One of the cool features of Uphance is that it makes apparel production order management a breeze.
Before you can populate a sales order or production order, you'll need to add your products to your Uphance account. Luckily, it's quick and easy to add products to Uphance and only a minimum of information is required before you can get started building orders.
It's also possible to import product data by uploading a spreadsheet. All the different aspects of the product data (variations, pricing, images) can be specified in the spreadsheet.
To add a new product, navigate to Product Information >> Products. Then click the Actions button, followed by the Add New Product link.
Complete the 5 fields listed below and then click "Create Product".
Style # - Enter your unique product style number. The style number can be used across multiple seasons. As an example, if you have the same product in the Spring as you have in the Summer, you can carry over all configuration items leveraging the style number.
Note: This would not carry the ordering/shipping information from one season to another.
Style Name - Give your product a style name.
Season - Assign a season to the product. You can assign as many seasons as you want.
Sizes - Specify the sizes you would like to use from the drop-down menu. For more information on editing your sizing system, please see our Sizing Systems Knowledge Article.
Colorways - Specify the Colorways for your product. This is the list of color/material variations for this product. You must select at least one color/material variation. This information is important and will be used to complete your Product Image and Swatch Images and Color Standards. See those Knowledge Articles for additional information.
Note: For information on the This is a product bundle feature, please see our how to create product bundles (Bundling) Knowledge Article.
Product Details
Once you complete the above information, you will automatically be taken to the Product Details tab. This is where you get to add key details about the product, including product image, category, brand, gender, product description, etc.
Categories & Subcategories
Select the Category for your product using the drop-down list. Categorizing your products helps you locate them more quickly using filters. Examples of categories are hats, dresses, etc.
Here are examples of Categories:
If you do not see the category you need, feel free to select "uncategorized". Or, if you want to create a new category, navigate to Settings >> Product Setup. When you get there, add a new product category like so:
Sizes
Select your sizes from this drop-down list. Or, select Edit sizing system or Rename a size label.
Tags
Specify tags which will help you search for your product later.
Adding Custom Categorization Variables (Besides Size and Color)
By default, you can only categorize your products based on two variables: size and shape. The problem, however, is that these variables can only work for apparel products.
What if you sold, say, handbags and caps - products that don't work so well with sizes and shapes - how would you categorize them?
The simplest solution is to create your own custom variables. So, instead of size, you could use shapes, and sheen instead of colors.
To add a custom category to a product, open it and change Size to whatever you want to use:
To change the color variation to something else, click the Variations tab and change it like so:
Adding a Product Cover Image
Once you've added your products in Uphance, the next important step is to add a cover image. Kindly refer to this article to learn how to go about it.
Description
Scroll down to the Description section where you can enter descriptions for your eCommerce, Showroom and Line sheets for your product.
If you are pressed for time, you can use Uphance's AI product description generator. To use it, simply click the Auto Write button like so:
Don't forget to save your work when you have entered this information by clicking on Save blue button in the top right corner.
Sales
Scroll down to the Sales section to see all the sales generated by a product, who bought them, the order number, etc. For more information on the "shore more" feature, please see our Sales Order Current State Status Report Knowledge Article.
Related Products
Directly below the eCommerce/Showroom section on your Product>Details tab, you will see a section for "Related Products". The "Related Products" works similarly to "Favorites" on Contacts>Customers. You can add or remove products in both places. These products will be displayed for your customer to entice their interest while they are browsing this particular product. For example, if your product is a blue shirt, you may have other blue shirts you want to display as "related products". Or, perhaps there are boots, scarves, purses or other accessories that would complement that product.
NOTE: For your eCommerce/Showroom, the "favourite" products will appear for your customers as well if the products are in a Season that is not marked "hidden" and is marked to "Show in Showroom" under Settings>Season.
Activity
Scroll down to the Activity section to see what activity has occurred related to this product.
How to Locate An Existing Product
If you have already created or uploaded a product to Uphance, you may want to find it again to make edits, modify inventory levels, update SKUs, link it to your Shopify store, update variants or swatch images.
Locating an existing product is as easy as 1, 2, 3! You can search for it by season, manufacturer, category or even tags!
To locate an existing product, navigate to Product Information >> Products. On this page, search for the product by inputting the name. Alternatively, use the filters to locate it as demonstrated below:
Managing Product Prices
The easiest way to manage your product prices is via channels and currencies. To do so, open the product you want to adjust prices for, click the Variations tab and enter selling prices based on channels.
It's important that you understand how channels and currencies work before using this method, so be sure to check out that help guide.
Managing/Updating Product Prices via Spreadsheets
Another way to manage product prices is to use a spreadsheet. To do so, open the products, add a filter (optional), and then download the products as an Excel. Edit the file by inputting your product prices in the right column (be sure not to delete any column). Finally, save the edited file and reupload it, and like that, your product prices will be updated.
How to Delete/Retire a Product
You can always delete or retire a product at any moment you deem fit. So how does deleting differ from retiring?
When you delete a product, every trace of it will be completely wiped off the system, and the only way to add it back again is to recreate or upload it from an Excel/CSV sheet.
On the other hand, when you retire a product, it will still be available in the system, just that you can't create a sales order out of it anymore. But you can always reactivate it at any time and start creating sales orders with it.
Note: You can't delete a product that has already been added to a sales order. The best you can do is to retire it.
To delete or retire a product, navigate to Product Information >> Products. Select the product you have in mind and delete/retire as demonstrated below:
How to Assign (And Change) a Manufacturer to a Product
When you add products to Uphance, you can set the manufacturer you wish to contract with the production. You can do so on a per variation basis, meaning even though it's the same SKU, you can assign different variations of the product to different manufacturers.
To assign a manufacturer, open the product, click the Production tab, select a vendor and save:
Note that for this to work, first, you need to add the manufacturer as a vendor. Also, you can follow the same procedure to change the manufacturer.
Adding a Note to a Product
If a product is still in development, you can add notes and tag members of your team for collaborative purposes.
How to Assign Country of Origin to a Product
When shipping a product, you may want to assign a country of origin to it. To do so, open the product, click the Variations tab and assign the country as shown below:
How to Import Products Via a Spreadsheet
Looking to import products using a spreadsheet? Check out this help guide to learn how to do so.
How to Upload Product Images in Bulk
Would you like to upload product images in bulk rather than doing so one at a time? You can!
However, before uploading, you need to ensure the images are properly named to make it easy for the system to identify the products they belong to. The acceptable format for naming your images is shown below:
ProductIdentifier_Color_ImageName
OR
ProductIdentifier_VariationCode_ImageName
e.g: 123456_code_dress.png
After naming your products appropriately, put them all in a folder, then navigate to Products >> Actions >> Bulk upload images. Select the folder and upload: