In this guide 6 sections
Use both, in order. A spreadsheet import is only a loading method, while a specification catalogue is the structure that the rows must load into. Pasted straight into free text names, supplier sheets create thousands of near identical items that nobody can filter by size or grade. Load into fields, and review first.
What a straight spreadsheet import produces
A supplier sheet usually holds one row per article, with a code and a description such as HEX BOLT M8 X 40 ZP 8.8. The import makes each description a product name. After the first load the store holds thousands of items that differ by a few characters. Which one to reorder is anyone’s guess.
Abbreviations vary between suppliers. ZP, BZP and zinc can all describe one finish, and A2 and 304 can name the same stainless steel, depending on which supplier wrote the sheet. The same bolt then appears twice. Each copy gets its own code, its own price and its own stock count, and the two drift apart month by month.
The buyer cannot filter. They want an M10 coach bolt in one set length and must read down a list of two hundred similar names to find it.
What a specification catalogue stores instead
A specification catalogue breaks each item into fields. A buyer asks for an M10 hex bolt, 80 long, in A2 stainless, and each of those words is a field with its own list of allowed values. Zinc is then always written one way.
Fields do three jobs. They drive the filters on the shop page, build the product title for you, and make a second supplier’s copy of the same bolt easy to spot.
Free text keeps what someone typed. Fields keep what the item is.
- Item type and head or drive style
- Thread diameter, pitch and length
- Material and property class or grade
- Finish or coating, such as zinc or hot dip galvanised
- The standard the item is made to
- Pack quantity and weight per pack
A review step between the import and the shop
Never import straight into the live shop. Load it into a staging area first. The staging sheet shows each row split into fields, a flag where a field could not be read and a match to any item already held.
Someone who knows fasteners reads the flagged rows. They fix a length that landed in the diameter column, merge a duplicate, or reject a row with no pack quantity. Approving one family at a time, say all the hex bolts before any nuts, keeps the work in hand and lets the shop go live in stages.
Only approved rows go live. Rejected rows go back to the supplier with the reason written beside each one, and a sheet that fails twice gets cleaned before it is loaded again.
- Required fields are filled
- Values come from the allowed list
- No existing item carries the same fields
- The price refers to the same unit as the pack
- The supplier code is kept for reordering
Where each method wins
Spreadsheet import wins on speed. A distributor adding forty bolts from one supplier can paste, check and publish in an afternoon, with no need for a catalogue model at all.
The catalogue wins on a large range. When several suppliers send revised price sheets, a catalogue matches each row against the fields and updates the item that exists instead of creating a second one.
The two are not rivals. Most distributors keep the spreadsheet as the way in and the catalogue as the place the items live, with the review step standing between the two.
Start with one family and one supplier
Choose the family you sell most, such as hex head bolts, and the supplier with the cleanest sheet, then write the fields and allowed values on one page. The counter staff know what buyers ask for.
Load two hundred rows and review every one. Count the problems and sort them by kind. That count tells you whether the supplier sheet needs cleaning before each load and how long the full range will take.
Repeat for nuts, washers and screws. Keep the field list identical wherever the same attribute appears, so thread diameter always means the same thing whether it sits on a bolt, a nut or a screw.
Fastener field sheet
Two tables on one page. The first lists fields down the rows, with columns for field name, allowed values, whether it is required and an example for a bolt, a nut and a washer. The second is a review log, one row per flagged item, with columns for supplier code, problem found, fix applied, reviewer and date approved.
Open a blank worksheet to printQuestions owners ask
How many fields does a fastener need?
Enough to tell two items apart. Start with item type, diameter, length, material, finish and pack quantity, then add property class and standard where customers ask for them.
Can I load images and drawings in bulk?
Yes, name each file with the supplier code. The import then matches every image or drawing to its item, and one drawing per head type often covers every length because the head shape stays the same.
How do I handle two suppliers for the same bolt?
Keep one catalogue item with the matching fields and attach both supplier codes and cost prices to it, so stock and sales history add up on one line. The buyer sees one product.
What should I do when a supplier changes a code?
Keep the old code as an alias on the same item and add the new one, so old orders still find the item and history stays joined. Nothing needs renumbering by hand.