How Catalog can help your business
Catalog simplifies the hassle of managing your catalog by centralizing all of your product information in one place. With all of your product details in Catalog, you can accurately and effortlessly utilize your product details to simplify your cross-border shipping logistics. Catalog allows you to ensure that all your product details are accurately accounted for when generating a landed cost quote, helping you correctly assess duties and taxes and ensure a smooth international customs experience for your customers.
One of the key benefits of Catalog is that it can help you overcome limitations from other ecommerce platforms. For example, platforms like Shopify may not provide product dimensions, while BigCommerce may not include HS code or country of origin functionality. With Catalog, you can ensure that all necessary product fields and functionality are accessible and utilized, avoiding any limitations from your platform's catalog.
You don't need to fill out all product fields in Catalog, just those missing from your ecommerce platform. Catalog can supplement any product information, even if you only want to use a single field. For example, suppose you want to use Catalog for country-specific HS codes because your ecommerce platform only supports universal HS codes. In that case, you can utilize Catalog's country-specific HS code(s) and the SKU or Product ID to reference and override your existing product information.
Catalog manages the following product information:
- Product identifiers: SKU and product ID
- Product details: Name, description, image URL, country of origin, price, currency, brand, and material
- Classification details: Universal Harmonized System (HS) codes and country-specific HS codes
- Weight and dimensions: Weight, length, width, height, and digital goods
- Restricted countries: Select all or specific countries you’d like to restrict your product(s) to
Learn more about Catalog product fields.
Once you have all of your desired product details in Catalog by creating or importing your products, you can utilize that respective product information in a myriad of ways, including the following:
- Storing and overriding product details, most commonly—weight, product dimensions, HS codes, and country of origin
- Universal units of measure capabilities
- Applying bulk restrictions globally or to specified countries
Item key preference
Zonos Catalog offers the flexibility to use either a SKU or a product ID to create, identify, and reference your products, depending on your preference. Before creating any catalog items, it is recommended that you ensure your item key is set to your preference. By default, SKU is set as the item key.
Once a product is created using your item key, the item key cannot be edited, as it serves as the identifier used by you and Zonos to reference your products. If you need to change your item key, you must delete all products from your catalog, change your item key by following the steps below, and then re-upload or re-create your products using the new item key.
To view or change your item key preference:
- Go to Dashboard --> Settings --> Catalog.
- Set your item key preference.
- Click Save.
Note: For Shopify users subscribed to inclusive pricing, the product ID is the required item key preference because Zonos uses it to sync your Shopify and Zonos catalogs.
Catalog product fields
The only field required to create a Catalog item is a SKU or product ID depending on your item key preference. See a breakdown of each product field below:
Product details
Field | Description |
---|---|
SKU | The code that identifies the product within your business. |
Product ID | The product identifier, commonly the ID from your ecommerce platform. |
Name | The name of your product. |
Description | The full description of your product. |
Customs description | Concise product description for the commercial invoice. |
Image URL | The image URL for the product. |
Country of origin | The country the product was manufactured in. |
Price and currency | The price you're charging for the product and its currency. Catalog supports up to 3 price decimals. E.g., 104.999 |
Brand | The product's brand. |
Material | The main material or composition of your product. |
Product type | Determines the nature of the product. Catalog supports the following product types: physical good (default), digital good (excludes items from the landed cost calculation), subscription, service, bundle item, and partial item. |
Packing preference | Whether your product ships alone or can be consolidated with other products (most common). |
Weight | The product's unit of measure and weight. Catalog supports the following weight units: Ounces, pounds, grams, and kilograms. A weight unit of measure is required when adding or editing a weight value. Catalog supports up to two weight decimals. E.g., 9.55 |
Dimensions | The product's unit of measure and dimensions. Catalog supports the following dimensional units: Inches, feet, yards, millimeters, centimeters, and meters. A dimensional unit is required when adding or editing dimensional values. Catalog supports up to two dimensional decimals. E.g., 8.02 |
HS codes | The product's universal and country-specific Harmonized System (HS) tariff code(s). |
Restricted countries | Restrict your product from being shipped to certain countries by specifying the countries where shipping is restricted. By utilizing this feature, you can prevent shoppers from purchasing certain products if their shipping address belongs to any of the restricted countries you have defined. |
Catalog
Manage your product catalog for international selling.Simplify global catalog management with Zonos Catalog's intuitive Dashboard. Consolidate product details often missed by ecommerce platforms but needed for the most accurate landed cost calculations, international shipping labels, and customs compliance.
You can create, import, and modify products directly in Dashboard or through the Catalog API.