Am i missing something or is Magento really this long winded?

[deadgoodundies]

I've started playing around with Magento with a view to moving to it from our current x-cart site but unless i'm missing something it seems to take an age to add a product compared to what i'm used to in x-cart (4 mins in x-cart compared to 20 in magento).

As we sell products which can have various colours and sizes I've created a configurable product , filled in all the bits I need to and then done associated products to create all the other colours and sizes, say for example 10 colours and 6 different sizes so that's a total of 60 simple products attached to the configurable product.

Now to enter the different stock levels I have to go into each one individually and enter the quantity , so say for example 3 x yellow size small, 5 x red size small etc. etc. and save each one as I go and then move onto the next.

Surely there is a much quicker way to do this???

Thinking about it when we come to restock and have to change quantities again it looks like I have to go into each one again and do it all individually.

With x-cart it was nice and simple , I had one page which listed all the colours and sizes in a grid and I could just change it all on the page in one go and update.

Am I missing something or is it really this long winded ? as inputting and maintaining over 2000 products is going to be a nightmare.

I can see in other ways that Magento is incredibly powerful but I would of though there is a much easier way for something so simple.

 

[ITsoldUK]

Add one product

Export it to csv/excel

Add your other products to the SS

Import the SS

Job done.....and takes a fraction of the time.

I got 10,000 products into 1 site in under 1hr using the above

HTH

Regards
Daren

 

[deadgoodundies]

just exported as you suggested and by the looks of it that that might even take longer

 

[kulture]

What version? The import on version 1.6 is much much much faster than 1.4

 

[randdtaxcredits]

You can also use store manager from magentoone to speed up the process

 

[deadgoodundies]

Ver 1.5.1

I'm sure the actual speed of the import is fine but what I meant by taking longer is the actual input and checking that all the url's , file paths etc. are all correct manually rather than via the magento admin which automatically generates them , so there is more room for error and having to go back and amend.

I suppose if we go ahead with magento I could get a module created so that I could get a stock grid done that would make input a lot easier.

 

[deadgoodundies]

You can also use store manager from magentoone to speed up the process

Ahh yes I was looking at that , anyone had any experience with it?

Another one i've been looking at is linnworks as we would be moving over to using Royal Mail despatch express and linnworks works with that in terms of auto generating the address labels (so we can finally moved from Royal Mail signed for over to Royal Mail tracked)
http://www.linnworks.com/Doc/despatch_express_in_linnworks_tutorial

 

[randdtaxcredits]

Yes I use it
They offer a free trial so you can see if it meets your requirements
Also there are a couple of free grid enhancement modules but they are nowhere near as good

 

[jamieclick]

Would you be interested at all at moving to OpenCart?

Jamie

 

[deadgoodundies]

No, sorry i'm set on using Magento

 

[macadamiacreative]

Add one product

Export it to csv/excel

Add your other products to the SS

Import the SS

Job done.....and takes a fraction of the time.

I got 10,000 products into 1 site in under 1hr using the above

HTH

Regards
Daren

The problem with this way is that if your products are "simple" ones you cannot upload images with those too, not can you cross reference and set similar products.

Your better off using a small piece of software to do that!

 

[ITsoldUK]

The problem with this way is that if your products are "simple" ones you cannot upload images with those too, not can you cross reference and set similar products.

Your better off using a small piece of software to do that!

Course you can?!

You can set attributes, images, specials the only restriction is the fieldset you create in the csv export via magneto

 

[kulture]

Linnworks works very well with magento and despatch express.

 

[movietub]

Hi,

Well done for choosing and sticking with Magento - you won't regret it.

You can upload images in bulk to the media import folder and then just link the filenames via csv. If you ever get stuck on how to do this or anything else just google 'magento - your question' and you will find many links to the help forums that are very useful. The bulk image upload thing is covered by several threads on there.

For setting up an initial store csv is the fastest way, and magentos slow upload of csv aside, takes no longer than for any other shop.

What does take longer with magento is the amount of data you need to input for each product, even for a basic store before you start adding hundreds off possible attributes. But believe me, the benefits of all the data shine through when you get grips with the power of magento and how it can manipulate navigation structure like no other cart.

As it happens we do almost all of our import AND updates via csv now. Once you get a good system going, and a thorough understanding of how magento processes things, you will see it as a good thing.

 

[deadgoodundies]

Yes that's what i'm finding with Magento is that there is a huge amount of data that you can input (if you want) which is great in the long run as the more information I can put in then the more uses there can be amongst all the different channels we use to sell.
For example we never entered the barcode data before but because of the new changes with google shopping it's now become essential to do so plus having that extra push for doing it means it opens ourselves up internally to make more use of the data in the day to day running of the business.

So yes I can see initially it's a big slog to get it all in but I know in the long term it's worth us doing

 

[movietub]

Yes that's what i'm finding with Magento is that there is a huge amount of data that you can input (if you want) which is great in the long run as the more information I can put in then the more uses there can be amongst all the different channels we use to sell.
For example we never entered the barcode data before but because of the new changes with google shopping it's now become essential to do so plus having that extra push for doing it means it opens ourselves up internally to make more use of the data in the day to day running of the business.

So yes I can see initially it's a big slog to get it all in but I know in the long term it's worth us doing

If you're doing the CSVs now I would add barcode, mpns and basically anything else that can be used to identify a product.

Many carts can't handle all this info and they certainly can't easily use it to generate product feeds. This felt like a pain a few weeks ago but in reality it means we are out-performing bigger companies on the shopping engines simply because their feed isn't as good as ours and there is no quick fix for them!

Also within the next 12 months I think it possible we will see more people will searching google products by scanning barcodes than by typing. simply because it's instant and can be done anywhere, in any shop. Once that catches hold and becomes a serious trend it will appeal to everyone with a smartphone and a desire to save money. Which these days is almost everyone I know!

 

[movietub]

Yes that's what i'm finding with Magento is that there is a huge amount of data that you can input (if you want) which is great in the long run as the more information I can put in then the more uses there can be amongst all the different channels we use to sell.
For example we never entered the barcode data before but because of the new changes with google shopping it's now become essential to do so plus having that extra push for doing it means it opens ourselves up internally to make more use of the data in the day to day running of the business.

So yes I can see initially it's a big slog to get it all in but I know in the long term it's worth us doing

Speaking of the long slog - check out my experience from the last few moths here... http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=231529

 

[deadgoodundies]

If you're doing the CSVs now I would add barcode, mpns and basically anything else that can be used to identify a product.

To start with i'm doing it manually, at least until I become a dab hand at magento. I'm just always wary of initial automation (like importing) because in the end I'd still have to check it all over to make sure that all the information is correct.

Also within the next 12 months I think it possible we will see more people will searching google products by scanning barcodes than by typing. simply because it's instant and can be done anywhere, in any shop. Once that catches hold and becomes a serious trend it will appeal to everyone with a smartphone and a desire to save money. Which these days is almost everyone I know!

Funny you should mention that as I found myself doing exactly that the other day when we were in House of Fraser and my wife was looking for something specific but they didn't have her size so I scanned the barcode to see if I could find it for her...... I didn't (no results) but the intention of doing so was there.

 

[astutiumRob]

I've started playing around with Magento with a view to moving to it from our current x-cart site but unless i'm missing something it seems to take an age to add a product compared to what i'm used to in x-cart (4 mins in x-cart compared to 20 in magento).

No. There is something wrong with either your install/setup/configuration of magento, or with the system you are hosting it on.

It took me just under an hour to setup the hosting account, install magento, tweak mysql & php, andadd 18 products to a demo site I setup for a client recently.

So if it's _really_ taking 20 minutes to add a product or 3 something is very wrong.

 

[movietub]

No. There is something wrong with either your install/setup/configuration of magento, or with the system you are hosting it on.

It took me just under an hour to setup the hosting account, install magento, tweak mysql & php, andadd 18 products to a demo site I setup for a client recently.

So if it's _really_ taking 20 minutes to add a product or 3 something is very wrong.

I got the impression the OP was talking about the time it takes to fill in all the fields per product, which would make sense as Magento has quite a few even as standard and to a new user some of them aren't immediately clear. Also there is the added time for a new user pondering why the product doesn't display on the front end and subsequently fiddling with general setting to find out why not.

But yes you're quite right - if it spends 20 mins thinking about adding a product there is something very wrong! In theory this would be impossible though as the vanilla magento php setting are so restrictive that it can't do anything for more than a couple of minutes without timing out.

 

[cody44]

As from the first post from ITsoldUK

Yes, put a few products in with attributes and custom settings > export it into the export folder and then simply download it. Have a look at the fields in the CSV file and work on it (experiment - you learn from your mistakes.

When you add your own products you can enter your image names onto the CSV file, you just need to upload the images into an import image folder and when Magento indexes the new csv file it will grab the images from the image folder in the import folder. Google it and there will be plenty of references. As for time OP 4 mins per product !!! Blimey, I have a client now using magento import via CSV of 4000 products at a time with images. Takes him about 3 hours to set up but like for like works out at 20 seconds per product. With Magento there is no 're-inventing' the wheel and there are processes at hand that will safe you so much valuable time.

CSV is the way - look into it and the 'blockers' you see, Google it and learn from it.

 

[Mike tells it like it is]

I've started playing around with Magento with a view to moving to it from our current x-cart site but unless i'm missing something it seems to take an age to add a product compared to what i'm used to in x-cart (4 mins in x-cart compared to 20 in magento).

As we sell products which can have various colours and sizes I've created a configurable product , filled in all the bits I need to and then done associated products to create all the other colours and sizes, say for example 10 colours and 6 different sizes so that's a total of 60 simple products attached to the configurable product.

Now to enter the different stock levels I have to go into each one individually and enter the quantity , so say for example 3 x yellow size small, 5 x red size small etc. etc. and save each one as I go and then move onto the next.

Surely there is a much quicker way to do this???

Thinking about it when we come to restock and have to change quantities again it looks like I have to go into each one again and do it all individually.

With x-cart it was nice and simple , I had one page which listed all the colours and sizes in a grid and I could just change it all on the page in one go and update.

Am I missing something or is it really this long winded ? as inputting and maintaining over 2000 products is going to be a nightmare.

I can see in other ways that Magento is incredibly powerful but I would of though there is a much easier way for something so simple.

Yeah magento is needlesly complicated and **** but teh to be hosnet I reckon everyone should just used hosted...

 

[kulture]

The upload in version 1.6 is very very fast. I uploaded 1,000 products in less than 15 seconds.

 

[movietub]

The upload in version 1.6 is very very fast. I uploaded 1,000 products in less than 15 seconds.

Yea god knows why it took so long for them to make this part of a release build of Magento. It's been possible with a few tweaks since day one, weird.

Obviously once the products are uploaded most people find Magento itself slow... But these people must learn that it's no good buying a stallion of the eCommerce world and expected it to live in the cramped stable of a shared server from a cheapo 1 man reseller company.

We're about to drag ourselves up to 1.6 from 1.4.2.0, should be a smooth journey

 

[movietub]

Yeah magento is needlesly complicated and **** but teh to be hosnet I reckon everyone should just used hosted...

Seriously? :|

 

[movietub]

As from the first post from ITsoldUK

Yes, put a few products in with attributes and custom settings > export it into the export folder and then simply download it. Have a look at the fields in the CSV file and work on it (experiment - you learn from your mistakes.

