Using the Catalog System to Import New and Update Existing Products / Inventory

Using the Catalog System to Import New and Update Existing Products / Inventory

Catalog System is currently available for Orchid POS only.

  • This feature allows you to subscribe to vendors and the manufacturer brand lines they offer at your pricing level, in order to view their entire catalogs.
  • You can bulk import their product information, downloading new items and updating existing items.
  • Existing items are found based on matching the Orchid POS part number with the vendor’s part number.
  • Prior to importing new items from the catalog, you must check your price level default settings
  • Prior to updating existing items from the catalog, must check your current price formulas
  • When your import and/or updates are complete, you can print new barcode labels for your items.

 

Before you can view a vendor's catalog to then import products, you must subscribe to the catalogs you wish to work with.

Subscribing to Your Manufacturers

1. Go to Office > Inventory > Catalog System > Catalog Settings.

2. Select the Available Catalogs button and you will see a popup list of vendors. Click the dropdown arrow to view and select a vendor, then select their available manufacturers with associated pricing levels.



3. Choose your pricing level and click Save Vendor. This does not import the catalog, but makes it available for import.

4. Now you can proceed to the steps for Importing Catalog Information to Your Database, below.

Importing Catalog Information to Your Inventory Database

First, search for and select the products you want to work with:

1. Go to Inventory > Catalog (Products). Here you will find all products available in your subscribed catalogs.

2. Only vendors/manufacturers that you have subscribed to will be available. Use available filters to search as desired, to work with the filtered results.

3. To select all available inventory in any catalog once that catalog is displayed in search results, click the upper most check box on the left side.

  • You will see a note if there are more results than appear on the page, with the option to select all.


Then, after your search results are filtered and selected, you will tell Orchid POS if you are wanting to import new products (with the option to update products already in your inventory database) OR only sync (update) existing products.

See below for instructions on both options.

 

To Import New Products Only, or to Import New While Also Updating Existing:



1. After your catalog search results are filtered and selected, click the Bulk Add to Inventory button. This will start the process of

  • mapping manufacturer provided category designations to your category list
    • Manufacturers refer to similar types of inventory different from each other, and sometimes in a different way than you may refer to it. This step allows you to decide how your inventory is organized into categories. It may seem tedious but is well worth making sure everything is where you want it!
    • For any/all categories that you don't have in your database yet but would like to use the manufacturer listing, you can click the Add All Unmapped Categories button.
  • validating the information to search for existing items
  • option to only import new items or also update existing items

NOTE: If an item is currently in your inventory database at this time, only COST and MSRP will be updated. Your Retail price for an updated item will only change if

  • You have already used Price Level settings or Copy Formula to establish a relationship between an item's MSRP or cost and your Retail Price
  • If MSRP is not $0

2. After the validation process has completed you may see a notice about items that are No Longer Available (discontinued). The NLA process will archive any item that is in your database under this vendor, but no longer in the current catalog.

  • If an item has quantity in stock and is marked NLA, it will be flagged on the Manage Products page, will not be available to re-order, will not allow special order, and will automatically be archived when quantity reaches zero.


 3. Now click Proceed to start the import/update process.

  • This may take some time depending on how many items you are importing. You can check progress in Tools > Catalog Import Status.

 

To Update Existing Inventory Only (Sync Existing Products without Importing Anything New):



1. After your search results are filtered and selected, click the Sync Existing Products button. This will start the validation process (where Orchid POS compares the selected items to what is already in your database).

2. It will confirm how many parts were found then offer you the option to update them. ONLY Cost and MSRP are updated.

  • Your Retail price for an updated item will only change if
    • You have already used Price Level settings or Copy Formula to establish a relationship between an item's MSRP or cost and your Retail Price
    • If MSRP is not $0

3.  After the validation process has completed you may see a notice about items that are No Longer Available (discontinued). The NLA process will archive any item that is in your database under this vendor, but no longer in the current catalog.

  • If an item has quantity in stock and is marked NLA, it will be flagged on the Manage Products page, will not be available to re-order, will not allow special order, and will automatically be archived when quantity reaches zero.

 

Print Labels for Imported/Updated Products:

1. Go to Tools > Catalog Import Status.

2. When the import process says complete, click the Sheet or Standard (barcode printer) label icon to print labels for these items.


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