Import products from a spreadsheet

Typing 8,000 products by hand is how grocery switches fail. The import lets you bring the whole catalogue in from a spreadsheet: names, SKUs and PLUs, prices, units, tax, category and opening stock.

Before you start: create units, categories and taxes

The import matches names in your file against things that already exist in the software. Create these first:

1. Units under Products → Units: Piece, Pound, Kilogram, Case, Dozen, Bag, whatever your file uses. Turn on decimals for weight units. See units, case and unit pricing.
2. Categories and sub-categories, for example Produce, Meat, Dairy, Dry goods, Frozen, Household.
3. Tax rates, so each product can be assigned the right one.
4. Brands, if you track them.

Write names exactly the same in the file. “Pound” and “pound “ (with a space) are different to a computer.

Download and fill the template

1. Open Products → Import products.
2. Click to download the template file. It is an Excel spreadsheet.
3. Open it. The first row holds the column headings and the screen shows instructions for each column.
4. Do not remove or rename the heading row. The import reads columns by these headings.
5. Paste or type one product per row under the headings.

Typical columns include product name, brand, unit, category, SKU, barcode type, tax, purchase price, selling price, opening stock and expiry. Follow the instructions on the import screen for which columns are required.

Tips for grocery catalogues

• PLU items: put the PLU in the SKU column, such as 4011 for bananas or 94011 for organic bananas.
• Weighed items: use a weight unit with decimals and the price per pound or kilo.
• Two-language names: type both in the name, for example “Gạo thơm lài / Jasmine rice”. Any script works.
• Case packs: import the item in its base unit (piece) and set the case as a multiple unit.

Dates and numbers

Spreadsheets love to “help” with dates. If an expiry date is turned into a number, the import fails with a separator error.

1. Format the expiry column as text before typing.
2. Type dates in the format shown on the import screen, for example 11-25-2026.
3. Make sure price and stock columns contain only numbers: no currency symbols, no commas as thousand separators, no “N/A”.

Import the file

1. On the import screen choose your filled file.
2. Click import.
3. If there is an error, the message names the problem. Fix the row in the spreadsheet and import again.

If a big file gives a “non-numeric value” or another unclear error, split it. Files of around 2,000 rows each are quick to fix and re-run. A store with 8,000 items imports four files.

Check the result

1. Open the product list and filter by category to see everything arrived.
2. Ring up five or six products at the register: a scanned item, a PLU item, a weighed item and a case item.
3. Print a shelf label for one item to check the name and price.

Export, edit, re-import

Need to change 300 prices after a supplier increase? Export the product list. The export uses the same template as the import, so you can edit prices in the spreadsheet and import the file back.

Common problems

UNIT not found. The unit in the file does not exist. Create it under Products → Units with the exact same spelling.

Separator symbol error on expiry dates. The date column is formatted as a date. Change it to text and retype.

Non-numeric value. A price or stock cell contains text, a symbol or a blank space. Clean the column, or split the file to find the row.

Accents or Chinese characters turn into question marks. Save the spreadsheet in Excel format, not as an old CSV with a different encoding.

Duplicate SKU. Two rows share a SKU. Each product needs its own.

Related: Units, case and unit pricing · PLU codes and barcodes · Bulk product import · Switch from your POS