When you add your own products you can enter your image names onto the CSV file, you just need to upload the images into an import image folder and when Magento indexes the new csv file it will grab the images from the image folder in the import folder. Google it and there will be plenty of references. As for time OP 4 mins per product !!! Blimey, I have a client now using magento import via CSV of 4000 products at a time with images. Takes him about 3 hours to set up but like for like works out at 20 seconds per product. With Magento there is no 're-inventing' the wheel and there are processes at hand that will safe you so much valuable time.

CSV is the way - look into it and the 'blockers' you see, Google it and learn from it.

I think your maths is a little wonky - 20 secs would be a very long time for each of 4k products! I make it 3.6 secs a product

 

[kulture]

We're about to drag ourselves up to 1.6 from 1.4.2.0, should be a smooth journey

Do not do it. 1.6 is not stable enough yet.

 

[movietub]

Do not do it. 1.6 is not stable enough yet.

Same old problem though! We don't want to be stuck updating every few months so when we do we want to go for fairly recent... I don't think there is a correct answer for this, other than adopt and then fix quickly.

What's with the Doctor Who siggy by the way? That your site? I have worked for Torchwood and other BBC stuff.

 

[Skateboard Express UK]

did you look at x-cart-magento migration tools i.e. http://www.shopping-cart-migration.com/shopping-cart-migration-options/82-xcart-to-magento-migration

i saw your comment about wanting to manually check everything but wouldn't it have been easier to migrate your products in and then validate everything rather than manually recreating every product?

i'm really just curious about whether these migration tools work and if so, how well..

 

[movietub]

did you look at x-cart-magento migration tools i.e. http://www.shopping-cart-migration.com/shopping-cart-migration-options/82-xcart-to-magento-migration

i saw your comment about wanting to manually check everything but wouldn't it have been easier to migrate your products in and then validate everything rather than manually recreating every product?

i'm really just curious about whether these migration tools work and if so, how well..

In almost all circumstances you are better to csv export from old store, adjust, and then csv import to the new store.

If for no other reason than it forces you to consider the differences between how each cart handles products - or whatever else you are transferring.

 

[LynnH]

Hi there

When we 1st started with Magento we found it very long and drawn out. But once you have got your head around how it all works and see the results I am sure you will be pleased with your decision.

One quick tip- instead of setting up all the simple products first ( individually ) set up a configurable product - ( make sure you have this one 100% as you want it as all the others are based on it) then on the associated products tab you will see a quick create. You can use this to create all of your variations in size and colour and even price as well as stock options. With a few simple changes to sku +url fields you should have your variations set up a lot faster. All the simple products linked to the configurable product show at the bottom of the associated products tab so you can keep track of how many you have set up.

Happy to provide further help if you need it, I made a few huge mistakes when 1st setting up that I wish someone had warned me about!

Good luck + love those undies!

Lynn

 

[deadgoodundies]

One quick tip- instead of setting up all the simple products first ( individually ) set up a configurable product - ( make sure you have this one 100% as you want it as all the others are based on it) then on the associated products tab you will see a quick create. You can use this to create all of your variations in size and colour and even price as well as stock options. With a few simple changes to sku +url fields you should have your variations set up a lot faster. All the simple products linked to the configurable product show at the bottom of the associated products tab so you can keep track of how many you have set up.

Hi Lynn,
Thanks yes that's what I've been doing. The only thing i've found though that it isn't copying is the images. so I have to go into each simple product and upload the images again each time, so if i've got 5 sizes and 5 colours thats a lot of uploading (especially if they are 2000 pixels big because of wanting to zoom right in)

 

[kulture]

Same old problem though! We don't want to be stuck updating every few months so when we do we want to go for fairly recent... I don't think there is a correct answer for this, other than adopt and then fix quickly.

What's with the Doctor Who siggy by the way? That your site? I have worked for Torchwood and other BBC stuff.

Yes the sites are mine, and yes they are currently running magento 1.6. It has a big bug though, it is ignoring all VAT calculations.

