If you have an existing rental business with your product information stored in another software, or you are a new rental business that wants a quicker way to create a large inventory, we have created a way for you to import your products in an easy-to-follow process.
Follow our guide below to learn how you can import your products, and all their unique information fields, into your Booqable account.
How it works
Your products can be imported into Booqable by creating a CSV or Excel file spreadsheet that includes all your rental product information.
💡Note: At this time, only rental products can be imported into Booqable. Service Items and Sale items should be added to your account manually.
Both Bulk and Trackable rental items can be imported using one single spreadsheet, however the formatting is slightly different.
For trackable items of a product; you will need to create a row for each separate stock item. The items should have identical names in the name column, a quantity of 1, and a unique identifier (which is Booqable's name for a serial number).
For items tracked in bulk; they should include no identifier, and can have any quantity you like.
💡Note: If you are planning on using Variations in some products, such as one bike available in two different colors, you will not be able to include this as part of your product import process at this time.
1. Prepare your import
1. Open an import spreadsheet. You can create your own spreadsheet through CSV or Excel, or you can download a sample product CSV file to use as a template for creating your own. (If you have multiple locations, use this CSV file instead.)
2. Create the heading lines. The first line of your spreadsheet should contain information headers, such as Name, Quantity, Identifier, Price etc.
3. Create the information lines. If you have used our import template, remember to remove the example products. The second line should then be filled in with your product's information, which you will map to certain fields in Booqable in a later step.
Read below for all the mappable attributes you can create in your import file, that can be assigned to existing sections of your Booqable product pages.
Mappable attributes:
Name (required)
A name is required for all products stored in Booqable.
Location (required)
If you have multiple locations set up in your Booqable account, you need to specify the location for each product. Make sure the location names in your spreadsheet are an exact match (case-sensitive) with the location names in your Booqable account.
Identifier
When you map an identifier, the product is imported as a trackable product. When no identifier is found, the product is imported as a bulk product.
Quantity
Determines the number of stock items in your inventory. (Trackable stock items always have a quantity of 1)
Price
Prices are imported at a flat rate (per day). (This can be edited per product once your products have been imported)
Images
Import up to 4 images per product. Add each image URL in a separate column. The images must be hosted on a website such as imgur.com, and the URL must end with an appropriate image format, such as .png or .jpg. (If the link is not a direct link to the image file, the importer will not be able to download it.)
Once products and product images are imported, the links are no longer required.
Tags
Tags (comma-separated) help you categorize your inventory.
SKU (Stock Keeping Unit)
A code that helps you to keep track of your inventory.
Buffer time in hours (after) and/or Buffer time in hours (before)
The time before and after each booking that the product remains unavailable for other bookings.
These are two separate mappable columns. If you want some before buffer time and some after buffer time, you will need to add two separate columns to your spreadsheet.
Barcodes
All barcodes are imported as type Code 128 barcodes.
Description on documents
Product description for documents (you can list accessories here for example).
Description in Online Store
The product's description will appear in your online store.
Text field
Any other information you map will be added as custom fields (data-type text). (Helpful for importing warehouse location, purchase price, or extra product information fields)
2. Import your file
Once you have completed the creation of your import file, we recommend trying out a test import of up to 5 products first, as deleting products in bulk is not currently possible.
Click Products from the main menu
Click Import from the left sidebar
Upload your file.
3. Map your columns
he next step that will appear is to Map your columns or, Skip this step.
Mapping your columns allows you to make sure a column in your import file, such as product SKU, will appear in the correct place in your Booqable product information - such as the SKU field under your product's settings.
Follow the steps below to map your columns.
First map the Name column.
Map the Identifier column (skip this step, if your file only contains bulk products)
Map the Quantity column.
Map the Price column.
Map the Tags column.
Map other columns (if you have others). During this step, you will be able to map additional columns or adjust previously mapped columns.
7. When you hover over a column that has not yet been selected you will get a blue button that said "Choose this column".
When you click on that, you will get a pop up for the options for the column to be mapped to.
8. Select where you wish this column to be mapped to.
9. Click Finish Mapping once all columns are mapped
10. Double-check your mapping then click on Start Import.
💡Note: If you need to delete the whole inventory after a test import has gone wrong, please reach out to the support team at [email protected].
5. Save your import file
Due to the importer does not update inventory levels for existing products, when you import products that already exist in your Booqable account, the quantities found in your spreadsheet are added to those products' inventory levels.
We recommend saving this import file after you complete the steps above so you can update it with new stock levels, contact Booqable support to clear your current inventory and import your inventory as new.
You're all set!
You have now successfully learned how to import products from another software into Booqable.