How to import a supplier’s products into WooCommerce
WooCommerce’s built-in importer takes a CSV in its own format. Getting a supplier’s price list into that format means choosing costs, pricing, grouping variations and preparing images. Here is the full route.
1. Get the best source file
Ask the supplier for a spreadsheet with one row per sellable item, item codes, barcodes, wholesale prices with currency and tax status, options such as color and size in separate columns, and image links. A text-based PDF works too; a scanned one needs OCR first. Working with PDF price lists.
2. Price the products
Pick the unit cost column (not the recommended retail price), convert currency at the rate you expect to pay, and apply your markup: selling price = cost × rate × (1 + markup). WooCommerce expects plain numbers with a decimal point, for example 24.90. Markup vs margin explained.
3. Decide simple vs variable
A product sold in one version is a simple product. A product sold in several colors or sizes is a variable product: one parent row plus one variation row per combination, linked by the parent’s SKU. How variable products are laid out.
4. Prepare images
The importer downloads images from URLs in the Images column into your Media Library (the first URL becomes the featured image). Links must be public and must not redirect; some cloud-storage share links fail for that reason. Alternatively, upload photos to the Media Library first and reference them.
5. Build the CSV
Start from the free WooCommerce template, which uses the column names the importer maps automatically. Set Published to -1 so products arrive as drafts. Barcodes go in GTIN, UPC, EAN, or ISBN (WooCommerce 9.2 or later) and must be unique. Save as UTF-8.
6. Run the importer
- Go to Products → All Products → Import.
- Choose the file and leave Update existing products unchecked for new products.
- On Column mapping, confirm each column. Map the GTIN column by hand if your version leaves it on “Do not import”.
- Click Run the importer and wait until it finishes.
- Review a few products and their variations, then publish.
Large catalogs import more reliably in several smaller files. If the upload is blocked with “Sorry, this file type is not permitted for security reasons”, your site restricts CSV uploads.
Skip the manual reshaping
Sheet2Store takes the supplier PDF, XLSX or CSV, lets you map columns and set currency, markup and .99 rounding, flags duplicates and missing values, and exports a WooCommerce CSV with variable parents and variations in the right order, as drafts. The same catalog can also be exported for Shopify. Preview five rows free; $19 per catalog.
Frequently asked questions
Does WooCommerce import Excel files?
The built-in importer takes CSV files. Save your spreadsheet as CSV UTF-8 first.
What happens to products whose SKU already exists?
With “Update existing products” unchecked, rows whose SKU already exists in your store are skipped.
Can I import categories at the same time?
Yes. Use the Categories column with commas between categories and “>” for sub-categories, such as “Home > Cushions”.
Do I need a plugin?
No. The Product CSV Importer is part of WooCommerce. Plugins add features like scheduled imports or custom field mapping.
Convert a supplier file to a WooCommerce CSV
Upload a supplier PDF, Excel or CSV price list and download a CSV for WooCommerce’s built-in product importer, with variable products, variations and your selling prices. Preview five rows free.