Ecommerce Items for CounterPoint SQL

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Ecommerce Items

0BOverview ... 3

1BPlanning Your Items ... 3

14BItem Tips ...3

15BChecklist ...4

2BSelecting the Items to Sell Online ... 4

16BUpdate Other Item Fields, As Needed ...5

3BItem Descriptions ... 6

17BEntering an Item Description ...6

18BImporting Item Descriptions ...7

4BOptimizing Your Content ... 9

19BExample of Optimized Content ...9

5BItem Images ... 10

20BImage Guidelines ... 10

21BAssigning Images to Items ... 10

22BUploading Item Images ... 10

23BThumbnail Images ... 11

24B“Click Here for Larger Image” ... 12

6BAdding Items to Categories ... 13

25BUsing the Category Editor... 13

26BUsing Inventory / Items ... 14

7BNew Items & Specials ... 15

8BItem Layout ... 15

27BDefault Item Layout ... 16

28BBasic Options ... 16

29BStock Status Options ... 17

9BItem Editor ... 18

30Basic Info ... 18

31BExtended Options ... 19

for CounterPoint SQL

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32BRelated Items ... 20

3BItem Page ... 22

Importing Extra Item Information ... 23

Checklist ... 23

Creating an Import File ... 23

Selecting the Import File ... 30

Viewing the Import Results ... 30

Importing Extra Grid Information... 31

Checklist ... 31

Creating an Import File ... 31

Selecting the Import File ... 36

Viewing the Import Results ... 36

Working with Prices ... 36

11BWorking with Quantities ... 37

34BQuantity Available ... 37

35BDisplaying Quantities Online ... 38

12BWorking with Alternate Units ... 38

36BLayout Options for Alternate Units ... 38

13BWorking with Gridded Items ... 39

37BChanging the Image for Each Color ... 39

38BSupressing Specific Colors or Sizes ... 40

39BChanging the Color/Size Labels ... 40

40BLayout Options for Gridded Items ... 42

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Ecommerce Items

0B

OVERVIEW

If you followed the steps in the CPOnline Quick Start Guide, you created a few sample items and you uploaded them to your CPOnline store. Now it’s time to add more items.

We recommend that you start with a small group of your best-selling items, and then continue to add more items later. The sooner your store is up and running, the sooner you can begin generating sales!

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PLANNING YOUR ITEMS

Many merchants choose to open their store with a small subset of items and add more items later as time allows. This method allows merchants to open their online store as quickly as possible and to focus on the quality of the items instead of the quantity.

The better your descriptions and images are, the better your chances that shoppers will buy from you.

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ITEM TIPS

 Use clear, quality images. Recommended image size is 300 x 300 pixels. Use Supplemental Information to allow shoppers to view larger images or alternate views of the product. To ensure that your online store is visually pleasing, try to fit all images into square shapes with the same dimensions (this will ensure your thumbnails are all proportionate).

 Use the item number as the image name. This method significantly reduces setup time because you can skip the manual assignment of the image filename field in the item record.

 Write great item descriptions. Imagine that the shopper is in your store to inquire about the product. What do they ask? What do they want to see? If they called you on the phone, how would you describe the item? Use lots of adjectives to describe the item. Describe the size, color, height, width, suggested uses, ingredients, materials, how/where it’s made, etc. Most importantly, include the key words and phrases people are most likely to use when searching for your products. Keyword-dense product descriptions help increase your site’s search engine ranking and improve your customers’ overall shopping experience.  Incorporate target keywords anywhere you can. Your existing CounterPoint item names may not be

shopper friendly or optimized for search engines.

 Keep your formatting simple and easy to read. Optionally use HTML to add formatting, links, etc. Resist using all UPPER CASE letters and symbols such as &.

 Reduce files sizes. File size per image should be no more than 20KB to allow pages to load quickly and minimize your bandwidth costs. Most graphics software has a ‘save for web’ option to help reduce file size. Image resolution should be 72 dpi (the highest resolution viewable on the web).

 Contact your vendors to obtain images and descriptions.

TIP: If you plan to leverage descriptions from your vendors, you should reword the descriptions to suit your business and target audience. Keep in mind that other businesses similar to yours may be using identical descriptions from the same vendor. If identical product descriptions are used on multiple websites, search engines may rank your site lower (or not at all).

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CHECKLIST

CounterPoint:

 1. Select items to sell in your online store using Inventory / Items (learn more below)  2. Publish ecommerce information from CounterPoint using Ecommerce / Publish. CPOnline:

 3. Import ecommerce information to CPOnline using Import + Export / Import from CP.  4. Create a zip file named itempics.zip containing your item images. Upload itempics.zip using

Image Maintenance / Item Images (learn more on page 85H10).

Zip files can be no larger than 10MB and may not contain folders.

 5. Select the item layout to use throughout your storefront (learn more on page 86H15).

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SELECTING THE ITEMS TO SELL ONLINE

CounterPoint: Inventory / Items

You can sell all of your items online, or you can sell a subset of your items. Each item you decide to sell in your online store requires setup. The amount of setup depends upon which CPOnline features you want to use in your online store.

For every item that you sell online, you can:  Add a detailed item description

 Add an image

 Specify whether to charge freight (i.e., shipping) and optionally enter a freight amount. The freight amount will only be used if CPOnline is configured to charge freight by the item (learn more in ‚Shipping Options in CPOnline‛).

 Assign a weight to use for shipping charges  Specify whether or not the item can be discounted  Specify whether or not to charge tax on the item  List the item in one or more categories

 Link to another website (e.g., the manufacturer’s website)

 Include the item on the New Items and/or Specials page in your online store  Identify and link to related items

TIP: Start with a small group of your best-selling items in multiple ecommerce categories and continue to add more groups of items later.

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Select Inventory / Items and locate the item you want to include in your online store. On the Ecommerce tab, check the Ecommerce item box to designate this item as an ecommerce item. Enter additional information, edit the item’s ecommerce description, assign this item to one or more categories, etc.

TIP: To print a list of all items that have been marked as ecommerce items, select Ecommerce / Reports /

Ecommerce Items. You can optionally print item descriptions and/or the category assignments.

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UPDATE OTHER ITEM FIELDS, AS NEEDED

Depending on your plans for your online store, you may need to add or update other information in the CounterPoint item record.

For example, you may need to update the following CounterPoint fields in Inventory / Items:

CounterPoint Field Typical Use in CPOnline For More Information

Description Used as the item name in your online store

You can optionally use one of the fields on the Description tab for the item name. Learn more in ‚CounterPoint Ecommerce Controls.‛

Weight

(Other tab)

Used to calculate shipping charges for certain shipping methods

Learn more about shipping weights in ‚Shipping Options in CPOnline.‛

Substitute Items Substitute items may be used as related items

Learn more on page 87H20.

Primary vendor

(Main tab)

Displayed on the item details page

Learn more about basic display options on page 88H16.

Specify whether to include this item on your online store’s New

Items and/or Specials page

Assign an item image

Specify whether to charge freight for this item

Optionally include a link to the manufacturer’s or other website

Assign this item to one or more categories

Enter a detailed item description Check Ecommerce item

Specify whether to charge tax on this item (learn more in Defining & Calculating Taxes‛)

Optionally use substitute items as related items Used as the item name in your online store

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ITEM DESCRIPTIONS

Item descriptions are one of the most important parts of your online store. A good item description should accurately describe the item, including its size, color, suggested uses, ingredients, materials, how/where it’s made, etc. Item descriptions should be straight-forward and honest. Most importantly, they should include the key words and phrases people are most likely to use when searching for your products. Keywords should be similar to those used in your meta information (learn more on page 89H22).

TIP: Keyword-dense product descriptions help increase your site’s organic search engine ranking and improve your customers’ overall shopping experience.

Each item description can be up to 6,240 characters in length.

Item descriptions may include HTML formatting. The item description must be entered on one line and cannot contain any line breaks. It can wrap to the next line in your word processor, but do not press Enter in the middle of a long description! If you need line breaks in your long description, you must insert appropriate HTML code, such as a <BR> or <P> tag.

DO NOT use double quotes in HTML formatting entered in CounterPoint! If you must use quotes, use single quotes.

DO NOT paste in HTML code generated from WYSIWYG editors such as FrontPage, Dreamweaver, or Microsoft Word. HTML code generated in this way contains extraneous code that may cause your online store to display improperly.

In CounterPoint, you can enter item descriptions for each item one at a time, or you can create all item descriptions in a text file and import them into CounterPoint. Learn more on page 90H7.

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ENTERING AN ITEM DESCRIPTION

Select Inventory / Items and locate the item.

Click on the Ecommerce tab

and enter or edit the long description. TIP: You can copy and paste descriptions

directly into this area.

Item descriptions may include HTML formatting

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IMPORTING ITEM DESCRIPTIONS

You can use an external application such as Microsoft Word to enter all of your item descriptions, save the file in .txt or .csv format, and then import that file into CounterPoint.

Create the File

Using any word processor, create a file that contains an item number and its long description on one line, separated by a comma. Save the file in .txt or .csv format. The format should be as follows:

Item number,Item long description

For example:

BAS-0300,The Rawlings Official Major League baseball is a durable performance ball with… BAS-2452,The Rawlings Adirondack wooden baseball bat is made from Northern White Ash…

To use Microsoft Word

A possible method of using Microsoft Word to create a file to import long descriptions is: 1. Open a new document and create a table with two columns.

2. Enter a row for each item with the item number in the first column and the description in the second column. Do not enter a Tab character anywhere, and ensure that your item numbers do not have spaces after them.

3. If you include HTML, don't use double-quotes in your HTML. Use single-quotes, or no quotes. 4. Save the file as a Word document. Don't use spaces in the filename.

5. Choose Table / Convert / Table to text from the Word menu. When asked, select Commas as the character to separate text, and click OK.

6. Choose File / Save As from the Word menu and save the file in Text only (*.txt) format. This file is now formatted properly for CounterPoint.

TIP: Turn Off Smart Quotes! If you use Microsoft Word to prepare your long descriptions, you

probably have "smart quotes" turned on (the curly, typographers quotes that ‚curl in ‛ towards the quoted words). Smart quotes imported into long descriptions will cause strange characters, so they should be turned off while creating long descriptions.

To turn off smart quotes in Microsoft Word, select Tools / AutoCorrect Options from the menu bar. On the AutoFormat tab, uncheck Replace: "Straight quotes" with “smart quotes”.

To use Microsoft Excel

A possible method of using Microsoft Excel to create a file to import long descriptions is: 1. Open a new document and create a table with two columns.

2. Enter your items and descriptions by typing the item number in the first column and the long

description in the second column. Do not use a header row (e.g., column headings) and delete any

blank lines in between your items.

3. When you have finished entering your items, copy and paste the table into Microsoft Word.

NOTE: We recommend using Word due to the fact that when using Excel, if there are any commas in the long description, the entire long description will be enclosed in quotation marks. 4. Follow steps 3 through 5 of the Microsoft Word instructions above to complete the import process.

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Import the File

CounterPoint: System / Utilities / Database Import

To import a file containing item descriptions: 1. Select System / Utilities /

Database Import.

2. Select EC_ITEM_DESCR from the list of tables. 3. Uncheck Use header line.

4. Click and use

the dialog to move Item

number and HTML description (in that order)

into the Mapped Fields list, then click OK.

5. Enter the name of the .txt or

.csv file you created above.

6. Check the boxes for Add

new and/or Update

7. Click to import the data, or to preview any potential issues without performing the import.

Enter the .txt or .csv file you created above

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4B

OPTIMIZING YOUR CONTENT

People aren’t the only ones ‚reading‛ your content. Search engines constantly scan the Internet to find out about your site, who you are, and what you’re selling. By optimizing your content for search engines, you have a better chance of achieving a higher ranking.

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EXAMPLE OF OPTIMIZED CONTENT

In this example, a sporting goods store wants to target Rawlings baseballs.

