This guide will instruct you on how to get your catalog set up and published to channels.
Note: Generally speaking, your content consists of four parts:
- Basic Info: Most of this comes from ERP. Age Group, Gender, SKU, Brand, Size, Color, UPC, etc.
- Digital Assets: images (uploaded as URLs) of different sizes & resolutions specified by each channel
- Copywriting & SEO Data: from Content Resources
- Channel Specific Info: in Channel Specific Attribute section
Preparing Your Catalog
All Basic Info will be automatically pulled over from ERP when a Style/Substyle/SKU is created. This will appear under Content Resources.
Note: It is important to know your product data structure and how they relate to each other.
Style/Parent level: Brand, Age Group, Gender, Title related, Description related, website product landing page/link, Key Features, Product Features/Technical Specifications, SEO data, MSRP/Price/Cost, Material Content, Care Instructions, Origin, etc.
Sub Style/Child/Variant Level: Color, Size, SKU, UPC, Digital Assets related info.
Below, you can see the highlighted items are at the Style level and are shared across all Substyles and SKUs.
This relates to channel-specific information as well.
Once the Basic Info is pulled over, revisions must be made according to the specific channel requirements in two main areas of Content Resources: Copywriting & SEO and Digital Assets.
LINK TO COPYWRITING GUIDE, LINK TO DIGITAL ASSETS GUIDE
You'll also need to make sure that channel-specific information in the form of Attributes is added.
Assigning a Style/Substyle/SKU to Channels
There are two ways to do this: via the Operation tab in Product Information or Content Resources, or via file import (recommended for bulk imports) using a template.
Operation Tab
Search for your item in either the Product Information tab or the Content Resources tab in PIM.
Click on the correct result and use the dropdown menu in the upper left-hand corner to choose which level you want to be on: 1) Style Master 2) Substyle or 3) Individual SKU.
Warning: when Overwrite Children's Value is "On," changes you make on Level 1 impact Levels 2 and 3. Changes you make on Level 2 impact Level 3.
Go to the Operation tab. Click Edit Operation.
Click on the pencil icon next to the Sales Channel input field.
Select all channels you want to add this Style to. Click Save.
Now you can see your channels appear in the input field. Because this was done on the Style level, and Overwrite children's value was turned on, this means that all Substyles and SKUs under the parent Style are also going to be on these same channels.
File Import
Search for your item in either the Product Information tab or the Content Resources tab in PIM.
Level 1: Assigning as Styles
Select Style Master next to Display. Click the magnifying glass icon. Click Export.
Your file will automatically download. In your CSV, keep column A (Style Code) and delete all other columns. Save it as an import file.
Level 2: Assigning as Substyles
Select Sub-Style next to Display. Click the magnifying glass icon. Click Export.
Your file will automatically download. In your CSV, keep column A (Style Code) and B (Sub-Style) and delete all other columns. Save it as an import file.
Level 3: Assigning as SKUs
Select Product next to Display. Click the magnifying glass icon. Click Export.
Your file will automatically download. Keep column C (SKU) only, delete all the rest. Save it as an import file.
Once your import file is ready, go to Import/Export > Channel Import. Hover over Import > click Attributes > click whichever tab houses your preferred channel > click the channel.
This will bring up the Import menu.
Tip: You also have the option here of downloading the channel-specific template if you prefer to fill it out and import rather than exporting from the Product Information screen. Just click Download Template in the upper right-hand corner.
Determine what level you are going to import at: Style, Substyle, or SKU.
Caution: Make sure that the import level matches with your import file. Looking above at the three options under File Import - your file must be completed as instructed (with only the required columns included) or the upload will not be possible. Do not include any non-required columns.
Next to Apply change to lower-level SKU(s): Select Yes if you want to apply the import to all sub levels. Select No if you do not.
Next to If destination has value (Not empty): click Overwrite if you want the value from your import file to overwrite what is in the system. Click Don't Overwrite if you do not.
Next to If destination doesn't have value (empty): click Use empty value to update destination if you want the empty value from your import file to overwrite what is in the system (i.e., it will remove what's in the system and it will be blank). Click Ignore (don't update destination) if you do not want blank values overwriting existing values in the system.
Drag your import file into the grey box (or click anywhere in the box to upload a file from your device).
Under Import Reason, enter a short note about this import.
Keys: confirms that the required fields are included in the import file, allowing you to move forward. These start off as red and turn green once you select a file to upload.
Example of Keys when uploading at the SKU/Product Level:
Example of Keys when uploading at the Style Level:
Click Upload.
You can check the status of your import in the import center - just click Search and it will appear.
