Import and export: editing Lightspeed eCom catalog in bulk

When selling online with Lightspeed eCom, your Retail POS is the source of truth for all the general product information. You enter key data like product name, description, SKU, price, or stock in your Retail back office, and then it’s synced to your web store. 

However, there are also settings specific to your online sales that can be managed only from your eCom admin. You can use the eCom import and export to edit this data in bulk:

• Update details for your products, their options, and variations that are edited on the eCom side.
  For example, when moving catalog online or switching from another ecommerce platform to eCom, you can add ribbons or gallery images/videos to multiple products at once, manage their shipping settings, and more.
• Add and edit categories for your online store.
  Currently, Retail POS categories are not synced to eCom. With import, you can create a system of categories for your online store and assign products you sell online to them.
• Add and edit 301 URL redirects for Instant Site (if you use this Lightspeed eCom site builder).

Lightspeed eCom import and export basics

Lightspeed eCom import format is different from your Retail POS import format. You can read the Formatting CSV files and List of supported CSV columns articles for a detailed explanation on how your eCom CSV files are built and see a set of catalog import case studies.

eCom catalog export CSVs contain all the product and category data from your online store, including those that are managed from your Retail back office.

eCom import, however, has a number of limitations when used with Retail POS:

• You can update only those product details that are specific to your online sales. The following columns are non-online specific:

  Column name in eCom import format	Matching column name for this data in Retail POS import format
  product_name	name
  product_description	description
  product_price	retail_price
  product_quantity	inventory_STORE_NAME_#
  product_is_inventory_tracked	track_inventory
  product_is_available	active_online
  product_weight	weight
  product_length	length
  product_width	width
  product_height	height
  product_upc	_
  product_brand	brand_name
  product_variation_sku	sku
  product_sku (unless used as the only product identifier)	sku

  You can include these columns in your import CSV file, but they will be ignored.

• You can’t create or delete products or their options/variations (known as variants in your Retail POS) with eCom import. Changes to the following column values are not allowed:
  – product_sku
  – product_option_name
  – product_option_value
  – product_variation_option_{Option name}
• You can only set dropdown menu, radio buttons, or size as types for your options (known as attributes in your Retail POS) when updating them with import. Other option types, as well as input fields, are not supported in eCom when it’s used with retail POS.

Updating your online catalog with Lightspeed eCom import

After you enable products for selling online in your Retail back office, you can use a combination of eCom import and export to easily update online-specific data in your web store catalog.

To update your online catalog with import and export:

1. From your Retail POS, navigate to Online → Overview, scroll down, and click the Go to eCom banner to open your eCom admin.
2. In your eCom admin, click Catalog in the menu on the left and proceed to Data Import & Export.
3. Scroll down to the Export data block and click Export product catalog.
   To export only selected products, go to Catalog → Products in Lightspeed eCom admin, tick the products, and click Mass Update → Export → Export Selected.
4. A CSV file in the format used in eCom will be downloaded to your device. Open it in any spreadsheet editor like Google Sheets, Excel, or Numbers, and make edits to existing columns or add new ones. For example, you can update gallery images or assign products to categories.
5. Save the file as CSV and import it on the Import & Export page in your eCom admin. For that, click Import File and choose the file on your device, then click Start Import.

That’s it! If there are any errors, you’ll see their descriptions on the page. When the import is complete, you'll see a notification in the top right corner of your store admin and your catalog data will be updated.

Adding your Retail POS categories to eCom in bulk

After you connect your Retail POS with Lightspeed eCom, categories from your POS will not be synced automatically to your online store. You need to create categories in eCom and assign products you want to sell online to them.

With Lightspeed eCom import, you can speed up transferring your POS categories to eCom.

To add your Retail POS categories to eCom in bulk:

1. From your Retail POS, navigate to Catalog → Product categories to access the list of your categories.
   Optionally, you can go to Catalog → Products and click Export list… to download a file with your POS catalog data. In this file, you’ll see categories for each product in the “product_category” column. Categories will be presented according to their levels.
2. Create a CSV file in Lightspeed eCom import format in a spreadsheet editor of your choice and list all the Retail POS categories or subcategories you want to have in your online store there. See the steps in Case study 5: Importing store categories.
3. From your Retail POS, navigate to Online → Overview, scroll down, and click the Go to eCom banner to open your eCom admin.
4. Import your CSV file on the Import & Export page in your eCom admin. For that, click Import File, choose the file on your device, and click Start Import.

That’s it! Categories are created in Lightspeed eCom. You can see them on the Catalog → Categories page in your online store admin.

Next, you can assign products you sell online to these newly created categories. In eCom, a product can have several categories or subcategories at once. You can assign products to categories one by one, use Bulk Product Editor and Mass Update, or assign categories with Lightspeed eCom import.  

Learn more about eCom categories →

Related articles

Format guidelines for the CSV file
List of supported CSV columns
Editing products