Inventory Importer – Create Inventory List

The following is a complete guide on how to import your list of inventory into our Bindo Labs System. Without further ado, let’s dive right into it. 

To begin, log into your account through hq-alpha.bindo.com and navigate to the side menu bar > inventory management > inventories. Click on the three-dots located at the bottom-right corner of the screen and download a template to begin importing your inventory.

‍1. Download Import Template

You are able to download the inventory template in either a .xlsx format or .csv format. The inventory template includes three sheets, one for inventories, one for listing reference code and the last for suppliers.

‍2. Input Your Data into Inventories

Awesome, we’re off to a good start! Open the spreadsheet. It may look slightly overwhelming but bear with us. In the excel sheet, you will see two rows. 

The first row acts as a guide to assist you during your inputting process. 

• Please do not edit the row (headers) as that is how our Bindo system recognises the different headers. 
• A general reminder is that you should be mindful of what you input to ensure there are no typos or errors.
• Please do not rename the sheet. Keep it as Inventories(L_inventoriesNew), (L_listing_reference_codes), supplier(L_0k6oktxc) such that our system may recognise it.

Next, we will introduce you to the headers in  Inventories(L_inventoriesNew): 

Action: _action

This tag informs our system the actions you are taking. If it is your first time importing inventory items, you may either input “create” or leave the cell empty. Alternatively, you may also input “update” and “delete” to perform those actions. 

Please note that the action you input must be of the exact same format as indicated in the first row. Both grammar and punctuation must be consistent in order for the spreadsheet to function.‍

ID

If this is your first time creating the inventory item, the ID will be auto-generated by our system, hence you may leave it blank. If you are updating or deleting an existing item, please fill in the corresponding assigned ID found in your Bindo HQ Account. 

Store ID: store_id

This field is optional. If it is null, then it will be the default current store. Furthermore, you are able to input the store ID. Your five-digit store ID may be found on your Settings Page. Navigate to Staff Management > Store, on your Bindo HQ Account. Alternatively, it may be found through the iPad Bindo App system.

Product Name: [product_id]

The name of your product. Be as specific as possible. Using a new name will indicate to the system that it is a brand new product, while using a previously used name will be recorded as an update in our system.

Brand

This field is also optional, so this column can be left empty. Brand refers to the name of the company / manufacturer that the items are sourced from. You will have to create your Brand in the system prior to importing the spreadsheet. Navigate to Inventory > Product Master, then click New located at the bottom right. Scroll down to the Brand field and click on the “+” to create a new brand. Click save and a new brand should be created.

Department

Department refers to the department that your item belongs to. For instance, ice-tea or coffee may be categorised as “Beverages” or “Drinks”. Please note that you must create the departments in the HQ prior to importing your inventory list.

To add a new department, please navigate to the Inventory > Departments. There, you will be able to create new departments. You may also create sub-departments through the same tab. In order for our system to recognise sub-departments, select the appropriate parent department for each sub-department. The Department tab provides an overview of all departments created and their respective relationships.

In the Inventory sheet, indicate and differentiate departments and sub-departments as follows: Use “=>” to separate a department from its parent department. For instance, enter “Clothing=>Shirts” to add a sub-department (a.k.a child department) under the “Clothing” department. 

This field is optional.

Kitchen_department_id

You can leave this column empty as this is an optional field. You will need to create the kitchen department in the HQ prior to importing your inventory list.

UPC_ean: 

You can leave this column empty as this field is optional.

Listing_barcode: 

This is an optional field. This is the unique barcode assigned to each item/product. No two items should have the same SKU, and in the case of overlaps in the sheets or with your existing inventory database, it will be indicated as an error.

Track_quantity: 

This field is also optional. A non-inventory item (0) refers to an item in which its inventory is not tracked, such as items that are to be purchased or sold without first having to check their availability in stock. Since these products do not affect inventory, they can not be reordered, backordered, restocked, or unstocked. Examples include office supplies or specific purchases for a particular client. 

An inventory item (1) refers to an item that you want to track the quantities of when bought or sold. The quantities of items with this quality will automatically be recorded and tracked when purchased/sold through the Bindo HQ system.

Quantity

This refers to the quantity of each item currently in your inventory. Please do not include any symbols / currencies. Please note that this field is optional.

Price

Here is where you input the selling price of each item. Please note that the number should be formatted as a number / plain text and not a currency / accounting. This field can be empty as it is optional.

Pricing_type

Fixed_prices

Bulk_prices

Cost

Procurement_method

This field is optional. This field indicated what method of procurement you would like for this item. 1 - Dine In, 2 - Pick Up, 4 - Delivery, 8 - Dine In Unassigned. Please use “ ” to separate.

In_store_only

This field can be empty as it is optional. Here, you can either input TRUE or FALSE.

Discontinued

You can either input TRUE or FALSE. This column may be empty as this is an optional field.

Exempt_loyalty

You can either input TRUE or FALSE. This column may be empty as this is an optional field.

Exempt_discount

This field can be empty as it is optional. Here, you can either input TRUE or FALSE.