Data Entry & Transfer
Data Entry
To enter your product data for this channel, go to Content Resources (still in PIM).
Now that you've assigned certain Styles to your channel, you can search by Sales Channel. Click the input field next to Style Code Contains, select your channel, and click Search or the magnifying glass icon.
Select how you want your products to be displayed: by Style, Substyle, or individual SKU.
Caution: If you've updated the display, you must click the magnifying glass icon again to refresh your results, otherwise nothing will change.
Tip: For initial data entry, it is highly recommended to start at the Style Master Level.
Click on the Style Code you want to update under the SKU column. This will open the main product information page. Click the Content Resources tab.
Make sure Overwrite children's value is toggled on to ensure all changes made at the Style level will impact the associated Substyles and SKUs.
Fill out your copy and other feature details under Copywriting & SEO.
Digital Assets will show your existing image files for this Style.
Fill out the Technical Specifications. This step should already have been completed (LINK COMING SOON)
Taxonomies ?
Enter metadata under SEO. This step should already have been completed (LINK COMING SOON)
Add any pricing specific to that channel.
Click Close when you're done.
Data Transfer
Select the Styles (or Substyles, or Products/SKUs) you wish you push to the channel. Click Bulk > Push.
Note: Pushing is an internal action - it pushes data from one part of DigitBridge to another. This will not send information to the channel itself, but to the part of DigitBridge where that channel information lives.
You have a few options here. Push Selected (if you haven't selected any lines, this will be grey and unclickable), Push Current Page (this will push all items on this results page - if your results per page is set to 20, it will push those 20 records), Push Search Result (this will push all results of this particular search, whether or not they appear on the page), or Push All (which will push your entire catalog). Pick which push you want to make.
Warning: It is rare that you'll want to push your entire catalog to a channel. Be very careful not to click Push All unless you're absolutely sure you want to.
Select the fields you wish to push or click Select All. Click Next (which will be clickable once you've made your selection).
Now you want to set your destination (i.e., the fields in the channel that the DigitBridge values will map to in each channel). There are some crucial details to pay attention to here.
Note: If your initial search in Content Resources was at the Style Level, the default will be to make all changes on the Style Level in the channel. This would be the same at the Substyle or SKU level.
Tip: Make your initial catalog push to a channel on the Style level. This will save you lots of time. You must click Push value at child level, however. This will ensure that all of your Substyle and SKU specific data (e.g., color and size) will transfer as well and not just the overall Style data. As this is your first time pushing, select Overwrite.
Warning: If you are making changes at the Style level (and it is not your first time pushing to this channel), you run the risk of clearing out Substyle and SKU-specific data if you aren't careful. You must make sure Push value at child level is NOT selected. Then you can select Overwrite. This will ensure that any updates you want to make at the Style level will occur, but any blank values in Style (e.g., color and size) will not overwrite the data already in the channel.
Warning: If there are changes that you want to impact Styles, Substyles, and SKUs, but you don't want to overwrite all of the data, see the note below.
Note: You can also select only specific values that you want to push. For example, let's say you're changing the brand of a Style. Select Brand, Overwrite, and Push value at child level. Now, the only field being pushed is Brand.
Warning: If Push value at child level is not selected, changes will not apply at lower levels of the hierarchy. I know it's mentioned above but it bears repeating (to save you from doing extra work).
Make your selections in the section of each channel you are pushing to and click Next (which will be clickable once selections are made).
Note: make sure you scroll down to verify that you're pushing to the right channels.
Look everything over on the review screen. If it looks correct, click Submit.
One last warning: this action cannot easily be undone.
You've completed the data transfer. Click Go to "Import Center" to check out the result.
Click Search. You can also get here via the Import/Export tab on the left.
Your import history will appear with your most recent data transfer at the top. This will tell you if the import was successful or not. If not, you can troubleshoot with the support team (Error troubleshoot article coming soon).
Now you have successfully updated the catalog information that will be going onto this specific channel(s), and it is ready to be published.
Publishing Your Catalog
This is the final piece of this process. While still in PIM, go to Channel Listing. This will show you all of the channels you are currently selling on. Click on the channel you want to publish to.
Use the search function to locate the items you want to publish to the channel. Make your selection.
Click Action > Sync Catalog.
Click OK.
You will notice that the value in the Sync Catalog column has updated to Sync Catalog. This means it's ready to send to the actual channel.
Click Publish > Publish Product (this means you will be publishing your catalog as opposed to inventory)
Click Publish Selected.
You will see this image appear:
Congrats! Your items are now live on the channel.