Not Optimized

Item Name: Rawlings Base Ball

Description: Durable performance ball with raised seams and a cushioned red cork center. Features premium grade full grain leather cover and wool blend windings with a durable vinyl finish wind. Ideal for professional and collegiate levels. Category: Sporting Goods / Baseball

Optimized

Item Name: Rawlings Official Major League Baseball Description: The Rawlings Official Major League Baseball is a durable performance baseball with raised seams and a cushioned red cork center. Rawlings baseballs feature premium grade full grain leather cover and wool blend windings with a durable vinyl finish wind. Each baseball is carefully weighed, measured, inspected, and tested. Rawlings Official Major League Baseballs are ideal for professional and collegiate game ball. Available by the each or by the case. For over 25 years, Rawlings has been the exclusive supplier of baseballs to the Major Leagues. Rawlings baseballs are crafted from the finest materials to ensure the highest level of quality. Categories: Sporting Goods / Baseballs

Shop by Brand / Rawlings Baseball / Equipment / Baseballs Related items: Rawlings Big Stick Baseball Bat

Rawlings Baseball Catcher’s Face Mask Additionally, keyword-dense content is used throughout the site, including the home page, about us page, footer, etc. Extra Pages are used for relative, informational content such as a ‚Baseball Glove Fitting Guide.‛ Meta keywords and meta descriptions include baseball-related keywords (learn more on page 91H22). The optimized site also includes reciprocal links to

complementary websites such as websites for summer baseball camps and little league trophies.

To a search engine, ‚baseball‛ and ‚base ball‛ are different The keyword ‚baseball‛ is not included anywhere in the description

‚Baseball‛ is not a top-level category

‚Baseball‛ appears seven times. This is a key-word dense description. Item name includes the keyword

Because ‚baseball‛ is a top-level category, search engines will see it on every page of your site. By adding the item to multiple categories, shoppers can find it more easily.

Because ‚baseball‛ appears in the links, search engines can easily follow the links to other pages about baseballs. Plus, related items encourage impulse buys from shoppers.

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5B

ITEM IMAGES

Populating your online store with high-quality product images can make a big difference in whether shoppers purchase items from you or from someone else.

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IMAGE GUIDELINES

Item images should follow these basic guidelines:

 Format: Images can be .jpg or .gif. For easier setup, use either .jpg or .gif images, but not a mixture of both.  File size: No more than 20KB is recommended. Smaller file sizes help pages load more quickly and reduce

overall bandwidth usage. Maximum file size is 75KB.  Dimensions: 300 x 300 pixels (recommended)  Resolution: 72 dpi

 Shape: For consistent thumbnail images, item images should all be the same general shape. Square shapes are better than long or narrow shapes. If you sell long or narrow items (e.g., baseball bats or fishing poles), turn them on a diagonal within a square shape so your thumbnails will be consistent sizes.

 Filenames: For easier setup, use item numbers as the filenames. Image filenames can not contain asterisks (*), slashes, or other special characters. Spaces are allowed, but not recommended.

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ASSIGNING IMAGES TO ITEMS

By default, CounterPoint uses the item number plus .jpg as the name of the corresponding image. After you specify the image names (or if you are using default images), you will need to upload the item images into CPOnline (learn more on page 92H10).

TIP: If you are using .gif images instead of .jpg images, select Setup / Ecommerce / Control and change the Default image to GIF (Item number.gif) on the Items tab.

Before you begin the CPOnline setup steps, you should publish your CounterPoint information.

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UPLOADING ITEM IMAGES

CPOnline: Image Maintenance / Item Images

Zip your item images into a file named itempics.zip. Select Image Maintenance / Item Images to upload the item images to your storefront.

If the image is located in your company’s ItemImages directory, it will display here To use an image other than

the default, enter the name of the image file

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THUMBNAIL IMAGES

CPOnline: Items + Categories / Category Display / When Browsing Items

CPOnline automatically creates and displays thumbnails (smaller versions) of your item images. To change the size of your thumbnails, select Items + Categories / Category Display / When Browsing Items.

Custom Thumbnails

CPOnline: Image Maintenance / Item Images / Thumbnail Images

If you want your thumbnail images to be different from your main item images, or if you want more control, you can upload custom thumbnail images. File size should be very small (2 or 3 KB). Use image editing software to adjust image quality and achieve good balance of file size and quality. So that thumbnail images appear similar, make them proportionate to each other in general shape. Do not use spaces in your image names. Thumbnail images must be in the same file format as your item images (e.g., jpg, gif, or png). For custom thumbnails, the thumbnail images must be named in this format: w_h_imagename.ext  w and h refer to width and height. One of these will always be zero, and one will be non-zero, according

to thumbnail size settings you select in Items + Categories / Category Display (on the Browse Items tab)  imagename is the same as the item image name

 ext is your thumbnail’s file extension (i.e., jpg, gif, or png)

For example, if your thumbnails are sized by height and set to 100 pixels, then the name of the thumbnail for item image ABC.JPG would be 0_100_ABC.jpg. If sized by width at 80 pixels for the same item image, the name would be 80_0_ABC.jpg.

Zip all of your thumbnails into a file named thumbnails.zip and upload them to CPOnline using Image

Maintenance / Item Images / Thumbnail Images.

CPOnline automatically creates new thumbnail images every time you upload itempics.zip. If you

are using custom thumbnails, they will be overwritten! Always re-upload your custom thumbnail

images after uploading itempics.zip.

Optionally change the size of your thumbnails

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“CLICK HERE FOR LARGER IMAGE”

CPOnline: Items + Categories / Items + Categories

Depending on the items you sell, you may want to display larger images, close up views, or additional photos of your items.

Use CPOnline’s Supplemental Information to display additional images:

1. Upload the additional images using Image Maintenance / Storefront Images (zip your item images into a file named graphics.zip).

2. Open the item in the Item Editor. Select Items + Categories / Items + Categories and enter the item number or click on the Properties icon to the right of an item name to open the Item Editor. 3. On the Extended Options tab, edit the Supplemental Information:

 Show Link: Yes

 Link Text: ‚Click here for larger image‛ (or something similar)

 Edit Supplemental Information: Use the Rich Formatting editor to add the additional images and

other supplemental information.

TIP: Use your target keywords in your link text. For example, a link that says, ‚View more images of Rawlings Baseballs‛ is more descriptive than, ‚Click here for larger image.‛ And because the link contains a descriptive keyword, it will be more likely to show up in search engine results.

Link Text will display on

the item detail page as a link to the supplemental information

Click the link to display the supplemental information (e.g., the larger image)

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6B

ADDING ITEMS TO CATEGORIES

If an ecommerce category has no items assigned to it, that category will not display in your online store. It’s a good idea to add items to multiple ecommerce categories to give shoppers more than one way to find items in your store. You can list each item in an unlimited number of categories.

