How to Categorize your SKUs with Smart Types/Amazon Item Types

Last updated almost 5 years ago

Categorizing your SKUs may seem like a tedious and time consuming process. However, with Zentail's Smart Type system we make it easy to efficiently categorize your SKUs for all your maketplaces. The best part is you only have to do it once!

You will need to enter in your Amazon Item Type and if applicable, the department. Our software will then auto-create a Smart Type and will fill in all associated product attributes such as: Walmart Product Type, Amazon Product Type, eBay Category, Jet Browse Node ID, Pricefalls Category, Google Category and more.

To begin, see the detailed instructions below. Alternatively,  if you already know what smart types your products should have skip to Option 2. Don't forget to check out the video tutorial at the bottom of this FAQ!

Note: If you don't have many SKUs or just prefer the user interface, you can always add in Amazon Item Types or Smart types on the catalog page.


Video Tutorial

Option 1: Adding in Amazon Item Types

  1. First ask your onboarding specialist if they've:
    • Attempted to pull in your Amazon Item Types
    • Uploaded your CLRs
  2. Generating a Report
    1. Go to your Imports Page
    2. Click on Create New Template
    3. Enter a label i.e. "Amazon Item Type Template"
      1. Scroll down to the columns section
      2. SKU should be preselected, add Title and Amazon Item Type
      3. Click "Create a Template"
    4. Under Custom Report Templates, Click on the Amazon Item Type Template  
      1. Click download Report 
      2. Leave "Include Header" and "Active Products Only" checked
      3. Click Start Generating Report
      4. You will be taken to the Previous Exports Page, after a couple minutes the report will generate and you can click the "Cloud icon" under the Download column to download a CSV. The CSV will contain your active SKUs with blank or filled in cells in the Amazon Item Type Column. The goal is to have them all filled in. 
  3. Using the Amazon Product Classifier to identify Amazon Item Types
    1. Use this FAQ: Finding Amazon Item Types to obtain your Amazon Item Type
    2. Enter the Amazon Item Type you feel is best into the corresponding cell in your Report
  4. Upload the Report into the Amazon Item Type Template you created in step 2. Make sure you save it as a CSV file. 
    1. Click on the Custom Report Template you created
    2. Click Upload
    3. Select the CSV file
    4. Click Next Step
    5. Click Preview  (Click on "Row 1" etc). This is important because we want to make sure everything is aligned correctly and is a way of verifying that the file is in CSV format. If you can't see a preview it is likely not in CSV format. 
    6. Click Next Step
    7. Select the fields you want to import. In this case, we added in Amazon Item Types, but did not change any titles. As a result, you can uncheck Titles. This can also prevent us accidentally overwriting our titles. 
In most cases, all your SKUs should now have a Smart Type with fields already autofilled. In some cases, they may be new Smart Types in which case the fields mentioned above may not be filled in. You will be able to recognize if this is the case by viewing the critical errors on the channel card for each SKU that say you need a certain field before a SKU can be listed. 
 
If this is the case:
  • Ask your onboarding specialist to review the import of Amazon Item Types
  • Tell them that Smart Types may need to be optimized and we will ask our data entry team to do so.

Option 2: Adding Existing Smart Types

  1. First ask your onboarding specialist if they've:
    • Attempted to pull in your Amazon Item Types
    • Uploaded your CLRs
  2. Generating a Report
    1. Go to your Imports Page
    2. Click on Create New Template
    3. Enter a label i.e. "Smart Type Template"
      1. Scroll down to the columns section
      2. SKU should be preselected, add Title and Smart Type
      3. Click "Create a Template"
    4. Under Custom Report Templates, Click on the Smart Type Template  
      1. Click download Report 
      2. Leave "Include Header" and "Active Products Only" checked
      3. Click Start Generating Report
      4. You will be taken to the Previous Exports Page, after a couple minutes the report will generate and you can click the "Cloud icon" under the Download column to download a CSV. The CSV will contain your active SKUs with blank or filled in cells in the Smart Type Column. The goal is to have them all filled in. 
  3. Enter in pre-existing Smart Types
    1. You can Copy and Paste Existing Smart Types from similar SKUs that are already filled in
    2. You can search Smart Types in the Smart Type field in the edit product view on the Catalog Page. If you see one appear in the drop down menu, enter it in, exactly as it appears, in your CSV file. 
  4. Upload the Report into the Smart  Type Template you created in step 2. Make sure you save it as a CSV file. 
    1. Click on the Custom Report Template you created
    2. Click Upload
    3. Select the CSV file
    4. Click Next Step
    5. Click Preview  (Click on "Row 1" etc). This is important because we want to make sure everything is aligned correctly and is a way of verifying that the file is in CSV format. If you can't see a preview it is likely not in CSV format. 
    6. Click Next Step
    7. Select the fields you want to import. In this case, we added in Amazon Item Types, but did not change any titles. As a result, you can uncheck Titles. This can also prevent us accidentally overwriting our titles. 
If you notice certain categories missing,  let your Onboarding specialist know and they will optimize the smart type.

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