Copy the fields from the import sheet of your previous store to the template sheet. When you have finished, you may import it through SYSTEM > Tools > Imports in the left menu of the back office. For more information about importing and an explanation on the columns used in the sheet please see the Import support page.

If you have added other interface languages to your back office, the language row will be expanded with them. For example, for France you will see FR_Title_short. 

Warning

Note: Carefully read the Common Errors section at the bottom of this page, before proceeding with the Import tool.

Sample files that can be used to import your products can be found through SYSTEM > Tools > Import in the left menu of the back office. Would you like to use the export file of your old online store or the product listing provided by your supplier? Then copy these data and past them in the sample file and import it.

Note: We recommend opening the file with Open Office. Other software often distorts sheet rendition. The program will then ask you how you would like to structure the document. Choose the following settings:

• Separated by semicolons (when editing an export file) 
• Encoding set UTF-8. .CSV only supports plain text, which is why you have to use an encoding set to import special characters. UTF-8 is the proper encoding. 

Explanation of columns

The next step is filling the worksheet. It is not possible to add new columns. You can however delete columns.

Note: When importing new products, the NL_Title_short, NL_Title_Long and Variant_Title are mandatory. 

You can only use fields that are available during import. When you want to use them and all products share the same feature (for example, the same brand), you will have to have to enter the feature value in all locations. Field names are similar to names used in your online store and indicate what values should be entered.

Note: We recommend opening the file with Open Office. Other software often distorts sheet rendition. The program will then ask you how you would like to structure the document. Choose the following settings:

• Separated by semicolons (when editing an export file) 
• Encoding set UTF-8. .CSV only supports plain text, which is why you have to use an encoding set to import special characters. UTF-8 is the proper encoding. 

Explanation of columns

The next step is filling the worksheet. It is not possible to add new columns. You can however delete columns.

Note: When importing new products, the NL_Title_short, NL_Title_Long and Variant_Title are mandatory. 

You can only use fields that are available during import. When you want to use them and all products share the same feature (for example, the same brand), you will have to have to enter the feature value in all locations. Field names are similar to names used in your online store and indicate what values should be entered.

Now save your document as a .CSV or .XLS file. This option will be provided to you, just before saving it. When editing products or creating an export file, the extension type will be automatically set to .CSV. We recommend keeping this format. 

Importing product variants

If you carry product variants, for example, color or size, you can also add them through the import sheet. This can be done by assigning the same number to all product variants in the Internal_ID, Article code, SKU or EAN columns that together constitute one product. In the Variant column, separate variants by commas (for example, Size: S, Color: Red).

Note: When importing or editing product options, you cannot use multiple drop-down menus. All variants will be listed in a single drop-down menu. 

Follow the Import steps. With step two, connecting the correct columns to the appropriate back office options, you should group variants by the option you have chosen (Internal_ID, Article code, SKU of EAN).

Steps to import new products

Note: Before carrying out these steps for your entire product portfolio, we recommend to first try them with a maximum of five products.  

1. Navigate to SYSTEM > Tools > Import in the left menu of the back office and click Start importing now or Add import at the right at the top of the screen.
2. Click Browse computer to select a file on your computer.
3. Look for the file on your computer. The system will immediately recognize the import type. If this is not the case, select the Product option in step two (Specify). After uploading, you will then immediately be taken to the Import Wizard.
4. With Behavior, choose Only create new products and select the column you wish to group by (see Importing product variants). If the default settings are not configured correctly, connect the appropriate option to the appropriate column name. Click here for an overview of all columns and options in the Import wizard.
5. When you click Continue at the right at the bottom (or at the top), the file will be checked. The system will now prepare itself to import the sheet. Click Start import to proceed with the import.
6. You will be shown an import progress window. Note: With less than 50 products, progress cannot be tracked live.
7. The import has been processed. If errors have occurred, they will be shown on-screen. 

