Try it on a real price list, free
Install the plugin, or upload two pages of any supplier file in the browser first and see the table before deciding anything. Plans are on the pricing page; questions, email contact@microcitylabs.com.
WooCommerce import products from a supplier price list
WooCommerce imports products from a CSV file with its own built-in importer. A supplier price list is rarely that file: it comes as a PDF, a messy spreadsheet or a photo of a printed page. There are two routes. Build the CSV yourself, or let a free plugin read the supplier file and create the products as drafts you check first.
Route 1: the built-in CSV importer
- Where: Products › All Products, then Import, beside Add new product. The file must be a UTF-8 CSV.
- Columns: WooCommerce maps the ones it knows by itself: Type, SKU, Name, Published, Regular price, Sale price, Categories, Tags, Images. Categories are separated by commas, with “>” for a sub-category. Any other column is skipped unless you map it.
- Sizes and colours: the parent row has Type “variable” and lists every value (S, M), and each variation row has Type “variation”, its own SKU and its one value.
- Next month's list: tick “Update existing products”. Rows that match an existing product by ID or SKU are updated. Rows for products that do not exist are skipped. Keep the supplier part number as the SKU and it stays the same every month.
- A starting file: WooCommerce publishes a sample product CSV on GitHub. Replace its example values and keep its column names.
Why the supplier file breaks route 1
A real price list is 40 to 100 pages of section banners, one description shared by five sizes, part numbers in one column and prices three columns away. Copying that into the CSV takes days, and one shifted row puts the wrong price on the wrong SKU. You find out after the import.
Route 2: the supplier file straight into draft products
The free plugin Anything to Database Supplier Import for WooCommerce works inside wp-admin. It sends the supplier file (PDF, Excel, CSV, scan or photo) to the MicroCity engine, which reads it into a table. From one real supplier PDF the engine read 89 products with codes, categories and prices.
- Install the plugin from WordPress.org (WooCommerce must be active).
- Create a free account at microcitylabs.com and paste its API key in WooCommerce › Anything to Database.
- Upload the supplier file and check the table: confirm which column is the name, SKU, price, description, brand and category.
- Create the products. They arrive as drafts, and nothing is published without you.
- Sizes, lengths or colours of one product become one variable product with its variations.
- Categories and brands: an existing category with the same name is used, otherwise it is created. The brand is saved as a WooCommerce brand (WooCommerce 9.6 or newer), otherwise as a visible Brand attribute.
- Your keys stay home: the products are created on your site through WooCommerce itself, so your WooCommerce keys never leave it.
Honest limit: the plugin does not set stock quantities (you set them when you review the drafts) and does not keep prices in sync with the supplier afterwards. Next month's price list is a new upload.