Last update: March 22, 2024

Import Products to VС Catalog [In Progress]

Learn how to import new products into the Virto Commerce Platform (backend) catalog and view them on the Virto Commerce Storefront (frontend) with ease.

Prerequisites

Before starting the import process:

• Install Virto Commerce Platform (backend) and Virto Commerce Storefront (frontend).
• Install Catalog CSV Import module.
• Download the electronics-new-products-example.csv file of new products or export a file from the Catalog module of Virto Commerce Platform to use as a template.
• Download the images-example.zip file and extract its contents, which include 15 images of new products.
• Install Microsoft Excel or any other .csv file editor.

Create Catalog Data File in .CSV Format

Prepare a .csv file with your product data similar to the downloaded electronics-new-products-example.csv. Follow these steps:

1. In Microsoft Excel, select the product properties needed from the list and fill in the corresponding columns as per our document. Set the PrimaryImage column values to URLs pointing to your product images in the Assets.
2. In LibreOffice, create a table with columns corresponding to the properties of your products. Fill in the table with the required data. For the delimiter, select a comma.
3. Save the file in .csv format.

Create New Catalog/ Use Existing Catalog

Open Virto Commerce Platform and decide whether you want to add new products to:

New catalogExisting catalog

1. In the main menu of Virto Commerce Platform, click Catalog.
2. In the next blade, select the Electronics catalog.
3. In the Categories and Items blade, click Add in the top toolbar.
4. In the New category item blade, click Category.
5. In the New category blade, fill in the category name, such as Laptops.

6. Click Create to save the changes.

   

7. Click on the newly created Laptops category, then click Add in the top toolbar to create a subcategory, such as Asus-Laptops.

8. Later, you will need the Id of the Asus laptops category. You can find it in the Categories and items blade.

   

1. In the main menu of Virto Commerce Platform, click Catalog.
2. In the next blade, select the required catalog, for example Electronics.
3. In the next blade, select the required category, for example Laptops.
4. In the next blade, copy the id of the required category to use in your .csv file.

Upload Images For New Products

To add images for products:

1. In the main menu, click Assets.
2. In the next Assets management blade, click Catalog.

3. In the next blade, click New folder in the top toolbar to create new folder, for example asus.

   Note

   Follow the following rules when creating a new folder:

   

4. Open your newly created folder and click Upload in the tooolbar.

5. In the next Asset upload blade, upload the images. In our case, previously extracted sample images from images-example.zip.

The images have been succesfully uploaded:

Import and Map Catalog Data into Virto Commerce

To import your catalog in .csv format:

1. Go to Catalog → Electronics → Laptops → Asus Laptops.
2. Click Import in the top toolbar.
3. In the next blade, click VirtoCommerce CSV import.
4. In the next blade:
   1. Select Semicolon as a delimeter from the dropdown list.
   2. Upload your .csv file.
   3. Click Map columns.
5. In the next blade, customize the mapping of your product properties to the default properties defined in the application, ensuring they are appropriately stored in the database. Click OK.
6. In the Import catalog from csv blade, click Start import.

Note

If you import new products from a file without specifying either the category id or the category path, the default is the root directory - the catalog.

Open New Products in Virto Commerce Platform (backend)

To see and edit all new products, go to Catalog → Electronics → Laptops → Asus Laptops.

Create New Menu Item in Virto Commerce Storefront (frontend)

To add a new category to Virto Commerce Storefront menu:

1. Open Virto Commerce Platform and click Content in the main menu.
2. Find the Electronics store and click on the Link lists widget.
3. In the next blade, click Add in the top toolbar.
4. In the next blade, fill in the following fields:
   • Name: Laptops in our example.
   • Language: en-US.
   • Link Title: laptops.
   • URL: ~/laptops.
   • Links to: select Category from the dropdown list.
   • Link object: click Select.
5. In the next blade, check the required folder.

6. In the top toolbar, click Pick selected.

   

7. Click Create to save the changes.

A new category has been added to the menu.

To add a new subcategory:

1. Click on the newly created item, Laptops in our case.
2. In the next blade, click Add link in the toolbar.
3. Fill in the following fields:
   • Name: Asus Laptops in our example.
   • Language: en-US.
   • Link Title: laptops.
   • URL: ~/laptops/asus-laptops.
   • Links to: select Category from the dropdown list.
   • Link object: click Select.
4. In the next blade, check the required folder.
5. In the top toolbar, click Pick selected.

A new subcategory has been added to the menu.

Manage Linklists

Create Thumbnails for New Product Images

Create Thumbnails

Build Search Indexes

Build Search Index

Open new products in Virto Commerce Storefront

Now you can see new menu item Laptops, new subitem Asus Laptops, and all new products in Virto Commerce Storefront.

Manage Properties