Introduction
Welcome to this informative article, specifically tailored for suppliers like you. In today's competitive business landscape, it is crucial to have a comprehensive and compelling offer file that highlights your products or services in the best possible light. Whether you're a seasoned supplier or just starting out, this article aims to provide you with valuable insights and practical tips to help you fill in your offer file with the right information and make a lasting impression on potential clients. So, let's dive in and discover the key elements that will elevate your offer file to new heights of success.
What is an offer file template?
An offer file is a type of file used in e-commerce platforms, such as Mirakl, to set up and manage product offers. It contains information such as the SKU of the associated product, the price, shipping options and any other conditions that apply to the offer.
This file is uploaded to the platform to create or update offers. In an offer file, you define all the terms and conditions you wish to include in an offer that you will apply to a product.
For more information, please refer to the introduction to offers in Astore Shop.
Please note: once you have added your products to Mirakl, you must define an offer for each of them using the offer file template. Your products will only be visible on Astore Shop after this step.
Mandatory fields
The offer SKU
The SKU Offer is a distinct identification number that differs from the Shop SKU found in the product template. Its purpose is to differentiate the offer from the product to avoid confusion. Multiple offers for the same product can be created, such as distinguishing between luxury and economy hotels. To achieve this, each offer must have a unique SKU Offer ID assigned to it, and duplicates are not permitted. Once an offer is created, it is advisable not to change its SKU Offer ID. Hotels can add offers to their favorite lists in Astore Shop, so it is essential to use the same SKU Offer number when modifying an offer to avoid removal from the hotel's favorite lists.
Our suggestion is to create a SKU Offer that identifies the product clearly as an offer, while still making it easy to recognize the product. One way to achieve this is to use the SKU Shop and add the letter "o" to the beginning. For instance, if the SKU Shop ID is "12345", the corresponding SKU Offer ID would be "o_12345".
Other mandatory fields
Although all mandatory fields are indicated in red in the offer file template, we encourage you to complete additional fields if you possess information that can benefit your customers.
- Product ID type - d - Under the "Product ID type - d" section, you can select either ID, product SKU, or EAN number to identify the product you want to allocate the offer to from the provided drop-down list. Please note that the list includes multiple EANs, some of which may be written in capital letters. However, kindly ensure that you choose the "ean" format.
- Product ID - Please input the product values here based on the identifier you have selected in the "Product ID type" column.
- Offer price - Offer price - Please note that the price is assigned to the entire sales unit. For instance, if you sell a box containing six water bottles, you should indicate the price for the entire box, not the individual bottles. The currency is already predetermined and set by the store profile, so you need not adjust it. Additionally, the price is net, which includes the eco-tax (or excludes it if not applicable) but does not comprise the VAT. To learn more about sales units, please refer to the "Units of measure" section.
- Offer State - The products sold at Accor are always state: “11” which means "new".
- Eco-participation - drop-down list - if 'true', in column “eco-participation” it is necessary to give a specific amount (not a percentage) in column “eco-participation-amount”.
Whenever using decimal values, kindly use a dot instead of a comma. For example, write 150.5 € instead of 150,5 €.
Highly recommended fields
Although not obligatory, filling out certain fields can enhance thesearch and clarity of your offer. If there are no descriptions that provide details about the quality of your product, it is possible that customers may not be able to locate it through search engines as relevant keywords will be missing.
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Quantity - Please indicate the quantity of a product from your inventory that you wish to offer on Astore Shop.
If an offer has zero stock, it will display on Astore Shop as "coming soon", and your customers will not be able to add it to their shopping cart or reach out to you via the system to place an order for the product. Hence, if you cannot provide accurate stock details, or if your products are customized, and you do not maintain stocks, kindly ensure to provide a fictitious stock to avoid this situation.
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Availability - Here you have the option to specify the duration, including the dates or dates with times, during which you want your offer to be valid. Some practical information:
- a single date 07-05-2019 means 07-05-2019 00:00:00 (am)
- If you wish to end an offer and begin a new one on the same date, please fill in the start and end values in the following manner:
- Logistic Class - You have the option to modify the logistic class of your offer, and the shipping cost will be updated automatically.
- Discount price - In this field, you can specify a discounted price lower than the base price. On Astore Shop, the discounted price will be presented next to the original price, with a strikethrough. Additionally, you can set the dates for the discount in the designated fields.
What is the process for establishing the discount that is linked to the quantity of products ordered?
Within the template file, under the "Discount Ranges" section, it is possible to establish trigger discount prices based on specific quantities, using the format: Quantity Threshold|price, followed by another Quantity Threshold|another price, and so on. For instance, if a discount price of 10.00 € is desired for a minimum quantity of 50 pieces, and a price of 8.00 € is to be offered for a quantity of 100 pieces, the corresponding values to enter would be: 50|10.00,100|8.00.
- Volume pricing - It is possible to establish the regular offer price based on the quantity of products ordered. This can be done using the "Price Ranges" field. The process for filling out this field is the same as for the "Discount price" field. However, the volume price does not have an expiration date and will remain valid until it is modified.
It is important to note that the initial volume price must match exactly with the price specified in the "Offer price" field.
- Minimal quantity - There is a minimum quantity requirement for orders to be accepted under this offer. If the customet selects a quantity lower than the specified minimum, the order will not be fulfilled.
- Brand selection - In this section, you can specify the names of the Accor hotel brands that you wish to target with your offer. The list of available brands can be found in the "ReferenceData" tab of the template file, under the "brand_selection" column. Please separate multiple brands with commas but no spaces. If you fill out the "Brand selection" field, your offer will only be visible to hotels belonging to the selected brands. This allows you to create multiple offers with the same product on Mirakl, each with different prices or logistic parameters, as long as they are associated with different hotel brands in the "Brand selection" field.
- Lead time to ship -This field specifies the number of days required by the supplier to ship an order. It can be used in conjunction with the logistic delay field, where the sum of both values gives the total duration between order acceptance and shipment. For example, if the logistic delay is 3 days and the Lead Time to Ship is 2 days, the product will be shipped in 5 days. However, it is important to note that the delivery time should not be combined with the "same day delivery" delivery mode. Lead time to ship option when you have Same day delivery mode defined in the system. Remember that if you add some additional days to Lead time to ship field, it will also extend the delivery time in case of “Same day delivery” mode. E.g. if you will put 2 days in Lead time to ship, then the delivery won't be the same day, but 2 days later.