4. Customer Price Feeds

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Create price files that are automatically sent to your customers every day.

Specify different file layouts and different product ranges for different customers and choose from a range of additional fields to include.
 

Do you have customers that would like to automatically receive a data file every day with details of your products?

This module can be used to:

  • send latest pricing information
  • send current stock availability
  • send complete product information so that your customers can populate their own systems and websites 

 
 

4.1 Functionality

Files are created as CSV (Comma Separated Variable) format text files and so are suitable for loading directly within a spreadsheet application or importing into a range of software systems.

You can define multiple file layouts and specify which customers receive which layout.

For example, some customers might simply receive a file containing stock references and current price whilst others might receive a more extensive file including stock availability, descriptions and even links to images held on an axis vMerchant website.

Some customers might also only receive data on a small subset of your product range, whilst others receive a larger file, covering all of your products.

For each customer, you can also specify the delivery method for sending the file:

  • by email
  • by uploading to an FTP server
  • by uploading to an SFTP server

In all cases, the latest copy of each customer's price feed file can always be found on the Attachments tab in Customer Enquiry, allowing them to be sent manually if required.

Files can be created and sent manually by running a specific "Customer Price Feed Delivery" function or, more commonly, by enabling a scheduled task. This allows you to configure the system to automatically send the files to customers at a set time on specified days of the week.
 

4.2 Stock Availability

Stock availability can be calculated in a number of ways, and may differ between customers.

You may choose whether to include your supplier's stock (provided that you are receiving regular stock feeds from your own suppliers).

You may also choose which stock locations to include - for example:

  • you may wish to exclude stock held in a quarantine location
  • a customer in Bristol who has stock delivered from your Bristol depot should only be told about stock at that one location

Please note: receiving regular supplier stock updates requires the Supplier Price Feed Foundation module and at least one additional Price Feed module - see https://www.axisfirst.co.uk/software/axisdiplomat/supplierEDI/ for more information.