Steps to edit products

Note: Before carrying out these steps for your entire product portfolio, we recommend to first try them with a maximum of five products (including variants, in case you want to use them).  

1. Navigate to SHOP > Products in the left menu of the back office and click Export > Export Products at the right at the top of the screen.
2. A pop-up window will open at the right at the bottom of the screen, where you can immediately got to the export area to download the export file. The export area can also be reached through SYSTEM > Tools > Export in the left menu.
3. Click Download to download the export file. 
4. Edit the file according to your preferences. We recommend opening it with Open office. Columns should be separated by semicolons. Use UTF_8 encoding. Click herefor more explanation on all columns in the export sheet.

Importing edited sheets

1. Navigate to SYSTEM > Tools > Import in the left menu of the back office and click Start importing now or Add import at the right at the top of the screen.
2. Click Browse computer to select a file on your computer.
3. Look for the file on your computer. The system will immediately recognize the import type. If this is not the case, select the Product option in step two (Specify). After uploading, you will then immediately be taken to the Import Wizard.
4. With Behavior, choose Only create new products and select the column you wish to group by (see Importing product variants). If the default settings are not configured correctly, connect the appropriate option to the appropriate column name. Click here for an overview of all columns and options in the Import wizard.
5. When you click Continue at the right at the bottom (or at the top), the file will be checked. The system will now prepare itself to import the sheet. Click Start import to proceed with the import.
6. You will be shown an import progress window. Note: With less than 50 products, progress cannot be tracked live.
7. The import has been processed. If errors have occurred, they will be shown on-screen. 

Common errors

• No UTF-8 - UTF-8 will see to it that characters are accepted during import. Make sure your sheet is always opened, saved and uploaded in UTF-8 encoding, to prevent strange characters from appearing in all texts on your online store.
• http:// prefix missing – Every URL must start with http:// or https://, "www" does not suffice.
• Incorrect Internal_ID for product variants – Product variants should have the same ID code as the main product. Place product variants immediately below the main product in the .CSV file and the system will automatically create the structure. Does each new row represent a new product? If so, enter a unique ID for each row in the Internal_ID column.
• Languages have not been preset – If you want to activate several languages, they must first be configured through SYSTEM > Settings > SHOP SETTINGS > Shop country in the left menu of the back office. Only then they can be included in your import sheet.
• Incorrect URLs – If you have the correct extension (.JPG, .PNG, of .GIF). Open the image in your browser. Now click the image with the right mouse button (Windows only; mouse plus pressed ctrl button on Mac computers) and select copy image URL / location in the pop-up menu.
• Too many product variants – A product can have a maximum of 100 variants.
• Excel formatting disrupts import – With prices above 1,000 Euro, Excel sometimes places commas points between digits (for example, 1,000/1.000 instead of 1000). When importing, commas or points may not be present.
• A maximum of 10,000 rows per import – You can import a maximum of 10,000 rows per import. The minimum is two rows, which boils down to the title and product row.
• Strange characters in your online store – This is an encoding problem. Remove the products and save the file again with CSV encoding.
• Template modified – You cannot modify the import template. It is therefore impossible to add extra columns. You can however remove columns. Note: The NL_Title_short, NL_Title_Long and Variant_Title fields are mandatory.
• HTML – HTML code can only be added in the NL_Description_Long field. <div> sections cannot be added. 
• Multi-shop – Multi-shop is not connected to the import tool. Editing products should be done in all stores that are related to the stock connection.
• EAN +12 – This problem is caused by Excel and/or Open Office. An EAN code generally consists of 13 characters. Because of this, Excel automatically changes this in EAN+12. To prevent this, the cell formatting of the entire column should be set to “Text”.

• Hide [N]
• Show [Y]
• Show when in stock [S]

• Do not track (Enter an N with Stock_Track)
• Track, deny purchases when out of stock [Y]
• Track, allow purchases even when out of stock [N]

• create exports of your orders, invoices, and sales to monitor your sales data;
• export all your orders or shipments to be handled by a fulfillment group;
• export all your products to change their prices and images and then re-import them;

Data you can export

Products

A product export contains product variants and information.