For example: Sporting Goods > Sports Equipment - Nike Pro Tour Golf Bag - Men’s X8 Snowboard > Sports Apparel - Youth Baseball Jersey

Shop by Brand > Nike

- Nike Pro Tour Golf Bag > Rawlings

- Youth Baseball Jersey > Burton

- Men’s X8 Snowboard

Shop by Season > Summer Sports

- Nike Pro Tour Golf Bag - Youth Baseball Jersey > Winter Sports

- Men’s X8 Snowboard

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USING THE CATEGORY EDITOR

CounterPoint: Setup / Ecommerce / Categories

Select the category or sub-category folder you want to work with. NOTE: You cannot add items to categories that contain sub-categories.

Adding Items

Add one or more items to this category:

Select an individual item to add

Add a range of items based on the item number, category, vendor, price, etc.

Add or delete items in the selected category, or move items from one category to another Right-click on one or more items to delete, copy, paste, etc.

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Deleting Items

Delete one or more items from this category:

Moving Items

Move items from one category to another by cutting and pasting the items:

Only one group of items can be held (i.e., cut) for pasting at a time. If you cut a second group of items before pasting the first group, the first group of items will be permanently discarded. Similarly, if you leave the category editor before pasting the items, the group of items will be permanently discarded.

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USING INVENTORY / ITEMS

Select Inventory / Items and locate the item.

Click on the Ecommerce

tab to open the Ecommerce Category

Assignments form.

Add one or more categories

Although you can move the categories up or down, this has no effect on the order in your storefront; to change the sort order in CPOnline, select Items +

Categories / Items + Categories / [Select Category] / Basic Information

Delete one or more items (hold down the Ctrl key to select multiple items) Delete all the items

from this category

Remove one or more items (hold down the Ctrl key to select multiple items)

Select the category to which you want to move the items, then click Paste items

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7B

NEW ITEMS & SPECIALS

CPOnline includes built-in pages for New Items and Specials. To mark items as new or on special, select

Inventory / Items.

Check the New box if you want this item to display on the New Items page of your online store.

Optionally enter the date that the item will no longer be considered new (the item will no longer display on the New Items page after that date).

In the On special field, select Yes or If on sale if you want this item to display on the Specials page of your online store.

 If you select Yes, you can optionally enter the date that the item will no longer be considered on special (the item will no longer display on the Specials page after that date).

 If you select If on sale, this item will appear on the Specials page of your online store anytime the item is on sale in CounterPoint. Learn more about using sale prices in ‚Defining & Calculating Prices.‛

To edit the page content for the New Items page or the Specials page, select Store Appearance / Specials

Page or New Items Page from CPOnline Store Management.

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ITEM LAYOUT

CPOnline: Items + Categories / Item Display

Before you begin the CPOnline setup steps, you should publish your CounterPoint information using

Ecommerce / Publish and import it into CPOnline using Import + Export / Import from CP.

Select Items + Categories / Item Display to change the default item layout or to globally display vendor names, quantities, color/size choices, etc.

Indicate whether this item should display on the New Items page, and how long it should stay on that page

Indicate whether this item should display on the Specials page, and how long it should stay on that page

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27B

DEFAULT ITEM LAYOUT

Select the default layout to use when a shopper views an individual item on your storefront. You can optionally select item-specific layouts for individual items using the Item Editor.

28B

BASIC OPTIONS

Define the basic display options, such as which prices to display and whether or not to display vendors. Item images can display above, below, or beside the item description

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29B

STOCK STATUS OPTIONS

Specify whether or not to display out-of-stock items in your storefront. If you choose to display out-of stock items, you have additional options, such as whether or not you will allow customers to purchase out-of-stock items as well as the out-of-stock message to display.

Stock Status for Gridded Items

If a particular color and size combination of a gridded item is out of stock and you don’t allow shoppers to purchase out-of-stock items, the Buy button is still visible for the gridded item, but the shopper can’t purchase that particular color/size combo.

When a shopper attempts to purchase a color/size combination that’s not available—because it’s out of stock or it’s marked as hidden in your online store—they will receive a message in the storefront. TIP: To edit the message in CPOnline, select Items + Categories / Item Display / Labels + Text and

choose Validation & Status Messages from the dropdown list and edit the Error - Invalid Grid

Selection message.

Learn more about working with gridded items on page 93H39.

Shoppers will be able to purchase out-of-stock items from your store

Out-of-stock items will display in your store

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9B

ITEM EDITOR

CPOnline: Categories + Items / Categories + Items

Use CPOnline’s Item Editor to edit item-specific information, including item-specific layouts,

supplemental text, meta information, featured items, and more. To open the Item Editor, select Items +

Categories / Items + Categories and click on the Properties icon to the right of an item. TIP: You can also import certain item information from an Excel file. Learn more on page 23.

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BASIC INFO

The Item Editor displays basic information about this item. The read-only item information, including the item number, vendor name, description, price, and quantity, comes directly from CounterPoint.

Changing the Sort Order

By default, items are sorted within each category based on your entries on the Basic Options tab of

Items + Categories / Item Display. If you’ve selected to display items by Sort Order, items will appear in

your storefront first in ascending sort order, then alphabetically within sort order.

All items have a default sort order of 50. You can change the order in which the items display by changing the sort weight value. Values can range from 1 (highest priority) to 9999 (lowest priority).

Values can range from 1 (highest priority) to 9999 (lowest priority)

If you change the image name here, it will be overwritten the next time you import this category!

Enter item descriptions in CounterPoint

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EXTENDED OPTIONS

The read-only item information, including the promotional settings, shipping information, and tax information, comes directly from CounterPoint.

