Get your products into their stores!
How do You Make a Great Data Feed?
Drop shippers use data feeds. A Data Feed provides a catalog of products that vendors can import into their store. Maybe it's a collection of kids toys with the SKU, title, description, price, and other information that the store owner can use to entice potential buyers. Data feeds are a critical component of any e-commerce supply chain. So how do you make a data feed?
To get started you need a list of products. Perhaps this is simply an Excel spreadsheet, or maybe it is stored in your QuickBooks system or in an inventory management database. The first step is to decide which products can actually be drop-shipped. There might be products like gift cards or rare products that you don't want to supply. So those need to be filered. Now we create key information for the vendors. We need the following information.
The above data is required by most web stores and marketplaces so it's good to provide as much as possible. It's also important not to have empty values in any of these fields because it can break their store. Missing prices, titles, or other data causes a lot of grief because the vendors won't be able to list them.
Drop shippers use data feeds. A Data Feed provides a catalog of products that vendors can import into their store. Maybe it's a collection of kids toys with the SKU, title, description, price, and other information that the store owner can use to entice potential buyers. Data feeds are a critical component of any e-commerce supply chain. So how do you make a data feed?
To get started you need a list of products. Perhaps this is simply an Excel spreadsheet, or maybe it is stored in your QuickBooks system or in an inventory management database. The first step is to decide which products can actually be drop-shipped. There might be products like gift cards or rare products that you don't want to supply. So those need to be filered. Now we create key information for the vendors. We need the following information.
- SKU - stock keeping unit. This is an unique identifier which will be used when placing orders.
- Title - The name of the product.
- Description - A friendly explanation of the product which commonly includes HTML formatting.
- Cost - The cost to your vendor, they will mark it up based on this number.
- MSRP - Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price. This is higher than cost and used to indicate sale prices.
- MAP - Minimum Advertised Price. Sometimes you want to set a lower limit on the price. Vendors can't sell below it.
- Stock - How many units are available to be sold? Vendors use this to prevent oversells in their store.
- Manufacturer - The brand name of the product.
- UPC - Sometimes referred to as GTIN, UPC codes are required for most major marketplaces.
- Weight/Height/Length/Width - Determines shipping costs
- Images - Pictures showing the product from different angles. These are stored separately.
The above data is required by most web stores and marketplaces so it's good to provide as much as possible. It's also important not to have empty values in any of these fields because it can break their store. Missing prices, titles, or other data causes a lot of grief because the vendors won't be able to list them.
The most common data feed is simply a set of CSV (Comma Separated Values) files that vendors can download. CSV files are very easy to create, in fact you can make them using Excel. If you have a large inventory it makes sense to split your data feed into multiple CSV files. Especially the stock numbers - these fluctuate the most! So if you have a stock CSV file that will allow your vendors to grab it quickly and update their stores frequently without having to download *everything*. It saves your bandwidth costs too.
The Cadillac of data feeds doesn't stop here. We can create a CSV file for product variants as well. This allows us to group collections of similar products. For example, a watch which can have a blue, green, or red background. It's the same watch just with different colors. So we call these 'variants'. The vendor has to be told how to connect up these variants though so this data is critical. Otherwise they have to list each watch as a separate product and that looks bad.
The Cadillac of data feeds doesn't stop here. We can create a CSV file for product variants as well. This allows us to group collections of similar products. For example, a watch which can have a blue, green, or red background. It's the same watch just with different colors. So we call these 'variants'. The vendor has to be told how to connect up these variants though so this data is critical. Otherwise they have to list each watch as a separate product and that looks bad.
It's also a great idea to create attributes as well. Descriptive tags help vendors sell products because tags can be searched in their store. For example a book seller can create an author tag, number of pages tag, an ISBN tag and so on. This data can be imported and allows customers to search by author, number of pages, etc. What a great way to help vendors out!
It's also handy to publish a list of any products that you removed. This provides a signal to the vendor that they have to remove those products from their store. Otherwise they will end up selling products that no longer exist.
Data Here-to-There can design your data feed for you. We can use your source data and transform it into standard web-store compliant CSV data files. These files are then downloaded by your vendors and imported into their store. We'll automate it as well so that it stays fresh every day.
It's also handy to publish a list of any products that you removed. This provides a signal to the vendor that they have to remove those products from their store. Otherwise they will end up selling products that no longer exist.
Data Here-to-There can design your data feed for you. We can use your source data and transform it into standard web-store compliant CSV data files. These files are then downloaded by your vendors and imported into their store. We'll automate it as well so that it stays fresh every day.
Case Study: Toys2Ship
Why stop at just a data feed?
Most suppliers give their drop-shippers a CSV file over FTP. But this simply passes along a technical headache to each supplier. They must find a way to get the CSV data, images, and other complex things like variants into their stores. This can be a big hurdle to most stores...not to mention the order fulfillment process.
Toys2Ship wanted something different. Selling toys should be fun!
The goal was to create a simple, clear, user experience. Any drop-shipper can install the app and start selling toys immediately. No technical hurdles, no delays, and certainly no CSV files to sling around. Data Here-to-There was able to provide this solution.
Once the Shopify Toys2Ship App is installed, the Data Here-to-There system engages with their store. Products and images are imported, stock levels set, pricing is kept fresh, and orders are automatically fulfilled. This is an ideal world for both supplier and drop-shipper.
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- The drop-shipper installs the Shopify Toys2Ship App - Products are automatically added to the drop-shipper's store - Orders are automatically fulfilled by Toys2Ship - Tracking data is sent back to the stores - Prices and stock are updated daily - Drop-shippers can set pricing (MSRP/Margin), products, and more - Drop-shippers are billed through Shopify |
We can do the same for your supply chain! Here are some questions to get the conversation started.
- Can you sell more products with more drop-shippers?
- Do your drop-shippers complain about CSV handling?
- Which carts do you like? Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, 3dcart, EPages, PrestaShop, others?
- Which marketplaces do your drop-shippers use? Wal-Mart, Amazon, Sears, eBay, others?
- Do you have a warehouse, multiple warehouses, or other unique aspects about your supply chain?
- Can you sell more products with more drop-shippers?
- Do your drop-shippers complain about CSV handling?
- Which carts do you like? Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, 3dcart, EPages, PrestaShop, others?
- Which marketplaces do your drop-shippers use? Wal-Mart, Amazon, Sears, eBay, others?
- Do you have a warehouse, multiple warehouses, or other unique aspects about your supply chain?