Who this is for
Merchant or merchandising manager who imports a supplier catalogue into a store and finds products in the wrong category or in a catch-all one.
A new supplier catalogue arrives with its own category names, or an existing supplier renames categories, and products appear under Uncategorised or under the wrong collection.
The result
Every distinct category value in a named supplier file maps through a table you can read to exactly one store category, or to a visible unmapped list awaiting your decision. The importer applies the table the same way each run, and a changed or new supplier value is reported, never defaulted.
What is included
- One supplier feed layout and one target store category tree, up to 200 distinct supplier category values
- Extract the distinct category values and any category path structure from your redacted sample
- Build an owner-editable mapping table with one target per value, a reason column and an explicit unmapped state
- Change the importer to read the table, apply it exactly (not by loose matching), and write unmapped values to a list instead of a default category
- Add tests with synthetic rows covering mapped, unmapped, renamed and many-to-one cases
You receive
- The mapping table in a format you can edit, with every supplier value in the sample
- A change to the importer with its tests
- A report of unmapped and changed values for the sample run
- Steps to revert the change
What is not included
- Deciding which store category is commercially right for a product; your merchandising owner approves each mapping
- Re-categorising products already in your store
- Redesigning your store category tree
- Mapping to a shopping platform's own category list, unless you add it in writing
- More than 200 distinct supplier values, which are quoted separately
What we need from you first
- The list of distinct category values from a redacted sample, as text
- Your target category names, as text
- What currently happens to products that do not match. No supplier credentials, customer data or code in the first enquiry
Never send passwords, keys, customer records or confidential code in the first enquiry. Secure handover is agreed after scoping.
How we check it is done
- Every distinct category value in the agreed sample file appears exactly once in the mapping table with one target category or the explicit unmapped state.
- A synthetic file containing a mapped value, a new unseen value, a renamed value and two supplier values mapped to one store category imports so that each product lands in its table target, and the new and renamed values appear in the unmapped list with no product placed in a default category.
- Running the same file twice gives identical categories and an identical unmapped list.
- The importer's existing tests still pass with the change applied.
Your approver signs off the mapping table row by row, and you accept the test results in writing. Payment follows sign-off; applying the change live stays with your maintainer.
When we would stop or decline
- Nobody on your side can approve mappings, so the table would be guesswork
- The import happens inside a hosted tool whose rules cannot be changed or exported
- The supplier gives no stable category field, only free text in descriptions
Questions
Will you decide which category each product belongs in?
No. We propose a mapping and your named approver decides each row. The importer then applies exactly what was approved.
What if the supplier renames a category next month?
The new name is reported as unmapped and nothing is placed in a default category. You then decide where it goes. A standing import check can watch for this.
Can the table also map to Google's category IDs?
Only if you add that to the written scope. The table can hold a second target column, but Google's taxonomy has its own rules that must be checked.
Price and terms
From £395 · untested offer price. Paid after the agreed mapping and tests pass and you sign off. No payment before sign-off.
This is a new service with no published client results. The price is a starting point we have not yet tested with buyers. Nothing is ordered or charged by the enquiry. The full specification is on the Synthetic Industry catalogue.