Optionally suppress the Buy button

Member-only items are only visible to customers who qualify as members (learn more in ‚Defining & Calculating Prices‛)

Use supplemental information to store keywords for CPOnline site searches, or for links to additional pages, such as ‚Click here for larger item‛

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32B

RELATED ITEMS

Add related items to each product in your online store to group like items together and encourage impulse buys. There are three ways to assign related items to your products:

 Import from CounterPoint: Import up to 2 related items per product from CounterPoint using the

Substitute Items feature

 Individually Assign in CPOnline: Individually define up to 20 related items per product using the Item

Editor in CPOnline

 Bulk Import from a Spreadsheet: Import up to 20 related items per product using the Import Related

Items utility

TIP: Change the ‚related items‛ default text using Store Appearance / Template Selection / Labels + Text (if you are using a template other than Meridian, use Items + Categories / Item Display / Labels +

Text). For example, you could change the label to ‚May We Suggest” or “Don’t Forget This!”.

Importing from CounterPoint (Substitute Items)

If you have defined substitute items in CounterPoint (using the Substitute Items button in Inventory /

Items), you can import them into CPOnline and they will display as the related items by default. However,

you can only import two related items (i.e., substitute items) for each product.

Individually Assigning in CPOnline (Item Editor)

To specify up to 20 related items per product, use CPOnline’s Item Editor. Change the source field to use the related items defined in CPOnline (instead of the substitute items imported from CounterPoint).

Select whether to use the related items defined in CounterPoint or those defined here

Optionally change the layout on an item-by-item basis

Define up to 20 related items

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Importing from a Spreadsheet (Import Related Items Utility)

CPOnline: Items + Categories / Import Related Items

The Import Related Items utility allows you to easily import related items from a tab-delimited TXT file. Using Items + Categories / Import Related Items, you can import up to 20 related items for each product.

The Import Related Items utility only updates existing items that have already been imported from CounterPoint. It cannot be used to import or create new items in CPOnline.

Creating an Import File

Create a spreadsheet (using Microsoft Excel for Windows or similar) or a tab-delimited TXT file.

NOTES:

 To save your Excel spreadsheet as a tab-delimited file, select Save As and save your file as a Text (Tab

delimited) (*.txt).

 The import file must be a tab-delimited TXT file containing one line per item, in the format:

{CP Item #}{tab}{1st related CP Item #}{tab}{2nd related CP Item #}{etc.}  Each line must end with a CR/LF (carriage return/line feed).

 Only active items are updated by this import. Importing and Viewing Results

CPOnline: Items + Categories / Import Related Items

Select Items + Categories / Import Related Items and select the tab-delimited TXT file to import. As soon as your import completes, the Import Results tab displays the number of items that were in the file as well as the number of items that were successfully updated. If you attempt to import items that are inactive or contain invalid data, you will receive an error on the Import Results tab and no items will be updated. To resolve the error, correct any invalid data and then re-import the file.

The primary item number

must be the first data element

in each line, followed by the item numbers of up to 20 related items

Specify up to 20 related items for each product

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3B

ITEM PAGE

Define meta information, in- and out-of-stock messages, and an item-specific layout on this page.

Meta information helps search engines and shoppers locate products in your online store. For best results, meta information should be specific to each item.

 Page Title: The page title displays in the browser’s title bar when viewing this item, and it is used as the link from the search engine results page. If blank, the item name is displayed by default.

 Item Detail URL: The item URL is the unique web address of this specific item.

 Meta Keywords: Meta keywords are used to increase this item’s visibility to Internet search engines.  Meta Description: Search engines display the meta description on the search results page.

TIP: Include SEO target keywords and phrases in your meta information to facilitate organic search engine optimization.

Include 4 or 5 keywords or phrases, separated by commas

Include item name and/or keywords

Enter 1-2 sentences that describe this item (include keywords)

If blank, the default messages from Items+ Categories / Item

Display / Stock Status Options will be used

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IMPORTING EXTRA ITEM INFORMATION

CPOnline: Items + Categories / Import Extra Item Info

The Import Extra Item Info utility allows you to easily import additional item information that’s not published from CounterPoint — including META Tags, Supplemental Item Information, Sort Weight, and other item-specific information normally changeable only through the Item Editor in CPOnline Store Management (under Items + Categories / Items + Categories).

The Import Extra Item Info utility only updates existing items that have already been imported from CounterPoint. It cannot be used to import or create new items in CPOnline.

CHECKLIST

Microsoft Excel for Windows®_{(or similar tool):}

 1. Create the import file:

 a) Download the Excel spreadsheet from Items + Categories / Import Extra Item Info or create your own (learn more on page 23)

 b) Edit the information in the spreadsheet for the items you wish to update (learn more on page 24)

 c) Save the Excel spreadsheet as a tab-delimited TXT file (learn more on page 24) CPOnline:

 2. Select the file to import using Items + Categories / Import Extra Item Info (learn more on page 30).

 3. View the results (learn more on page 30).

CREATING AN IMPORT FILE

Downloading the Excel File

You can download a pre-formatted Excel file (Import_Extra_Item_Info.xls) with all possible columns

from Items + Categories / Import Extra Item Info.

Alternatively, you can create your own spreadsheet or tab-delimited file from scratch. NOTES:

 The import file must be a tab-delimited TXT file with a single header line followed by one line for each item, with a CR/LF (carriage return/line feed) at the end of each line.

 The first line of your import file must be a header line containing a valid label for each piece of item information contained in the file (see page 25 for column details). The order of the labels doesn't matter, as long as item_number is the first label and all lines (header line and all item lines) have the same number of elements in the same order.

 The first line of the import file (header line) will determine what pieces of information are imported.  Only active items are updated by this import.

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 IMPORTANT! Make sure that your item data does not contain any tab characters. The tab character is used as the delimiter between each piece of information in the file, so your import will fail if you include the tab character within any individual piece of item information.

Editing the Excel File

Using Microsoft Excel for Windows, edit the information in the spreadsheet for the items you wish to update.

The file must contain the CounterPoint item number, and the item number must be the first data label / data element in each line. Other columns can be deleted or re-ordered according to your needs. Sample Excel File:

A blank value will leave the existing data intact.

The item number must be the first data label/data element in each line

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Column Details:

Column Name Details

Item Number

(item_number)

REQUIRED! Must contain the CounterPoint item number, and must be

the first data label / data element in each line.

The Import Extra Item Info utility only updates existing items already imported from CounterPoint. It cannot be used to import or create new items in CPOnline.

Allow Purchases (allow_purchase)

This field determines whether or not you allow shoppers to purchase this item in your online store. If you enter 0 (False), the Buy button for this item will be suppressed.

Must be either 0 (False) or 1 (True). A blank value will leave the existing setting intact.

