Assign Vendors to Products

For Duoplane to automatically split sales orders into product orders, it needs to know which vendors fulfill the product(s) ordered. This is a large part of Duoplane's functionality, so it is important to take steps assigning each product to a vendor before letting orders come through.

There are four main methods of assigning vendors to products. This guide will show you how to assign automatically using the information in your ecommerce platform, in bulk by uploading a file through Duoplane's Product Import feature, manually by individual product, or by inventory feed file.

Assign product vendors automatically via ecommerce platform

Duoplane has the ability to read from certain fields in each ecommerce platform to create vendors and assign products to vendors. This method is recommended because it will automatically assign the product to the correct vendor in Duoplane. Duoplane can read from the following fields in each ecommerce platform:

Shopify: vendor, attributes, metafields, tags

Using the vendor field recommended

Attributes are those available via the Shopify product API

For metafields, use the format: metafield:namespace.key (e.g. 'metafield:warehouse.inventory' if 'warehouse' is the namespace and 'inventory' is the key of the metafield)

For tags, use the format: tag:[unique tag prefix] (e.g. 'tag:Supplier|' if the vendor name is in the tag 'Supplier|Acme Widgets')

BigCommerce: attributes, custom fields

Standard attributes are those available via the Bigcommerce product API

For custom fields, use the format: custom_fields:[custom field name] (e.g. 'custom_fields:Supplier' if the vendor name is in the custom field 'Supplier')

Magento: Attributes

Vendor field recommended

If at a later time vendor is changed or newly added, Duoplane will update the product to be assigned to the correct vendor, or create the vendor if it does not already exist.

Assign product vendors in bulk by Product Import file upload

Once your products are added to Duoplane from your ecommerce platform, you can use the product import feature to add vendors to each product. To do this, follow the instructions, only including the “id” and “vendor_name” fields on the spreadsheet when you import it. This will assign products to existing vendors and create vendors if they do not exist.

Assign product vendors manually on each product detail page

It is very easy to create assign a product to a vendor in Duoplane, however it can be time consuming en masse. We recommend the automated or bulk  product import methods above when adding or updating large numbers of products in Duoplane. 

1. In your Duoplane Retailer account, navigate to the Main menu > Products > Product search and find the product you wish to assign the vendor to
2. On the product's detail page, near the bottom go to the Inventory sources section and select the vendor you wish to use in the dropdown.
3. On this page you can also add additional suppliers clicking the Add another supplier button on the bottom right 

 

Assign product vendors by inventory feed file upload

Using the inventory feed to assign vendors to products is an advanced method and not recommended unless necessary. When this setting is activated, if Duoplane recognizes a SKU in the vendor’s inventory feed that does not have the supplier that is uploading the feed listed on it, Duoplane will automatically add the supplier uploading the feed to the product. This would typically be done if you have a vendor that fulfills all of your products, or you have a warehouse that you want listed as a supplier on many products in addition to the dropship supplier.

1. In your Duoplane Retailer account, locate the vendor using the Vendor directory and click Details
2. Locate the Inventory feed and sync section and click Edit
3. Enable the “Auto-Assign vendor” option by toggling to YES