Transmit inventory levels

General information

On the Unite platform, inventory availability can be displayed for all items. Customers respond very positively when they can see the number of items available and prefer to order from vendors who display inventory levels.

Since there is no field in the catalogue to specify the inventory level, we offer the following two ways to transfer these values:

1. As a CSV file via FTP
2. Via HTTPS request in the provider’s system

As a vendor, you can choose which variant you wish to use to transfer the inventory levels to the Unite system.

To set up the request, the following steps are necessary:

1. Please contact Mercateo catalogue management. Please indicate which variant you wish to use to transfer the inventory levels. If you do not have a contact at Unite, please contact support@mercateo.com
2. Catalogue management will check your warehouse data (the CSV or URL) and set up the request in the system.
3. Ccatalogue management will activate the inventory-level display on the product page.
4. You will be informed after the activation.

The following two sections contain technical information about creating the CSV or the requirements for the request via HTTPS.

Inventory level via CSV

File format and structure

Inventory levels can be transferred to Mercateo as a CSV file via FTP. They are processed automatically. The format or structure of the inventory file is predefined. Each record consists of two data fields (columns). The first column contains the article number and the second column contains the corresponding inventory level. Here is an example:

Notes:

• The heading (SUPPLIER_AID;QUANTITY) in line 1 is not mandatory.
• Records are separated by a line break (CR-LF (Chr (13), Chr (10)).
• Separator: semicolon
• Character encoding: UTF-8
• Column SUPPLIER_AID:
  • The article number in the CSV must also correspond to the article number in the catalogue. Otherwise, the inventory levels cannot be assigned to the respective products.
  • The article number is also referred to as the SKU (Stock Keeping Unit), supplier article number or SupplierAID.
• Column QUANTITY:
  • Please do not use a thousands separator.
  • Only positive integer values are allowed.

Transfer to Mercateo

Naming the file: availability-data-catalogue-prefix.csv

Notes: The prefix, also called the Catalogue ID, will be communicated to you during the catalogue connection process by Mercateo catalogue management. Please adhere to the file naming convention. Without a proper name, the inventory file can neither be processed nor mapped to the correct catalogue.

File transfer: The CSV file is transferred via FTP. You can also provide the CSV file as a ZIP archive. The access data will be communicated to you during the connection process. If you are an existing supplier, you already have the FTP access data. The FTP directory in which the inventory file will need to be stored in future will be communicated to you by Mercateo catalogue management.

Update intervals: You can decide how often your inventory levels need to be updated. The shortest interval is 30 minutes. To activate the inventory check, please contact Mercateo catalogue management or support (support@mercateo.com).

Inventory level via HTTPS

Technical requirements

Inventory levels can be transferred via HTTPS request. To implement this, please provide us with a URL via which we can request the article numbers and obtain the number (inventory level). In this process, our system only requests the articles that have been called up by the customer. Their availability is always as current as the data on your web server. As a provider, you are responsible for ensuring the availability of your web server.

The returned value is subject to the following requirements:

• Upon receipt of an HTTPS request for the article number, a number must be returned.
• The returned number corresponds to the inventory-level value.
• The return value is a positive integer (including zero).
• The return value is returned in the first line.
• Return values in the form of “yes”, “no”, “The availability is …” cannot be processed by Mercateo.

Sample URL for the inventory query:

To activate the inventory check, please contact Mercateo catalogue management or support (support@mercateo.com).

Example configuration

First, create a CSV document containing the article numbers and associated inventory levels. This CSV file is stored on your web server.

Name and path of CSV file:

/var/www/avlbt.csv

Structure of the CSV file:

Example script: