Introduction

This guide provides an overview of how the product importer in TRAEDE works. The importer allows you to create and update multiple products and their variants in bulk using an Excel file.
This introduction explains the overall concept before diving into the column-by-column guides in later articles.

How products and variants are structured in TRAEDE

In TRAEDE, one product typically contains multiple variants.
For example, a dress may come in several colors and sizes, but all variants belong to the same base product.

Item number

• Each base product has a unique item number (also called item no.).

• This number identifies the product as a whole.

• All variants of that product share the same item number.

Variants

Variants differ by attributes such as color, size, or other custom attributes.
Each variant has its own SKU, which is unique per row.

How the importer spreadsheet works

When you download the product importer template, you will see many rows and columns.
Each row represents a single variant, and multiple rows can share the same item number to form a complete product.

Example structure:

Example product 1 — My Cool T-shirt

• Item number: 1000

• Product name: My Cool T-shirt

• Variants:

  • 5 colorways of White × multiple sizes

  • 5 colorways of Black × multiple sizes

• Every row has:

  • Item number = 1000

  • Unique SKU per row

  • Color + size values filled in

  • Same product name across all rows

Example product 2 — Tapered Jeans

• Item number: 2000

• Product name: Tapered Jeans

• Variants:

  • Black variants

  • White variants

• Each row uses item number 2000

• Each row has a unique SKU

• Color and size define the variation

How groups of rows form a product

The importer reads the sheet like this:

• All rows with the same item number are grouped together to form one product

• The SKU, Color, and Size columns define the individual variants

• The Product name is shared across all variants

This mirrors the structure shown on the product page inside TRAEDE.

Flexibility in column order

The importer supports many different fields—more than shown in the examples above.
Important notes:

• You can include as many or as few optional columns as needed

• Column order does not matter

• TRAEDE will help you map your columns during import

• You can customize the importer to match the structure your team is used to working with

Summary

The product importer allows you to:

• Create new products with multiple variants at once

• Update existing products in bulk

• Work efficiently using Excel

• Maintain clear structure using item numbers, SKUs, colors, and sizes

In the next guides, we will go through each column type in detail so you know exactly how to fill out every field correctly.