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Create and publish products in bulk

As a Marketplace Manager, you can bulk-create and upload digital and physical products to the Staging Catalog of a marketplace using Product Uploader. Use the CSV file to add information about your products and their variants before uploading them to the marketplace. The information in this CSV file is used to build product data in the catalogs.

Bulk create workflows in the new experience​

To start a bulk create workflow, click the Create Catalog tile on the Product Uploader home page. On the Configure template step, select the required workflow from the Select a section drop-down. Each workflow guides you through downloading a template, preparing your file, validating data, and publishing to the Staging or Production catalog.

The following workflows are available in the Select a section drop-down:

  • Digital Product

    • Bulk-create digital products using a CSV template.
    • Add product basics, editions, and pricing information for each digital product.
    • Download the template, enter your product data, and upload the completed CSV file.
    • The system validates your file before uploading to the catalog, including required fields, data types, and format checks.
    • You can add products to the Staging catalog only, or publish directly to the Production catalog with configurable marketplace settings.
  • Physical products

    • Bulk-create physical products and their variants, such as size, color, or capacity, using a CSV template.
    • Download the physical product template, enter product and variant details, and upload the completed CSV file.
    • The system validates your file before uploading to the catalog, including required fields, data types, and format checks.
    • You can add products to the Staging catalog only, or publish directly to the Production catalog with configurable marketplace settings.
  • Create Entire Catalog

    • Bulk-create a full catalog by uploading a ZIP file containing multiple product CSVs.
    • Use this workflow to upload an entire production catalog to a new marketplace as a consolidated file.
    • The ZIP file includes CSVs for product basics, editions, pricing, media, resources, features, feature characteristics, benefits, and markup prices, along with individual product image files.
    • You can update marketplace sale prices and wholesale prices during catalog creation using the Markup Price Type field in the markup prices CSV.
  • Create Price Book Schedules

    • Create price book schedules in bulk using a CSV template.
    • Download the Price Book Schedules template and enter the schedule start date and prices for the specified products.
    • The uploaded data is used to build schedule and price data in the catalogs for the selected products.
    • After upload, verify the schedules in Price Management > Price Books.

Common required fields for product creation:

  • Product identifier (SKU or unique ID)
  • Product name/title
  • Product type
  • Pricing information
  • Status

πŸ“ Note: Required fields vary by product type. Always download the latest template to ensure you have the correct structure.

To create products in bulk

  1. Log in to your AppDirect marketplace.

  2. Navigate to Products > CATALOG | Product uploader.

  3. The new Product Uploader page opens by default for enabled marketplaces. If you are in the legacy experience, click Switch to New Experience.

  4. On the Product Uploader home page, click the Create Catalog tile.

  5. From the Select a section drop-down, select the required workflow:

    • Digital Product β€” to create digital products in bulk.
    • Physical products β€” to create physical products in bulk.
    • Create Entire Catalog β€” to bulk-create a full catalog by uploading a ZIP file containing multiple product CSVs.
    • Create Price Book Schedules β€” to create price book schedules in bulk.
  6. Complete the following steps based on the workflow you selected:

    Digital Product or Physical products β€” prepare your CSV file
    1. From the Select a section drop-down, select Digital Product or Physical products.
    2. Click Download to download the selected product template CSV file that you can use to add your product information.

    πŸ“ Note: Click click here to download an .XLSX file that contains instructions on how to use the template to create and update product information. It also covers the fields in the template, the correct formats to use, and which ones are mandatory.

    1. Click Next.
    Create Entire Catalog β€” prepare your ZIP file
    1. From the Select a section drop-down, select Create Entire Catalog.
    2. Prepare a ZIP file containing the following product CSVs.
      • master.csv - This file contains data related to Product basics, Editions, Edition pricing, and Pricing plans.
      • medias.csv - This file contains data related to Product Media like links for documents or video links.
      • resources.csv - This file contains data related to Product Resources like PDF links for documents,video links, or SCRIBD document links.
      • features.csv - This file contains the data related to product features.
      • featureCharacteristics.csv - This file contains data related to product feature characteristics.
      • benefits.csv - This file contains the data related to product benefits.
      • markupPrices.csv - This file contains the data related to marketplace sale price and wholesale price. You can update these prices during catalog creation. Use the Markup Price Type field in this file to distinguish between Sale Price and Wholesale Price as follows:
        • CHANNEL - Indicates the Marketplace sale price
        • CHANNEL_RESELLER - Indicates the Wholesale price.
      • The rest of the files are individual image files related to the various products

    πŸ“ Note: Click Download for details on the ZIP file structure.

    1. Click Next to proceed to the upload step.
    Create Price Book Schedules β€” prepare your CSV file
    1. From the Select a section drop-down, select Create Price Book Schedules.
    2. Click Download to download the Price Book Schedules CSV template.
    3. Enter the schedule details in the downloaded file.
    4. In the downloaded file, enter the schedule by adding a new row for each product.
    5. Click Next to proceed to the upload step.

    πŸ“ Note: After completing all the steps and publishing the changes to the catalog you can verify the updates in Price Books (Manage > Marketplace > Products > CATALOG | Price Management > Price Books), click the price book name for which the schedule is added, and go to the Schedules section to verify the information created using Product Uploader.