In-Stock Message

(in_stock_message)

This field determines the item-specific message that should appear with this item when it is in stock. For example, ‚New Arrival‛ or ‚in stock and ready to ship!‛

May not exceed 255 characters. A value of DELETE will delete any existing text. A blank value will leave any existing text intact.

Enable Supplemental Item Information

(item_supplemental_enable)

This field determines whether or not the item includes a link to additional (supplemental) information.

TIP: Comfortable with CSS? You can format your links to ‘look’ like buttons in your cascading style sheet! For example:

.itemNum { margin-bottom: 10px; } .itemExtraTitle { font-weight: bold; font-size: 10px; background-color: #8a171a; color: #FFFFFF; border: 1px solid #c0c0c0; padding: 4px 10px; margin-bottom: 20px; } a.itemExtraTitle, a.itemExtraTitle:visited { color: #FFFFFF; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; } a.itemExtraTitle:hover, a.itemExtraTitle:visited:hover { color: #FFFFFF; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; background-color: #b01d21; }

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Column Name Details Supplemental Item

Information Link

(item_supplemental_link)

This field determines the text to display as the link to supplemental information for this item.

Supplemental Item Information

(item_supplemental)

This field determines the content that displays on the supplemental information for this item.

May contain HTML and other formatting, but may not contain any line breaks. A value of DELETE will delete any existing text. A blank value will leave any existing text intact.

Member Only

(member_only)

This field determines whether this item should be visible only to logged-in customers who qualify as members.

META Keywords

(meta_keywords)

This field determines the keywords or phrases associated with this item. Use commas to separate multiple keywords and phrases. Meta keywords are used to increase an item’s visibility in search engines.

META Description

(meta_description)

This field determines the description that search engines will display when listing this item detail page.

Out-of-Stock Message

(out_of_stock_message)

This field determines the item-specific message that should appear with this item when it is out of stock. For example, ‚Call 1-800-852-5852 to Place an Order‛ or ‚Sorry! This item is temporarily out of stock!‛ May not exceed 255 characters. A value of DELETE will delete any existing text. A blank value will leave any existing text intact.

Page Title

(page_title)

This field determines the text that should appear in the browser’s Title Bar when viewing the item detail page for this item. To use the default Page Title (the item name), leave this field blank. Page Titles can also be used to increase an item’s visibility in search engines.

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Column Name Details Price Display

(price_display)

This field determines how prices should display for this item. Choose to:  Use the global store setting

 Show all prices (list price + selling price)  Show only the list price (until added to cart), or  Show none of the prices (until added to cart)

Must be one of the following values: global, all, list, none. A blank value will leave the existing setting intact.

Sort Weight

(sort_weight)

This field determines the sort order for this item, from 1 (highest priority) to 99999 (lowest priority). If you’ve selected to display items by Sort Order (on the Basic Options tab of Items + Categories / Item Display), items will appear throughout your storefront first in ascending sort order, then alphabetically within sort order.

Must be an integer between 1 and 99999. A blank value will leave the existing setting intact.

Include In Google Product Feed

(google_feed)

This field determines whether this item should be included in the Google Product Feed.

Must be either 0 (False) or 1 (True). A blank value will leave the existing setting intact. The default value for all items is 1 (True).

Google Product Category

(google_product_category)

This field determines the Product Category where this item should appear in Google Product Search. Required for items belonging to one of the following Google Product Categories (optional for all other items):  Apparel & Accessories > Clothing

 Apparel & Accessories > Shoes  Apparel & Accessories

 Media > Books

 Media > DVDs & Movies  Media > Music

 Software > Video Game Software

May not exceed 255 characters. Must match an existing Google Category from the Google Product Taxonomy.

A value of DELETE will delete any existing text. A blank value will leave any existing text intact.

Condition

(condition)

This field determines the item condition associated with this item in your Google Product Feed.

Must be one of the following values: New, Refurbished, Used. A blank value will leave the existing setting intact. Items without a valid condition will be classified as New.

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Column Name Details Status

(status)

This field determines the item status associated with this item in your Google Product Feed.

Must be one of the following values: Stocked, Special Order, Pre-order. A blank value will leave the existing setting intact. Items without a valid status will be classified as Stocked.

Online Only

(online_only)

This field allows you to tell Google whether or not this item is only available through your online store (not in your brick-and-mortar locations) when submitting your Google Product Feed. This feature is used by Google only if you have submitted your store locations to Google Places.

Must be either 0 (False) or 1 (True). A blank value will leave the existing setting intact. The default value for all items is 0 (False).

GTIN (Global Trade Item Number)

(gtin)

This field allows you to import the GTIN for your items, for use with your Google Product Feed. GTIN is required by Google for:

 Media items (such as books, movies, music and video games)  All other items except apparel and custom-made goods unless both

Brand and MPN are provided.

May not exceed 13 characters. GTIN can include any of the following values:

 UPC: 12-digit number such as 001234567891

 ISBN: 10 or 13-digit number such as 0451524233. (If you have both, only include 13-digit number)

 EAN: 13-digit number such as 1001234567891

 JAN: 8 or 13-digit number such as 12345678 or 1234567890123

A value of DELETE will delete any existing text. A blank value will leave any existing text intact.

MPN (Manufacturer Part Number

(mpn)

This field allows you to import the MPN for your items, for use with your Google Product Feed. MPN is required by Google for all items except apparel, media, and custom-made goods, unless both Brand and GTIN are provided.

Apparel Item

(apparel)

This field determines whether this item will be treated as an apparel item in your Google Product Feed.

Must be either 0 (False) or 1 (True), and must be 1 (True) for all items assigned to one of Google's Apparel product categories. A blank value will leave the existing setting intact. The default value for all items is 0 (False).

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Column Name Details Apparel Color

(color)

Google requires that color information be included in the Google Product Feed for all items in the following Google Product Categories:

 Apparel & Accessories

 All sub-categories below Apparel & Accessories

Gridded apparel items that have color/size grid dimensions will use existing grid dimension values already published from CounterPoint for the Color and Size attributes.

This field allows you to specify the color for apparel items that do not have a Color grid dimension. This field will be ignored for any gridded apparel item that has a Color grid dimension.