When you export product data this information is not included:

• Specifications
• Custom fields
• Filters 
• Quantity discounts
• Related products
• Product URLs 
• Google categories
• Index settings (Do not index function)

If you want to import changes to products, you can import the changes. In the left menu of the Backoffice go to Tools > Import inventory. When you export your inventory, you export only the product and stock information. Options such as product images, categories and tags are not exported.

Inventory

This export is similar to the Products export, but excludes many of the fields found in the Product export. Instead, the Inventory export is geared towards providing data on settings related to inventory variants.

Orders

Exports your order data. The order status is not included. All orders are exported.

Shipment

Exports packing note data to a .CSV file.

Invoices

Exports invoice data to a .CSV file. The export includes all data related to each invoice in the system, including customer information.

Invoice items

This export is similar to the Invoices export, but excludes many of the fields found in the Invoices export. Instead, the Invoice items export provides more focused data on the products in each invoice. 

Sales

Exports data for paid orders.

Customers

Exports data for registered customers and guest accounts.

Filters

Exports data for products to which you have assigned filters, including the filters and selected values. 

Redirects

Exports redirect data. To configure redirects go to Settings > Redirects.

Newsletter subscriptions

Exports newsletter subscription data, which you can then use with an e-mail marketing platform as part of your marketing campaigns. 

You can't send newsletters directly from Lightspeed eCom. However, Lightspeed eCom integrates with several popular external e-mail marketing platforms that you can purchase from our App store.

Tax reports

This report is an upcoming feature that may not yet be available to all eCom users.
Exports taxes you've collected within a specified time period to a .CSV file (up to a maximum of 3 months). This includes the name of each tax class and country of origin, as well as the tax rate associated with each class and the corresponding dollar amount for the specified time period. Here's an example:

To export data

1. On the left menu of the Backoffice go to Tools > Exports.
2. At the top of the EXPORTS page click New export. 
3. From the drop-down, choose what you want to export.
   
   
   
   If you select Tax report, specify a date range:
   
   
   
   NOTE: You can only export tax data for a up to a maximum of 3 months.

4. Click Export.
   The export appears as In progress. If you are exporting a large amount of data, the export can take several minutes. When the export is complete, you'll receive an email with a link to the export file; or, you can download the file directly on the EXPORTS page.

Configuring shipping methods

This article describes functionality in of the Lightspeed eCom Back Office.

Without products to sell, there's no use in starting an online store. Although stocking your store will take some time, but is absolutely worth the effort. Products can be created through SHOPS > Products > Products  in the left menu of the back office.

There are two ways or adding products:

1. Add a product manually
2. Add a product using the import tool

To add products

1. On the Backoffice left panel click Products.
2. At the top of the screen click Add a product.

1. • Title - Short description of the product that will be displayed when customers browse the product in your online store.
   • Full title - Longer description, displayed on the product details page.
   • Description - Short product description that can provide additional information. Note: Depending on your chosen theme, this description may not be visible in product pages in your online store. If you do not enter SEO data, this field will also be used as a meta description by search engines. SEO data can be entered further down on this page.
   • Price - Price that customers will pay for the product.
   • Quantity - Number of items in stock for each product. The quantity is modified automatically when the product is ordered.
   • Visible - Select whether products will be visible in your online store.
     • Always visible - The product is always visible whether it is in stock or not.
     • Visible when in stock - The product is visible only when it is in stock.
     • Hidden - The product is not visible in your online store.
2. Click on Save at the right at the top of the screen to create the product. 

To import products

Is your product range available digitally, in Excel or a different .csv format? Then you can save 

valuable time by Importing your products. To do so, navigate to SYSTEM > Tools > Import in the left menu.

