported file. You can now edit or update the file data as per the requirement.
Once you are done with the changes, you can export the current file by download it as .csv (Comma Separated files).
Make sure that the CSV file includes UTF 8 encoding to avoid the unwanted generation of special characters in the CSV file.
EXPORT CSV FILE FROM GOOGLE SHEET
All You need to do is just follow the below-given simple steps:-
On the same spreadsheet page, go to the File menu & select the Download option from the drop-down menu.
Click the Comma-separated values option to export the CSV file to your system.
Done! Go ahead & get the file from the Downloads!
This is the best use of CSV files.
Set Field Values while editing CSV file Columns
Shopify lets you sell physical as well as digital products online. So, you have to be more careful while editing certain fields in the CSV file.
For Variant requires Shipping:- You need to set the column field to TRUE if the variant is a physical product else set it to FALSE.
For Variant Taxable:- Set it to TRUE if the variant includes tax else FALSE.
Now, For Variant Grams:- Enter a value if the Variant requires Shipping is set to TRUE.
Set it to 0 if the Variant requires Shipping is set to FALSE.
Conclusion
In order to perform bulk tasks, the Google spreadsheet is highly recommended to make edits in the CSV files. You can simply import the file, edit it as per the need & export the CSV files.
Text editors can also be used to edit CSV files but prefer to use it in case you get formatting errors in the CSV files.
Thus, the probability of getting CSV errors will be comparatively less if you opt for the Google Spreadsheet program.
Do Avoid the Mistakes while Uploading CSV to Multi-vendor Marketplace App!
Feel Free to connect in case of any query.