Apparel Size

(size)

Google requires that size information be included in the Google Product Feed for all items in the following Google Product Categories:

 Apparel & Accessories > Clothing  Apparel & Accessories > Shoes

Gridded apparel items that have color/size grid dimensions will use existing grid dimension values already published from CounterPoint for the Color and Size attributes.

This field allows you to specify the size for apparel items that do not have a Size grid dimension. This field will be ignored for any gridded apparel item that has a Size grid dimension.

Apparel Age Group

(age_group)

This field allows you to specify the target age group for this item, for use with your Google Product Feed.

Required by Google for all apparel items. Must be one of the following values: Adult, Kids. A value of DELETE will delete any existing text. A blank value will leave the existing setting intact.

Apparel Gender

(gender)

This field allows you to specify the target gender for this item, for use with your Google Product Feed.

Required by Google for all apparel items. Must be one of the following values: Female, Male, Unisex. A value of DELETE will delete any existing text. A blank value will leave the existing setting intact.

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Saving the Excel File as a Tab-Delimited File

In Microsoft Excel for Windows, select Save As and save your file as a Text (Tab delimited) (*.txt).

SELECTING THE IMPORT FILE

Select Items + Categories / Import Extra Item Info and click the Browse button ( ). Upload your tab-delimited TXT file to CPOnline.

VIEWING THE IMPORT RESULTS

As soon as your import completes, CPOnline displays the number of items that were in the tab-delimited text file as well as the number of items that were successfully updated.

If you attempt to import items that are inactive or contain invalid data, you will receive an error on the Import Results tab and no items will be updated. To resolve the error, remove any inactive and non-existent item numbers and correct any invalid data and then re-import the file.

Save your Excel spreadsheet as a tab-delimited TXT file

Indicates the number of items that were successfully updated

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IMPORTING EXTRA GRID INFORMATION

CPOnline: Items + Categories / Import Extra Grid Info

The Import Extra Grid Info utility allows you to easily import additional grid information that’s not published from CounterPoint — including GTIN (e.g., UPC/ISBN) and cell-specific image names.

The Import Extra Grid Info utility only updates existing item grid cells that have already been imported from CounterPoint. It cannot be used to import or create new items or item grid cells in CPOnline.

CHECKLIST

Microsoft Excel for Windows®_{(or similar tool):}

 1. Create the import file:

 a) Download the Excel spreadsheet from Items + Categories / Import Extra Grid Info or create your own (learn more on page 31)

 b) Edit the information in the spreadsheet for the item grids you wish to update (learn more on page 32)

 c) Save the Excel spreadsheet as a tab-delimited TXT file (learn more on page 35) CPOnline:

 2. Select the file to import using Items + Categories / Import Extra Grid Info (learn more on page 36).

 3. View the results (learn more on page 36).

CREATING AN IMPORT FILE

Downloading the Excel File

You can download a pre-formatted Excel file (Import_Extra_Grid_Info.xls) with all possible columns

from Items + Categories / Import Extra Grid Info.

Alternatively, you can create your own spreadsheet or tab-delimited file from scratch. NOTES:

 The import file must be a tab-delimited TXT file with a single header line followed by one line for each item, with a CR/LF (carriage return/line feed) at the end of each line.

 The first line of your import file must be a header line containing a valid label for each piece of item information contained in the file (see page 33 for column details). The order of some of the labels doesn't matter, as long as item_number is the first label, dimension_1 is the second label, dimension_2 is the third label, dimension_3 is the fourth label, and all lines (header line and all grid lines) have the same number of elements in the same order.

 The first line of the import file (header line) will determine what pieces of information are imported.  Only active item grid cells are updated by this import.

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 IMPORTANT! Make sure that your grid data does not contain any tab characters. The tab character is used as the delimiter between each piece of information in the file, so your import will fail if you include the tab character within any individual piece of item grid cell information.

Editing the Excel File

Using Microsoft Excel for Windows, edit the information in the spreadsheet for the items you wish to update.

The first four columns in this file must be:  CounterPoint item number

 Value of grid dimension 1 for this grid cell

 Value of grid dimension 2 for this grid cell (if the item has a 2nd_{grid dimension)}  Value of grid dimension 3 for this grid cell (if the item has a 3rd_{grid dimension)}

All four of these columns must be present regardless of the number of grid dimensions that the item actually contains.

Other columns can be deleted or re-ordered according to your needs. Sample Excel File:

A blank value will leavethe existing data intact. The item number must be the first data label/data element in each

line, followed by the grid cell value for dimension 1, dimension 2, and dimension 3.

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Column Details:

Item Number

(item_number)

REQUIRED! Must contain the CounterPoint item number, and must be

the first data label / data element in each line.

The Import Extra Item Info utility only updates existing item grid

cells already imported from CounterPoint. It cannot be used to

import or create new items or item grid cells in CPOnline.

Grid Dimension 1 Value (dimension_1)

REQUIRED! Must contain the value for grid dimension 1 for this grid

cell, and must be the second data label / data element in each line.

cell, and must be the third data label / data element in each line.

cell, and must be the fourth data label / data element in each line.

GTIN (Global Trade Item Number)

(gtin)

This field allows you to import the GTIN for each grid cell, for use with your Google Product Feed.

Google requires that apparel items with variations in color, pattern, and/or material must be submitted as variants, with a separate record for each variant combination.

May not exceed 13 characters. GTIN can include any of the following values:

 UPC: 12-digit number such as 001234567891

 ISBN: 10 or 13-digit number such as 0451524233. (If you have both, only include 13-digit number)

 EAN: 13-digit number such as 1001234567891

 JAN: 8 or 13-digit number such as 12345678 or 1234567890123

A value of DELETE will delete any existing text. A blank value will leave the existing text intact.

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Column Name Details Grid Cell Image Name

(grid_cell_image)

This field allows you to import the grid cell image name for each grid cell.

Existing grid cell image names can be viewed/managed through the Item Editor in CPOnline Store Management:

Grid cell images are used in your storefront to change the main item image when a shopper selects different options for gridded items:

For your Google Product Feed, Google requires that apparel items with variations in color, pattern, and/or material must be submitted as variants, with a separate record for each variant combination. Each variant must have a separate image for every variation.

