CSV Import for Datafeedr

If you’re using the Datafeedr Factory (the store based one rather than the newer WooCommerce based one) you’ll be aware that it’s possible to add custom products to your stores so not all the products have to come from Datafeedr feeds.

However, until now it’s not been possible to load data in bulk into your Datafeedr stores.

Now, using this CSV Import for Datafeedr plugin, you can import as many additional custom products as you like from a CSV file.

This CSV file can be located anywhere on the web, so you can update it and the next time your Datafeedr full update runs, the products from the CSV file will be added to your store as well as your regular products.

If you wish to achieve the same effect for the new Datafeedr which uses WooCommerce, you can use WP All Import or the WooCommerce CSV Importer.

Features

The CSV Import for Datafeedr plugin is intended for the sole purpose of importing additional products to Datafeedr but it does have some features to be aware of:

1. It automatically loads the CSV data as part of your Datafeedr update
2. It automatically creates new merchant records where required, adding new merchant logos as required
3. It was built solely for importing to Datafeedr stores
4. It can take many formats of CSV file by allowing you to map your column headers to the column headers required by Datafeedr
5. It updates from a CSV URL rather than a CSV file, meaning you can update the CSV from any computer and the next time the product update runs, any new products in your CSV will be added.

Installation

Installation is the standard approach:

1. Download the zip file here
2. Unpack the ‘awd-csv-import-for-datafeedr’ plugin
3. Upload that folder to your Plugins directory on WordPress
4. Activate the plugin
5. Configure the options from Settings->AWD Datafeedr CSV Import

Configuration

There are two areas to configure. The first is the URL for the CSV file. I have made this a URL so you can locate it anywhere on the web and update it as you need to and the next time the Datafeedr product update runs, your latest CSV file will be imported.

To get your CSV file to a URL, one method is to upload the CSV file to your website and use the URL from there.

Once you have the URL set for the CSV file, hit ‘Save Settings’ and the plugin will read the headers from the CSV file.

The second section shows all the mandatory fields required to import products for Datafeedr so you have to map your fields from your CSV file to the Datafeedr fields.

If you are unsure, you can just use the defaults and use this example CSV file which is in the default format.

Building your CSV file

To import your data to Datafeedr there are a number of required records. Price, image, URL are all the obvious ones but in addition you need to specify:

Merchant Name, Merchant Logo, Product Name, Product Slug, Product Description, Product Price, Product Image, Product Thumbnail, Product Exit URL (normally affiliate link), Product Tags, Product SalePrice, Product Brand Name, Product Currecy (3 digit code), Product Ship Price (normally equal to Product Price), Product sPrice (the lower of Sale Price and Product Price normally), Promo (optional for promotional details), Specs (optional for product specs), Site_Link (store path + ‘/’ + slug), Category ID (from Datafeedr)

Testing your Import

It’s possibly to manually import your data which is quicker than performing a full product update every time you wish to test your product import.

Navigate to the Settings -> AWD Datafeedr CSV Plugin page.

Once there, modify the URL and append the following: &importnow=1

And then hit enter. The page will reload and you will see some details about the import. If you see any errors, correct the import file and try running manually again.

Once you have successfully completed one manual import, you know your CSV is in the correct shape – you can test the CSV import further by performing a product search on your website.

Now, to complete installation, run the Datafeedr Full Product Update. This will reload all products from Datafeedr and the CSV import will run at the end of that process.

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dhilditch

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