Stock level information

Availability of items will continuously change as a result of sales or deliveries. Thus, to show the customer the correct, currently available, quantity of items in stock, inventories must be updated at regular intervals. Availability is an additional piece of information and cannot be provided in the catalogue. Catalogues must be updated separately.

For availability request, Mercateo AG offers its suppliers several options: data interchange by means of CSV or XML files transmitted via FTP (file transfer protocol) as well as a HTTP request. For legal reasons, availability data must not include any prices, regardless of the version selected. The supplier selects a version which would then be used for the availability request.

Information on indicating the stock level

The quantity available can be determined with different levels of accuracy. Mercateo offers its suppliers the following options to indicate the quantity:

• Precise number: The precise number of available items will be shown in the shop.

• Cut-off number: The precise quantity is indicated up to a certain limit value such as 100. All items of which a higher number is available will be assigned the value of 101. This value will be agreed between the supplier and Mercateo.

• Scaled number: The numbers shown are not precise numbers, but rather scaled numbers such as 0, 1, 5, 10, 20 or 50. In each case, the actual quantity is rounded down to the scaled value. The scales will be agreed between the supplier and Mercateo.

Please note:

• Please note that no distinction will be made between the various versions in the shop.

• The most accurate indication possible is very useful for the customer as this may have an effect on their buying decision. Selection of a version is agreed between the supplier and Mercateo.

Creating the stock level query

You can create a stock level query for catalogues on the public platform and for exclusive catalogues. We offer you 2 possibilities for technical implementation:

1. Real-time query, in which we request the stock levels in your system.
2. CSV file, which contains stock levels and is transferred to Mercateo via FTP.

For catalogues on the public platform, please coordinate with your supplier supervisor with regard to the update interval and transfer of stock levels.
For exclusive customer catalogues, clarify such questions in advance with your customer.

If you should provide stock levels in a format other than the ones mentioned above, please also contact your supplier supervisor in this case.

If you do not have a contact person at Mercateo, please send an e-mail to your Mercateo supervisor.

Real-time availability request

General information

It is possible to display the real-time availability of the catalogue item on the product detail page. For implementation, please provide us with a link via which we request the item number and obtain the quantity (stock level).

During this procedure, Mercateo only accesses the availability data for the items required by the customer call. The availability is always as up-to-date as the data on your web server. As a supplier, you are responsible for the availability of your web server.

If you would like to activate the real-time query for your products, please contact your supplier supervisor or catalogue manager at Mercateo.

Technical requirements

In this procedure, Mercateo retrieves the availability data for the items required through customer request only. Availability will always be as current as the data of the supplier on its web server. The supplier will be responsible for the accessibility of his web server. HTTP is used for the “external link” procedure. The following requirements apply to the returned value:

• Upon request of the item number through HTTP, a number must be fed back.

• The number fed back is equal to the stock level.

• The return value is a positive integer (including zero).

• Return values in the formats of “Yes”, “No”, “Availability is…” cannot be processed by Mercateo.

Example link:

http://suppliername.co.uk/availability?articlenumber

Example for real-time availability request:

A CSV document must be created, and it must include the item number and inventory. This CSV file is saved on your web server.

Name:/var/www/avlbt.csv

Content:

Sample script:

Stock level by CSV

File format and structure

Stock levels can be transferred to Mercateo as a CSV file via FTP. Processing takes place automatically.

The format and structure of such stock level files are predefined. Each data record is composed of two data fields (columns). The first column contains the item number and the second column the associated stock. Here is an example:

Information on structure

The following applies:

• The header (SUPPLIER_AID;QUANTITY) in row 1 does not have to be stated.

• Data records are separated from each other by means of a line break (CR-LF (Chr(13),Chr(10)).

• Data fields (columns) are separated by means of a semicolon.

• UTF-8 is used for encoding.

• SUPPLIER_AID column:

• The item number in the CSV must also correspond to the item number in the catalogue. Otherwise, it is not possible to allocate the stock level.

• The item number is also called “SKU” – “Stock Keeping Unit”, “Supplier Article Number” or “SupplierAID”.

• QUANTITY column:

  • Thousand separators are not used.

  • Only whole-numbered, positive values are permitted.

Transfer to Mercateo

The file will be named according to the naming scheme availability-data-catalog-companyID.csv.

Please note:

• The file will be named according to the naming scheme availability-data-catalog-companyID.csv.

• Please abide by the file naming. Without a correct name, the stock level file is either not processed or not allocated to the right catalogue.

Transmission of files

The CSV files respectively are transferred via FTP. The access data will be communicated to the supplier in the induction phase. If the files are compressed in a ZIP archive, it will be possible to significantly reduce the file size for transmission. The frequency of data transfer will be agreed with the supplier. For the customer to always have current data in the shop, the availability file should be updated at least once a day. Shorter time periods from of as little as thirty minutes are also feasible.

To activate the stock level query, please contact your supplier supervisor or catalogue manager at Mercateo.