Vendors and imports
Adding a vendor, feed types, the download schedule, and what the states next to the last import mean.
A vendor is a source of products. Everything else in Monokaido — categories, parameters, prices, images — originates in some feed, which is why catalogue problems are almost always solved here.
Controls on this screen
- Vendors & imports — The left menu is the whole Settings section; this screen is its most-visited entry.
- Add vendor — Opens the choice of how a new feed is connected.
- Bulk actions — Runs a sync, or a settings change, across several vendors at once.
- View switch — Table versus a calendar of scheduled synchronisations.
- Feed type — Narrows to one format — Heureka or Google Merchant, for instance.
- State — Failed, pending, running, healthy.
- Star — Marks a vendor as primary. In automatic duplicate detection its product is the one that survives.
- Feed type — The format this vendor sends data in.
- Last run state — "Failed" is the only state that needs a person.
- Last sync — When the feed last completed.
- Next sync — When the next run is due, or that one is running now.
- Products — How many products this vendor contributes to the catalogue.
Adding a vendor
Add vendor offers five routes. They differ in one thing: who decides which feed field means which product field.
| Route | When to use it | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Known format | The feed is in a format we already know — Heureka, Google Merchant, Sport Import and the like. | The fastest. The mapping is done; all it needs is the feed address. |
| AI analysis (auto) | An unfamiliar XML, JSON or CSV feed. | The AI reads the feed and proposes a mapping, which you then confirm or adjust. The mapping is recorded as ai_generated. |
| Manual mapping | An unfamiliar format you would rather map yourself. | Full control. Right when a feed has an unusual structure the AI keeps reading wrong. |
| ETIM | The vendor supplies data in the ETIM standard. | Mostly used in electrical and technical trades. |
| File upload | A one-off or manually refreshed file. | Nothing is downloaded from an address — you upload the file. |
States, and what to do about them
| State | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Healthy | The last run completed without error. | Nothing. |
| Pending | A run is scheduled and waiting in the queue. | Nothing. With many vendors at once the queue works through them in turn. |
| Synchronising | An import is running now. | Watch it in the Import logs (Opens in a new tab). |
| Failed | The run ended in an error. | Open the last run's log — it carries the specific reason (unreachable address, changed structure, invalid XML). |
The primary vendor
The star beside a name marks the primary vendor. It has one consequence, but an important one: in automatic duplicate detection the system prefers the primary vendor's product as the one that survives a merge. If neither side is primary, the older record wins.
The download schedule
Every vendor has its own schedule. The switch in the top right turns the list into a calendar showing how the runs are spread over time — useful when imports slow each other down because they are all scheduled for the same hour.
I added a vendor but no products appeared.
Check the last run's state. If it says Failed, the reason is in the log. If it says Healthy and there are still no products, the feed mapping probably left the required fields unassigned — open the vendor detail (Opens in a new tab) and check the mapping.
Why is the same product in my catalogue twice?
Two vendors are sending the same goods. That is what Merging duplicates is for.
Can I switch a vendor off temporarily?
Yes, in the vendor detail. A disabled vendor stops being downloaded, but its products stay in the catalogue.