By this step in the ALKsense eCommerce Getting Started Guide you should already have identified your target niche, made a master list of suppliers, set up your eCommerce store and been approved for an account with at least one drop shipper. It is now time to upload that suppliers products to your Shopify eCommerce store.
One benefit of owning a Shopify eCommerce Store is the ability to do a Bulk Import of Products (via a CSV).
A CSV is a spreadsheet which contains all of the products that you wish to upload. You can create the CSV in Microsoft Excel and then “Save As” a .csv file. Using a CSV to upload products to your store will save you a lot of time because instead of uploading products one by one you can upload thousands of new products in minutes with just one upload.
When you create CSV each row will be for a unique product and each column will be a unique product feature, specific to the product in that row.
For a complete list of product features (fields), and to see a sample CSV, you can refer to Shopify’s help center. They will show you exactly how your CSV should be formatted so that it uploads correctly to your eCommerce Store.
It is important to note that every supplier you get approved with will have a “Master File” that contains all of their products. This file will be visible in Microsoft Excel and it will have their product names, SKU#s, prices, product descriptions, image links and any other relevant product information.
It is also important to note that these product “Master Files” will be formatted differently for each drop ship supplier based on how their company sets it up. This means that you can not just download the file when the supplier sends it to you, then upload it your Shopify Store. You will need to edit it to meet the specifications of Shopify.
Here is a file that shows you how to prepare your CSV for import to your Shopify eCommerce store.
Once you have your new drop ship suppliers CSV formatted to Shopify’s specifications you can literally upload thousands of new products in just minutes.
PLEASE NOTE: to modify your suppliers “Master File” product spreadsheet to meet Shopify’s specifications you will need a spreadsheet program (ie; Microsoft Excel) as well as basic knowledge of how to use the program. Many people get stuck here because they are clueless when it comes to using Microsoft Excel and formatting spreadsheets. If you get stuck here feel free to contact me and I will help you myself or at least point you in the right direction.
Now it is time to get some traffic to your website, let’s move on to eCommerce Marketing