 

[movietub]

Yes the sites are mine, and yes they are currently running magento 1.6. It has a big bug though, it is ignoring all VAT calculations.

That's not a bug, that's a disability!? This must have been addressed in 1.6.1.0 surely?

 

[kulture]

I do not know. As it is my busiest time of year I am loath to upgrade. I made the mistake of upgrading to 1.5 and then relying on some of its functionality. Then when for various reasons I was forced to move host in a hurry and also move from 1.5 so rather than going back to 1.4 I went forward. I am ashamed to say I missed this test. My site was down and I wanted to get going ASAP. It did not occur to me that such basic functionality would go. Other than this feature, and a problem with images on imported products, it is a good version. Its integration with linnworks is now seamless, and we can at last process orders quickly.
As all my products are VAT rated, it is not a complete disaster. My US customers loose out on their VAT refund but I have reduced their postage to try and offset this. I have also removed mention of VAT from the cart, the prices and the invoices. If anyone asks for a proper VAT invoice then I produce it manually. I have raised the bug, and have searched the forum (alas I am not the only one with this and so far no solution)

 

[LynnH]

Hi Lynn,
Thanks yes that's what I've been doing. The only thing i've found though that it isn't copying is the images. so I have to go into each simple product and upload the images again each time, so if i've got 5 sizes and 5 colours thats a lot of uploading (especially if they are 2000 pixels big because of wanting to zoom right in)

Ok I might be mis understanding but when I load my product images I only ever load them on to the configurable product ( not the simple ones) as I set the simple products not to display individually ( otherwise it looks like you have duplicate products) So I load all of the images onto the configurable one. The different colour variations, then when a customer clicks on the product they can see the different colours the product is available in.

However I appreciate if you have some additional extensions that maybe change the colour of the photo when a customer clicks on that colour selection then you may need to upload the product images on the simple products.

Probably best to try a few manually and then as some other have suggested use the uploader to link the product images in to the simple products.

Ours is a pet products website so the colour variations are not as complex as with clothing though.

If you want to take a look how we do things the site is Dougal's Den - just google it and you will be able to find it. It is almost as I want it now, just a few minor tweaks and some content to add!

Always good to share ideas with fellow magento users.

Lynn

 

[downsouth]

One quick tip- instead of setting up all the simple products first ( individually ) set up a configurable product - ( make sure you have this one 100% as you want it as all the others are based on it) then on the associated products tab you will see a quick create. You can use this to create all of your variations in size and colour and even price as well as stock options. With a few simple changes to sku +url fields you should have your variations set up a lot faster. All the simple products linked to the configurable product show at the bottom of the associated products tab so you can keep track of how many you have set up.

Hi Lynn, done just as you mentioned but i can see all the products on the site, and the the configurable products with the options listed?

how do i 'hide' the individual products to only leave the configurable one?

 

[deadgoodundies]

Ok I might be mis understanding but when I load my product images I only ever load them on to the configurable product ( not the simple ones) as I set the simple products not to display individually ( otherwise it looks like you have duplicate products) So I load all of the images onto the configurable one. The different colour variations, then when a customer clicks on the product they can see the different colours the product is available in.

Yup we are having some custom work done so that rather than a drop down selection to choose colour etc. we are using a matrix system like we already do on our site (as it makes it very easy for the customer to see what's in our out of stock) so that if they roll over a tick icon on the various colours it automatically swaps to that colour.
Also with google products exporting we want to export each variation as a product in it's own right for example HOM H01 maxi boxer brief black small so need the correct image assigned to that variation.

 

[LynnH]

Hi Lynn, done just as you mentioned but i can see all the products on the site, and the the configurable products with the options listed?

how do i 'hide' the individual products to only leave the configurable one?

Hi there
You need to update the visibility option on the general tab on each of the simple products to be set to not visible individually.

Hope that helps.

( you can do this as you set them up or go in and select them all from the catalogue view and then do a bulk update of attributes from the action drop down)