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      Set up your Product Data

      Learn how to set up your product reference data using SKUtrak's Product Catalogue

      Accurate product data is essential to getting value from your retailer data. Before you start, we recommend reading our Introduction to managing product data for a broader understanding of why it matters and how SKUtrak supports you.

      This guide shows you how to set up your product data in SKUtrak’s Product Catalogue in four simple steps:

      1. Prepare your product definitions for upload
      2. Create the required product attributes
      3. Upload your product definitions
      4. Map retailer products to your own

      Step 1: Prepare your product definitions for upload

      Start by compiling a list of product definitions. These should include the core information SKUtrak needs to recognise and classify each product.

      At a minimum, include the following fields:

      • Unique Code – A unique identifier for each product. We strongly recommend using an internal code already in use within your business.

      • Description – A short, meaningful product description.

      • Category, Subcategory and Brand – Your internal classifications. If your hierarchy includes more than three tiers, select three to represent these fields in SKUtrak. These don’t need to be enforced strictly, but we recommend keeping your hierarchy clean and distinct.

      • Additional attributes – Any other fields you want to track, such as flavour, pack size, weight, or case size. These aren’t visible on SKUtrak dashboards but are available via SKUtrak Share.

      You might already have this information in a master spreadsheet or business system. If not, you’ll need to define it yourself.

      Once you have your definitions:

      1. Create a spreadsheet with a column for each attribute: Unique Code, Description, Category, Subcategory, Brand, and any others.

      2. Ensure each product appears only once. Duplicate unique codes will cause upload errors.

      3. Save the file as a CSV. In Excel, go to File > Save As and select CSV (Comma delimited) as the file type.

       

      Step 2: Create the required product attributes

      Before uploading your data, SKUtrak needs to know about any custom attributes you plan to include.

      By default, SKUtrak includes these attributes:

      • Description

      • Category

      • Subcategory

      • Brand

      • Base unit – e.g. kg

      • Net quantity – e.g. 0.25

      • Individual units – Number of units per on-shelf pack

      • GTIN – Global Trade Item Number

      If your CSV includes additional attributes, you must create them in SKUtrak first.

      To add an attribute:

      1. Go to Product Catalogue > My Products

      2. Select Manage Attributes in the top-right corner

      3. Click + Add Attribute

      4. Enter a name and optional description

      5. Choose a data type:

        • Text – Free text

        • Date – Must be in date format

        • Number – Must be numerical

        • List – Pre-defined options (you’ll need to create the list)

      6. Choose whether the attribute is required

      7. Click Save

      💡 Only mark an attribute as required if it applies to every product.
      Missing required values will cause those rows to fail during upload.

      Step 3: Upload your product definitions

      Once your file is ready and your attributes have been created, you can upload your product definitions to SKUtrak.

      To upload your products:

      1. Go to Product Catalogue > My Products

      2. Click Upload Products

      3. Select the CSV file you created in Step 1 and click Confirm

      4. Map the column headers in your file to the corresponding attributes

        • Use the X icon to ignore any optional attributes you don’t want to upload

      5. Click Upload to complete the process

      🎉 Your product definitions should now appear on the Products page.

      Dealing with existing product definitions

      If your organisation is already using Product Master, some product definitions may already exist. You can view these at Product Catalogue > My Products.

      Whether you need to update or replace existing definitions depends on how the unique codes match up:

      • ✅ If the unique codes match
        Go ahead with the upload.
        Any existing products with matching unique codes will be overwritten — their attribute values will be replaced by the new ones in your file.

      • ⚠️ If the unique codes do not match
        Your upload will create duplicate entries, which can be difficult to manage. In this case, we recommend deleting existing definitions before uploading your new ones.

      To delete existing product definitions:

      1. Click Export in the top-right of the Products table to back up your current definitions

        • In the pop-up, select All data

      2. On the Products table, tick the checkbox in the top-left to select all products on the page

      3. Click DELETE in the top-right

      4. Repeat this process for each page of products until all have been removed


      Step 4: Map retailer products to your uploaded definitions

      Now that you’ve uploaded your product definitions, the final step is to link them to the product definitions used by your retailers. This ensures SKUtrak can correctly attribute and analyse your data.

      The best approach depends on whether you already have a file containing mappings between your internal product codes and the retailer’s product codes.

      If you already have Retailer Code to Unique Code mappings

      You can upload these mappings in bulk using the Upload Mappings feature.

      Go to the Product Mapping article and follow the How to upload product mappings guide.

      After uploading, some products may remain in the Pending section. In that case, follow the manual mapping steps below to resolve the remaining products.

      If you don’t have Retailer Code to Unique Code mappings

      If you don’t have a pre-prepared file, you’ll need to create the mappings manually. Fortunately, SKUtrak includes AI-powered suggestions to make this faster.

      When you select a retailer product to map, SKUtrak will suggest the most likely match from your product definitions. In many cases, you’ll simply need to confirm the suggestion—saving time and effort.

      To map your products manually, go to the Product Mapping article and follow the How to use the Quick Map function to map products guide.

      You're all set! 🎉

      Once your products are uploaded and mapped, SKUtrak will begin pulling them through into your dashboards and Share. This typically happens after the next data update - usually the following day.

      To use your product classifications within SKUtrak, check out our Dashboards guide to learn how to switch between retailer product definitions and your own.

       

      Keeping your mappings up to date

      Over time, you may launch new products, or the retailers may change their definitions. To help you stay on top of this, SKUtrak provides weekly and monthly Product Mapping Summary emails.

      These summaries include:

      • Your current map rate by retailer (the % of sales that have been mapped)

      • A list of new or existing products that haven’t been mapped yet

      To manage your subscription:

      1. Go to Settings > Notifications

      2. Click the email icon (✉️) next to Product Mapping Summary

        • Blue means the notification is active

        • Grey means it's inactive

      3. The icon will briefly animate and then change colour to confirm the update

      ✅ Done! Your email preferences are now saved.