Storefront_allow_negative_quantity

This field can be empty as it is optional. Here, you can either input TRUE or FALSE.

Sold_out

You can either input TRUE or FALSE. This column may be empty as this is an optional field.

Expiration_data_enabled

This field can be empty as it is optional. Here, you can either input TRUE or FALSE.

Product_description

Give your products a description here. Some details you may choose to include are the dimensions, weight, country of origin of the product. Please note that this section is optional.

Reference_id

This field can be empty as it is optional.

Kitchen_alias

This field can be empty as it is optional.

_mark

This ID is different for your SKU. The Unique IDs given to your inventory items are used to identify and match your items to their respective suppliers. 

Step 3: Input Data into Supplier 

Now we will introduce you the headers of Supplier(L_0k6oktxc): 

ID

Please leave this column empty. This will be auto-generated by our system. Use this _id fields for future reference in terms of editing or deleting items.‍

_Action

Same as above. This tag informs our system the actions you are taking. If it is your first time importing a supplier, you may either input “create” or leave the cells empty. Alternatively, you may also input “update” and “delete” to perform those actions.

Listing_id(inventoriesNew)

This is the unique ID of the supplier. It will correspond to “_mark” one by one.

Supplier_id

The name of the supplier. Please note that similar to how you would import departments, you will need to create these suppliers in your HQ account prior to importing this inventory sheet. To do this, navigate to the side menu bar > procurement > suppliers. There, you may add your suppliers and fill in relevant information such as their contact information, address and more. Click save and you will see the list of suppliers you have inputted. Alternatively, you may also use the bulk import function by clicking on the three dots at the bottom-left of the screen. 

Cost

This refers to the cost of each unit of item. 

Reorder_point 

This field can be left empty as it is optional. This refers to the reorder trigger point in which the system will identify the item as low in stock. You may put “0” for items that you do not wish to employ the reorder feature. Please note that the quantity must be a number and cannot include any units. 

Default

For items that have a single supplier, input “TRUE”. In instances where a product is sourced from a few different suppliers, input “TRUE” next to the supplier you wish to be identified as your default supplier. Our system will recognise the default supplier and our auto-reorder feature will order from them. Alternatively, input “FALSE” for other suppliers.  

Reorder_level

This refers to the quantity that will be purchased when the inventory stick of an item reaches the reorder point. 

Step 4: Importing on HQ

After you are done importing all your inventory items and suppliers, export your sheet as a .csx or .xlsx. Then navigate back to the inventory > inventories tab. Click the three-dot icon on the bottom - left and select import. 

Drop the file into the box or choose the file to import. 

‍Great Work!

Our system will read through your spreadsheet and import everything accordingly into your store. You deserve a break.

Understanding Warnings & Errors

During the import process you may encounter warnings or errors which display following the CSV file validation process. Warnings are messages that are for your information only and do not prevent a file from being imported, whereas errors must be corrected prior to file import. If you are not sure how to correct an error, please do not hesitate to contact our support team at support@bindo.com and we can walk you through the process together.

Below are a list of Warning & Error Messages that 

• File can't be open: Your file may be corrupted, or the upload process has been terminated due to an unstable network. Please export a new .csv file and try again.
• File is not in UTF-8: Your file does not have the correct encoding format. Our importer only supports UTF-8 encoding. To fix this error:

1. Right click your .CSV file, choose "open with".

2. Use notepad to open your .csv file.

3. Choose "File" -> "Save as"

4. For encoding, choose "UTF-8", then press "Save"

• Listing # is too large (>10000 rows): There are too many listings in your file. The maximum amount of listings per import is 10,000. Please separate your data into multiple files
• Leading or Ending Empty Space found in Field: Please ensure your field does not contain any hidden space. Hidden spaces and line breaks may affect the readability of your report, thus causing errors in the importing process. To illustrate, " 123 " ≠ "123".
• Your SKU is duplicated in the .CSV: Each barcode must be unique. You may not import duplicated barcodes.
• Your SKU is duplicated in Database: Each barcode must be unique. The system has identified an error in your spreadsheet as one of the barcodes duplicates with an item in your store.
• Price must be provided: This field is required.
• Product ID must come with supplier name: If a product ID is listed, you must provide a supplier name associated with it.
• Cost must be provided: If the supplier name field is filled in, cost must be indicated too. You could fill in 0 if you do not wish to monitor product cost.
• Cost must be a number: Same as price. It must be numeric. Please do not include any currency symbols - numbers only.
• Cost must come with supplier name: A supplier name must be provided if Cost is filled in.
• Reorder Trigger Point must be a number: Same as price and cost. It must be numeric. Do not include any currency symbols - numbers only.
• Reorder Trigger Point and Reorder Amount must come with Supplier Name: If you have filled in the supplier name, reorder trigger point and reorder amount must be filled in.
  You could fill in 0 if you don't want to use the purchase order auto reorder feature for specific listing.
• Reorder amount must be a number: Same as above. It must be numeric. Do not include any currency symbols - numbers only.