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Importing vendor data

To import inventory data, check out Importing inventory data. To import customer data, check out Importing customer data.

Importing vendor data to Retail POS

  1. Prepare a spreadsheet for your inventory data based on the Retail POS requirements.
  2. Format your spreadsheet to import. If your file is not properly formatted, it will be returned to you to modify and your import will be delayed.
  3. Verify the data.
  4. Submit your spreadsheet to the Retail Imports team.

Data import can take 5 to 7 business days to complete. If we have to edit your data we will send the file back to you for your approval.

Preparing your spreadsheet

  1. If you are transitioning from a POS software to Lightspeed, export your current inventory data from your previous POS software to a spreadsheet file like .csv or .xlsx.
  2. Create a backup of your original export file. The backup file is a precaution against any errors, and can also be used to verify your data.
  3. In your spreadsheet file, rename the column headings so that they match the Retail POS system fields.
  4. Review your spreadsheet data and fix any formatting or data errors.

Formatting your spreadsheet

To avoid having to manually correct the data in your system, format your spreadsheet so that we can easily import it.

All city, state, and zip codes should be in their own columns, not merged into one cell. You can re-order the columns as you wish. If any columns do not contain data other than the heading, delete the entire column.

Heading Requirements Description
Vendor name Text up to 255 characters or blank. No returns, line breaks or foreign characters. Vendor's name
Account number Text up to 25 characters or blank. No returns, line breaks or foreign characters. Your account number with the vendor
Vendor Currency A purchasing currency that has already been created under Settings > General Options > Currencies. If you have multicurrency enabled in your account, you can assign one of your purchasing currencies to the imported vendor. You cannot create new purchasing currencies via import, however, so it will need to be created before importing.

Note: if you import a vendor currency that has not already been created in your account, the currency will default to your store currency with an exchange rate of 1.0.
Contact first name Text up to 255 characters or blank. No returns, line breaks or foreign characters. Contact's first name
Contact last name Text up to 255 characters or blank. No returns, line breaks or foreign characters. Contact's last name
Address 1 Text up to 25 characters or blank. No returns, line breaks or foreign characters. Vendor's address line 1
Address 2 Text up to 25 characters or blank. No returns, line breaks or foreign characters. Vendor's address line 2
City Text up to 25 characters or blank. No returns, line breaks or foreign characters. City the vendor lives in
State Text up to 25 characters or blank. No returns, line breaks or foreign characters. State the vendor lives in
Zip Numeric or blank. No returns, line breaks or foreign characters.

Zip Code the vendor lives in.

Zip+4 format is acceptable for this field ("12345-1234")
Country Text up to 255 characters or blank. No returns, line breaks or foreign characters. Country the vendor lives in.
Work phone Numeric or blank. No returns, line breaks or foreign characters. Work phone number of the vendor. Several formats are acceptable:(123)123-1234 or 123-123-1234.
Fax Numeric or blank. No returns, line breaks or foreign characters. Fax number of the vendor. Several formats are acceptable:(123)123-1234 or 123-123-1234.
Mobile Numeric or blank. No returns, line breaks or foreign characters. Mobile phone number of the vendor. Several formats are acceptable:(123)123-1234 or 123-123-1234.
E-Mail 1 Text up to 255 characters or blank. No returns, line breaks or foreign characters. Vendor's primary email address
E-Mail 2 Text up to 255 characters or blank. No returns, line breaks or foreign characters. Vendor's secondary email address
Website Text up to 255 characters or blank. No returns, line breaks or foreign characters. Vendor's website
Custom Text up to 255 characters or blank. No returns, line breaks or foreign characters. Can be used for a vendor number to quickly add a vendor to a document
Notes No returns, line breaks or foreign characters. Vendor-related notes

Verifying the data

After you create your import spreadsheet, scan the document for any erroneous data, which can cause the data import to fail.

  • Edit special characters, such as ☺↨♪♫♀♂¶▓ so that they display the correct data.
  • Correct rows that extend into other columns.
  • Erase cells with N/A so that they have a blank field.

Change cells with scientific numbers, such as 4.001E+11 (usually UPC or EAN values) so that they are regular integers instead, such as 40010000000. If you use Excel:

  1. Select the column with the scientific numbers.
  2. Click Format > Cells.
  3. Change the Category to Number, set Decimal places to 0, and then click OK.

Erasing multiple N/A entries:

  1. Select the data you want to change, whether that's a row, column or the entire document.
  2. Press Ctrl+F or Find.
  3. Select the Replace tab.
  4. For the text you want to replace, type N/A.
  5. For Replace with, leave the field blank.

Using Concatenate with description and size and color columns

  1. Insert another column, click the first cell (D2), and typ “=CONCATENATE(“.

  2. Select the first cell you want to be displayed :::first. click C2 then added the: ,”: “, (creates the separator “: “ between the first two cells in this formula), then click :::the cell that should be next (B2), added: ,” “, (creates the separator “ “ [for a space between the last two cells in the formula]), :::and then click the last cell (A2).

  3. Press Enter.

  4. To apply this to all the rows, click the box and drag it to the bottom of the column to get a list of concatenated results.

  5. Click one of the cells to see the =CONCATENATE function. To make the cells become “T-Shirt: Large, Red,” for example, copy the column > Paste special and select Values and number formats.

Correcting multiple lines in cells or rows

  1. Highlight all of the data in the spreadsheet.
  2. Press Ctrl+F or Find.
  3. Click the Replace tab.
  4. In the Find box, while pressing Alt, on the numeric pad type 0010. Don't type anything in the Replace box.
  5. Click Replace all.

Adding a missing 0 to UPC numbers

Excel will trim the leading 0 from UPC numbers. To correct this, add "0" (a zero in apostrophes) to the beginning of a UPC number. Typically, UPCs are 12 digits long, so you could sort your spreadsheet by the PUCs and fix any that are 11 digits or fewer. This isn't always the case with UPCs, so check your product's barcode.

Submitting your spreadsheet to the Retail Imports team

After you prepare, format, and verify your import spreadsheet file, create a ticket to submit it to the Retail Imports team.

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