Configuring a payment method

1. In AE admin, go to Catalog>>Distributors>>click the distributor you'd like to manage.
   
   
2. Below the "Details" tab, you see a list of tabs of any shipping carriers activated for your system.  Click on the carrier you want to work with.
   
   
3. If "Use {Carrier's Name} Account" checkbox is not checked, check it and click Save Changes, and once the page reloads go back to that carrier tab to fill the form that will now show.  If the checkbox is already checked, make sure the form has been filled in.
   
   
4. Once you've activated a carrier, you can manage the shipping methods you want to use via "Manage Shipping Methods" button within the carrier's tab.  In the shipping methods management window, check "Active" next to each shipping method you'd like to use and Save Changes.

Bank versus Payment Service Provider

A Payment Service Provider (PSP) is an online bank specialized in payment traffic. SEOshop has made several favorable price agreements with a number of PSPs, enabling you as an online retailer to offer your customers optimal payment comfort against economical rates. A lot of confusion exists concerning what a Payment Service Provider exactly is/does, as a result of which many online retailers opt to only offer iDeal through banks. In practice, this will involve more costs compared to using a PSP.

The advantages of using PSPs:

• Online payment traffic is their core business - The SEOshop online store platform software is built upon it. For example, payment reminders are automatically sent if a payment is unexpectedly interrupted.
• Lower rates - PSPs are often more economical than banking institutions.
• Excellent service. - SEOshop has made agreements with a sizable number of PSPs, enabling you to benefit from advantageous rates.

Suitable payment method

Besides your contract with SEOshop, you will also have to enter into an agreement with one or a number of Payment Service Providers (PSPs). There are several options, depending on the size of your online store or your experience:

Starters or small online stores

Does the product range of your online store consist of less than 300 products and do you expect a low monthly sales volume? Then you belong to the small online retailer category. If this is the case, it is advisable to offer iDeal in your online store. This payment method is used by as much as 70% of all online buyers and will provide sufficient opportunities at the start.

Fast-growing starters and/or experienced online retailers

Do you carry a large product range (over 300 products) and /or possess a lot of e-commerce experience? Do you expect a high monthly sales volume? Then you are classified as a medium-sized or large online store. We recommend offering additional payment methods next to iDeal, to provide an even better service to your customers and increase your turnover opportunities. Think for example of international payment methods, cash on delivery, PayPal and/or credit cards.

Copy the fields from the import sheet of your previous store to the template sheet. When you have finished, you may import it through SYSTEM > Tools > Imports in the left menu of the back office. For more information about importing and an explanation on the columns used in the sheet please see the Import support page.

Note: It is not possible to add/delete columns. You also cannot modify column names.

PRODUCT CONTENT

• Title - short description of the product, displayed in categories you add the product to.
• Full title - longer description, displayed on product pages.
• Description - enter a short product description. Depending on the theme you use, the description may not be visible in the product pages of your online store. If you do not enter SEO data, the information here is used as a meta description by search engines.
• Visible - whether the product is visible in your online store.
  • Always visible - the product is always visible whether the item is in stock or not.
  • Visible when in stock - the product is visible only when it is in stock.
  • Hidden - the product is not visible in the shop.
• Brand - select a brand from the list or add one by typing its name. For more information see Adding Brands
• Supplier - select a supplier from the list or add one by typing its name. For more information see Adding Supplier.
• Delivery time - enter the anticipated delivery time of the product so  customers know when they can expect their order. Delivery times are associated with the stock. You can assign different values to the In stock message and Out of stock message. Delivery times are displayed on the product pages of your online store. To set up delivery times, on the left menu of Backoffice click Products > Delivery dates.
  

  CONTENT

Tell your customers more about the product. This information you enter here appears in the Information tab of the product page. Avoid descriptions provided by suppliers, and use your own text. Unique content is important because it increases the visibility of the product and your online store.

INVENTORY & VARIANTS

Configure product prices and stock. If the product has several variants, such as different sizes, you can create the variants here. Each variant has its own inventory management.

