Cannot update products fast enough - Need help!

I have my cart in and configured and I love it.

I have one problem. My distributor updates their master .csv once a day. 14660 products that I cannot keep up with.

I downloaded the catalog when I first began with them and I am 2900 products into their list. I have to add my own pictures, better descriptions, and better names.

Plus, I have to categorize them.

My first instinct is to give up. I have gotten 3 orders this week and they have all been out of stock or discontinued.

I was going to ask for the name of a program to compare two documents so I can make the needed changes quickly but my columns their contents are so different I am not sure how well that would work out.

I need advice on what to do. I get so depressed and tired of working on this because I feel like I am just going to have to start over when I am done and never be caught up. :shocking:

I know I cannot be the only one in this situation. I need input badly.

This is a complicated and common issue that ones that use a distributors inventory as theirs face...

Custom programming outside of ZenCart to run their csv against one from your outdated inventory, compare that what has changed is items that you have and others mioght be ones that you desire to add, ones they have dropped are removed from your catalog...etc is the only way that I have seen or been theorized to handle this

The key to running an effective drop-shipping agent site (which is effectively what you are doing) is to LIMIT the number of products you sell, and to sell only those of the highest value.

Remember... your drop shipper is probably being represented by hundreds (perhaps thousands) of websites just like yours - so he does not care one bit whether you survive or not.

And the other issue is that as everyone is selling the same stuff, they are all competing on one thing only... PRICE.

So unless your PRICES are very competitive, people will shop at the cheapest site.

What happens is that people lower their prices to a point where it is not commercially viable to run a business. Again... your drop shipper does not care who survives and who doesn't... he sells to YOU at his fixed price.

Selling via drop shipping is very, very tough these days. So... limit your products to the highest value ones... don't try to sell everything.

I was afraid that was the solution. Ok. Its time to go through and weed out the things I do not wish to sell. I should be able to cut it in about 1/3 that way. I should be able to handle that.

I figured this might be my solution but I wanted to check with the guru's before I made any permanent changes.

Thanks again for the input.

This is what you can do:

Get EasyPopulate from the ad ons

Import your CSV into Excel

Import your EasyPopulate product list into your pricelist CSV

Then do a VLOOKUP equation.

The pricelist will update the Easy Populate list. You can then re-upload the Easy Populate list back onto your site with the correct stock and prices.

Sorry that this is all that I can give you... but it's something to work from. Someone is busy setting this up for me.

SethF:

This is what you can do:

Get EasyPopulate from the ad ons

Import your CSV into Excel

Import your EasyPopulate product list into your pricelist CSV

Then do a VLOOKUP equation.

The pricelist will update the Easy Populate list. You can then re-upload the Easy Populate list back onto your site with the correct stock and prices.

Sorry that this is all that I can give you... but it's something to work from. Someone is busy setting this up for me.

Good suggestion.

We manage quite a few sites that have large daily data updates and we manage the data using MSExcel. Like Seth, using Vlookup (and a lot of other Excel formulae as well) we get the job done very quickly.