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May not exceed 255 characters. A value of DELETE will delete any existing text. A blank value will leave any existing text intact. Note from Google:

 If you’re selling multiple variations of a product (such as a t-shirt in multiple colors), you must give an image of the correct variation (except for variations of sizes). If you do not have the correct image for the variation of the product, you may not submit the item.

Note regarding the CPOnline Item Image Enhancements customization package:

 If you’re using the Item Image Enhancements customization package, you don’t need to import grid-specific image names. Just be sure that you’ve uploaded color swatch images for all of your apparel items that vary by color, following the instructions that were provided with your customization.

Saving the Excel File as a Tab-Delimited File

In Microsoft Excel for Windows, select Save As and save your file as a Text (Tab delimited) (*.txt).

Save your Excel spreadsheet as a tab-delimited TXT file

(36)

SELECTING THE IMPORT FILE

Select Items + Categories / Import Extra Grid Info and click the Browse button ( ). Upload your tab-delimited TXT file to CPOnline.

VIEWING THE IMPORT RESULTS

As soon as your import completes, CPOnline displays the number of item grid cells that were in the tab-delimited text file as well as the number of item grid cells that were successfully updated.

If you attempt to import item grid cells that are inactive or contain invalid data, you will receive an error on the Import Results tab and no item grid cells will be updated. To resolve the error, remove any inactive and non-existent item numbers / grid records, correct any invalid data, then re-import the file.

WORKING WITH PRICES

CPOnline uses many of the same flexible pricing options that you have in CounterPoint, including:  Alternate unit pricing

 Customer-specific pricing based on customer category (Member Pricing)  Discounts and promo codes

 List price and selling price  Non-discountable items

 Oversize pricing for gridded items  Quantity pricing

 Sale prices for limited time promotions

TIP: Learn more about item prices in ‚Defining & Calculating Prices.‛

Indicates the number of item grid cells that were successfully updated

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11B

WORKING WITH QUANTITIES

You can optionally display item quantities in your online store so shoppers know exactly how many units you have in stock for each item, and you can optionally choose a default order quantity to appear with each item.

When an item is out-of-stock, you can choose to display an out-of-stock message, suppress the Buy button, hide the item so shoppers don’t see it, or do nothing (the shopper won’t know that the item is out-of-stock). You can also display customizable in-stock messages for selected items.

34B

QUANTITY AVAILABLE

CounterPoint: Setup / Ecommerce / Control

All quantity information comes directly from CounterPoint. To change how CounterPoint determines the available quantity, change the Qty available field on the Items tab of Setup / Ecommerce / Control.

CounterPoint bases the available quantity on one of the following methods:  Item qty available: Total of all inventory quantities across all locations

 Item qty on hand: Total of all inventory quantities across all locations, minus any inventory already

committed

 Location qty available: Inventory quantities from the store specified on the Main tab

 Location qty on hand: Inventory quantities from the store specified on the Main tab, minus any inventory

already committed

Each time an online order is placed, the quantity sold is subtracted from the Quantity available field for the item. This is how Out-of-stock status is determined in CPOnline. Customers do not see Qty available unless it has been enabled by the merchant in CPOnline Store Management. Each time you publish data from CounterPoint and import it into CPOnline, the quantities will be updated.

All quantity information comes directly from CounterPoint

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35B

DISPLAYING QUANTITIES ONLINE

CPOnline: Items + Categories / Item Display

On the Basic Options tab, select whether or not to display current quantities as shoppers browse your store, and you can optionally restrict shoppers from placing orders if the quantity is not available. The Stock Status Options tab includes additional options for in- and out-of-stock items. Learn more about the stock status options on page 94H17.

TIP: To change the in- and out-of-stock messages for individual items, use the Item Editor (Item Detail

Page tab).

12B

WORKING WITH ALTERNATE UNITS

Do not rearrange the sequence of alternate units if you have outstanding orders on file in CPOnline. First import online orders, then change the order of the units, then publish item changes to CPOnline.

CPOnline supports alternate selling units so you can sell, for example, an item by the case, by the dozen,

and as a single item. For items with alternate units, you can specify whether the units will display in a drop down list or as radio buttons, and whether or not to display the unit name along with the price.

36B

LAYOUT OPTIONS FOR ALTERNATE UNITS

CPOnline: Items + Categories / Item Display / Grids + Units

Select Items + Categories / Item Display / Grids + Units to specify the default layout for alternate units throughout your storefront.

You can also use the Item Editor to change the unit display for individual items. To open the Item Editor, select Categories + Items / Categories + Items and click on the Properties icon to the right of an item.

Specify whether the units will display in dropdown lists or as radio buttons

If you select Yes, unit names will display for all items, including those without alternate units

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13B

WORKING WITH GRIDDED ITEMS

Do not rearrange the dimension order for a gridded item if you have outstanding orders on file in CPOnline. First import online orders, then change the grid, then publish item changes to CPOnline. Not all custom templates are compatible with three dimensional grids! If you are using a custom template, please contact 42HCPOnline Support before you begin working with three dimensional grids.

With CPOnline, you can change the item image for each color or style, suppress specific colors or sizes, change the grid’s display labels, customize the layout for gridded items, and use oversize prices. CPOnline supports gridded items with up to three dimensions (e.g., color/size/pattern) in

CounterPoint SQL V8.3.8 or higher (other versions support gridded items with up to two dimensions).

37B

CHANGING THE IMAGE FOR EACH COLOR

CPOnline: Items + Categories / Items + Categories / Grids + Units

You can assign cell-specific images for your gridded items so that when a shopper selects a different color or style, the image changes accordingly.

1. Upload unique, images for each cell (color/pattern/etc.) using Image Maintenance / Item Images. 2. Use the Item Editor to select an individual item. To open the Item Editor, select Items +

Categories / Items + Categories and click on the Properties icon to the right of an item.

3. On the Grids + Units tab, click Select Images / Hide Grid Cells button ( ). 4. For each cell, enter the appropriate image name:

TIP: Use a naming convention that will help you identify and manage your gridded item images. A useful naming convention assists you in recognizing images and facilitates image changes. For example, for item # APP-1920, name the color-specific images APP-1920-navy.jpg,

APP-1920-ocean.jpg, APP-1920-red.jpg, etc.

Enter unique images for each cell (color/pattern/etc.) of a gridded item