For more information see:

• Creating product variants
• Setting prices and stock for product variants

Note: Variants are counted in the product limit of your subscription. For example, if you have the Basic package with 250 product variants and you assign 10 variants to a product, you have 240 product variants remaining.

IMAGES

High-quality product photos are essential to the success of your online store and give customers an idea of what they can expect.

To add web images click Add images from the web. Make sure the link starts with  http or https and ends with an image file extension such as jpg or png. See Adding  for more information. 

PRODUCT SET

Before you can select a product set you need to create one at SHOP > Products > Product Set. With a product set you offer customers a variety of choices of a product that they can order. Note: When you add a product set to a product, all variants created at Inventory & variants (including the default) will be replaced by the variants of the product set. Data, like price and stock, need to be filled in again. 

CATEGORY

With categories you can organize your product range clearly and conveniently for customers. This helps them to quickly find what they're looking for and increases your turnover opportunities.

To create categories and add products to categories see Creating categries.

TAGS 

Add new or existing tags to the product. Separate tags by commas. See Creating Tags for how to create and use tags.

SEARCH ENGINES 

Enter meta data  for the product to increase your online visibility.

FILTERS

Select filters to add to the product so that the product will appear in search results when customers filter their searches with one of these values.

QUANTITY DISCOUNT

Quantity discounts encourage customers to order a product variant several times. With discounts, the more a product is purchased, the cheaper it will become. You can configure several quantity discounts per product.

SPECIFICATIONS

pecification give an overnieuw of the features of a product and are therefore mostly used for electronic products. You can create specification  that are displayed in the Specifications tab of product pages. For example, Screen: 13 inch. Note: Specification are not available in every theme. 

CUSTOM FIELDS

You can select a custom field set by clicking use cutom fields sets and selecting a  set, or you can click Add a custom field to create new custom fields for the product.

RELATED PRODUCTS

You can add a maximum of five similar or related products. Related products are shown in the shopping cart and in product pages, depending on your theme.

CUSTOM DATA FIELDS

Use the custom template data to determine elements at product level in your online store. It enables you to add additional functionality to your product pages and the product type category.

To make your product range even more appealing, you can add a unique image to each variants of your products. 

Do not hesitate to ask your suppliers for new pictures if theirs do not meet your quality standards.

To add an image

Note: You can add a maximum of 10 images to each product.

1. On the left menu of the Back Office go to Products and choose the product you want to work with.
2. Scroll to Images.
3. Click Browse files to select an image from the hard drive of your computer and click the image to add it. If you want to add several images from the same file location, press Ctrl/Cmd while you select your images.
4. Click Open to add the images to the product.

You can also add images by dragging them onto the Drag & Drop field.
To change the order of an image, click and drag it.

Image dimensions

 Note: The maximum image size is 5 MB. These size limits are recommended by the developers of the theme, depending on the theme you choose.

To delete an image

Mouse over the image and click the Trash icon to permanently delete the image.

To add products to a category

1. Create your Categories. 
2. On the left menu of the Back Office go to SHOP > Products > Products and click the product you want to work with.
3. In the CATEGORIES section click Select category to specify the category or categories category.
4. A pop-up window displays. Select the categories you want to add. You can add products to any number of categories. 
   Note: You can remove an existing category from a product by simply unselecting the category in the pop-up window.
5. Save your changes.

To add products to a category using Bulk action

You can also add multiple products to a category using the Bulk action function.

1. Create your Categories 
2. On the left menu of the Back Office go to SHOP > Products > Products.
3. In the Product table, select the products that you want to add.
4. Click the checkbox icon at the top-left of the Product table.
5. Open the Bulk actions drop-down menu and select Add category.
6. From the pop-up window that displays, select or type-in the category that you want to add the products to.
7. Click Save.

You can have a maximum of five related products. If you have fewer than five, the list is supplemented with featured products.

Depending on the theme you're using, related products are also visible on product pages.