    Upload your file
    1. Click Upload File.
      The upload dialog box opens.
    2. Upload your file by either dragging and dropping it into the provided space or clicking Upload File and selecting the required file. Depending on the workflow, upload a CSV file or a ZIP file.
    3. Review the file preview if available.
    Validate your data

    πŸ“ Note: The system automatically validates your file. Validation includes:

    • Data Types: Ensures correct data types (numbers, dates, etc.)
    • Required Fields: Checks if all mandatory fields are populated, missing mandatory fields, and data type errors.

    1. Review any errors or warnings displayed.
    2. Fix issues and click Upload a New File to re-upload the corrected file if necessary.
    Publish your catalog
    1. After you verify your data, choose if catalogs needs to be published or added to staging. In the Upload & Review step select one of the following:
      • Add to the Staging Catalog - Choose this option if catalog needs to be added only to the staging catalog.
      • Confirm & Continue - Choose this option if catalog needs to be published to Production catalog. If you select this option, the Configuration and Settings step opens with the default settings selected that will be applied to all the products being created.
    2. If you select Confirm and Continue in the previous step, then you have the following two options:
      • Keep existing settings - Choose this option to proceed with publishing the catalog which is already available in production catalog and retain the existing settings.

      • Publish and Continue - Choose this option to configure the settings and publish the catalog. This will overwrite the publish settings for all products in the batch. Use this option carefully while publishing existing production catalog. Configure the following settings as required:

        1. In the PRODUCT VISIBILITY section define the network and marketplace visibility for the product:

          • The availability settings, Visible on network and Visible on marketplace, work in combination with each other. Key terms are defined as follows:

            • Network - Marketplaces in a hierarchy, including a parent marketplace (also known as base marketplace) and one or more child marketplace.
            • Visibility - Whether or not the product is visible to customers on the marketplace. When it is, they can purchase the product themselves.

            The configuration combinations and outcomes for product visibility appear in the following table. However, regardless of the visibility configuration, Reseller Managers, Resellers, and Sales Support Representatives (SSRs) can always see products within the assisted sales flow and when they Purchase products on behalf of users, even when customers cannot see it.

            Visible on NetworkVisible on MarketplaceProduct visibility
            SelectedSelectedThe product is visible to customers on all marketplaces. This is the default configuration.
            SelectedClearedThe product is visible to customers on the base marketplace but hidden by default on all child marketplaces. Marketplace Managers can configure the product to be visible or invisible on each child marketplace. Also, when Visible on Network is selected but Visible on Marketplace is not selected then, the word Invisible appears next to the product for Reseller Managers, Resellers, and SSRs using the assisted sales flow. This identifies it as a product that is not visible to customers on the marketplace.
            ClearedClearedThe product is hidden from customers on the base marketplace and all child marketplaces.

            πŸ“ Note: Clearing Visible on Network automatically disables Visible on Marketplace.

          • Select Show as "Coming Soon" on marketplace to promote a new product you intend to add to your marketplace.

          • Select Hide all pricing on the marketplace including the pricing tab in product profiles if you want to hide the pricing tab from customers.

        2. In the PURCHASES section define whether you want the product to be visible to Resellers.

          • Select Resellers can start new purchases to define if the product must be visible to Resellers. Unselect this option to prevent Resellers from selling the product. This setting also:
            • Allows Reseller Managers to add the product to reseller catalogs.
            • Makes the product available to resellers who can sell products. When the product is available, Resellers can start a checkout purchase or create an opportunity with a product.
            • The following are not affected by this setting:
            • Reseller Managers and Marketplace Managers can add products to reseller opportunities.
            • Resellers can submit and finalize opportunities containing a product.
            • Resellers can make subscription updates for the product.
          • (Optional) Select End users purchase with Checkout V2. This option is only available if Checkout V2 is enabled by AppDirect for your marketplace, but a Marketplace Manager has disabled it for all purchases. If you enable this setting, all customers who purchase this product on your marketplace go through the Checkout V2 flow. See Configure checkout settings for more information.
        3. In the LEADS section define how to collect or assign leads.

          • Select Collect Leads to have this product's profile page display a Contact Us button. Potential customers click this button to submit contact information that your sales agent can use to contact the customer.
          • Select Assign collected leads to Developers to automatically assign leads that users submit from the product profile to the product's Developers, and Resellers that belong to the same company. Note that to enable this setting, you must select the Collect Leads setting, too.
        4. In the SORTING section, assign a sorting rank (Very High, High, Medium, Low, or Very Low) to the product from the drop-down list. Products with a higher ranking appear closer to the top of the home page, search results, and in the Featured Apps slider.
          If more than one product has the same sorting rank, the platform uses the following logic to automatically sort them:

          • On the home page - The home page displays the product in the same order as the configuration sequence. For example, Product A and Product B have the same sort rank. You configured Product A’s sorting rank, and then configured Product B’s sorting rank. Product A appears in the Featured Applications and All Applications pages first, then Product B follows.
          • In the search results - Search results display the product that most closely matches the search string entered by the customer. For example, two products (Product A and Product B) have the same sort rank. You configured Product A’s sorting rank, and then configured Product B’s sorting rank. If the customer enters A in the search field, Product A appears first in the search results. If the customer enters Product in the search field, Product A appears first, then Product B follows.
        5. Click Publish and Continue.

  7. The create catalog workflow is successfully completed, with a request ID. Click the Go to Activity Log button or navigate to Activity log page from the home page to monitor the progress. For information on how to use the activity log, see Review results through activity logs.

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