To add related products

1. On the left menu of the Back Office click Products and choose the product you want to work with.
2. In the Related products area click Add a product.
3. Search for the product you want to add and click Choose.
4. If you have several related products you can modify their order by dragging them.

Note: Pay attention to competition when you create tags. It can be better to join tags, to avoid keyword competition.

To create tags

1. On the left menu of the Backoffice go to Products > Tags  > Add a tag.
   
   • Title - Enter the tag here, for example, black t-shirt with flowers. Note: If you use several languages in your online store, create a tag for each language.
2. Save your changes.

To edit tags and add them to products

After you create a tag, you can add it to products.

• Title - You can edit the tag here. Note: Do not do this if the tag has been indexed. In that case, it is better to create a new one.
• Search engines - If you want the tag page indexed, you can change its URL here.
• Do not index - Turn on if you do not want this tag page indexed by search engines.  
• Visibility - Turn on to activate the tag. You must activate a tags to be able to use it.

To add products to a tag

In the Products area, click Add a product. and add products to the tag one at a time. Use the search field at the top of the window to find the product you want to add. Click the green +next to products to add them to the tag.

To add tags to a product

In addition to adding products to tags, you can also add tags to products.

1. On the left menu of Backoffice click Products and choose the product you want to work with. 
2. In the Tags area add tags, separated by commas. Existing tags will be recognised and new tags will be added to SHOP > Products > Tags. 

(Tag 1,Tag 2,Tag 3,)

Your online store's navigation is based on categories so that you can organize your product range conveniently for customers. This helps them quickly find what they're looking for and increases your turnover opportunities.

About categories

Research shows that successful online stores have a maximum of seven main categories, each with a clear, concise name to ensure easy-to-read navigation. Categories are used in product, overview and text pages.

Product pages

A product page displays all of the products in a category. Customers see product pages when they browse the products in your store. When a customer clicks a product, its product page is displayed with a short description of the product, an image and the ability to add the product to the cart.

Product categories can have up to three levels. If you need more levels, you can create an overview page.

Overview pages

Overview pages display the sub-categories of a main category.

Text pages

Text pages can contain only text, including layout. You use text pages to tell your customers about your online store, or show terms & conditions, disclaimers and payment and shipping methods. You cannot create sub-categories for a text page.

Buttons on the category page

ADD A CATEGORY

1. On the Backoffice left panel go to SHOP > Products > Categories.
2. At the top of the screen click Add a category.
3. Choose a name and type for the category. 
   • Title– title for the category to display in the menu.
   • Full title– long title to display on the category page.
   • Put in category - leave this field blank if the category is a main category. If it is a sub-category choose the parent category. You can't place an overview page under a product or text page.
   • Type – choose product, overview or text page. 
4. After you create the category, click it and select how it functions.

REARRANGE CATEGORIES

1. On the Backoffice left panel go to SHOP > Products > Categories.
2. At the top of the screen click Rearrange categories to change the order of the categories.
3. You will be taken to a rearrange where you can rearrange the categories. Click on a categorie and drag it to the correct position. Note: Changes will be visible in the online store as soon as the position is changed. 
4. Click Done to go back to the category overview. 

WHITE SPACE

Use these button for more or less white space between categories. 

SHOW SUBITEMS

Use the switch to show or hide subcategories.

On:  Off:

ADD 

1. Click on Add next to a category to create a subcategory of this category. 
2. Choose a name and type for the category. 
   • Title– title for the category to display in the menu.
   • Full title– long title to display on the category page.
   • Put in category - leave this field blank if the category is a main category. If it is a sub-category choose the parent category. You can't place an overview page under a product or text page.
   • Type – choose product, overview or text page. 
3. After you create the category, click it and select how it functions. 

MOVE TO
With the move to button you can move a category from one to the other.

1. Click on Move to next to a category to move this category to another category.
2. A pop-up window will open where you can select the category. 
3. Select the category you want as a parent category for the category you want to move. 
4. Click Save to save the changes.