What Happens When You Import a Supplier Spreadsheet Into Furniture Connect
What Furniture Connect does with a supplier's XLSX or CSV, in order: preview, mapping, the questions it asks, what it reports back, and why new products arrive as drafts.
You have a supplier's price list. It has two title rows above the real header, a "color" column that mixes codes and names, widths in millimeters with "mm" typed into some cells, and a depth missing on row 10. You want to know what happens if you send that file to Furniture Connect exactly as it is, before you spend an afternoon tidying it.
Here is the sequence, in the order it happens, and what you are asked to do at each step.
1. The file is previewed, not swallowed
An XLSX or CSV import starts with a preview: the sheets in the workbook, the headers it found, and a sample of rows. This is where the stacked title rows get handled. A price list that opens with "EXAMPLE FURNITURE LTD, TRADE PRICE LIST, AW26" on row 1 and "Prices valid until 31/03/27, all dims in mm unless stated" on row 2 is normal: supplier templates with title rows above the headers are recognized automatically [1].
If the layout is one Furniture Connect already recognizes, such as a standard Shopify or WooCommerce product export, manual mapping may not be needed; you still review the detected mapping and settings. Recognizing a WooCommerce export is not the same as having a WooCommerce connector [1].
2. Columns are mapped, and you review the mapping
The assistant previews the file and suggests where each column should go: "Prod Code" to SKU, "DESCRIPTION" to the product name, "W", "d" and "ht" to width, depth and height. Those are proposals. You check them and correct any that are wrong before anything imports [1][2].
This matters for the columns that look alike. "Trade" and "RRP (inc VAT)" both look like prices. A "color" column holding "Lilac" on one row and "LIL" on the next is one attribute with two vocabularies. The mapping step is where you decide what each column is, and the decision is yours.
3. It asks about units and prices instead of assuming
Where something is unclear, the assistant asks: whether dimensions are in centimeters or inches, how colorways are grouped, which of two price columns is which [1]. A width column containing "920" on one row and "920mm" on the next is the kind of ambiguity it should raise rather than silently convert. File-wide questions can often be settled once; a mixed column can still need a row-level answer.
That is the behavior to look for in any import tool. The dangerous version of this step is the one that doesn't ask.
4. The file imports, and you get a report
Once mapping is confirmed, the rows import, with a progress bar above the product table, and the assistant reports how many products were added and how many updated [1]. Check anything it flags before moving on.
Use stable SKUs to identify updates. SKU matching is recommended, and product names can also match; confirm the assistant's proposed matches rather than assuming every row will resolve correctly, especially if names or codes have changed [3]. For a price-only refresh, include SKU and only the intended price columns, then confirm the mapping. Columns omitted from the file stay unchanged [3]. Verify the results on a small sample, especially for variant SKUs.
Accessible image URLs can be copied into Furniture Connect's own storage, keeping the imported images available even if the supplier's links change. Image links must be full HTTPS links that open without a login; check any failed downloads [5].
5. New products arrive as drafts
Everything new lands as a draft, ready for Autofill, Studio and your sales channels [1]. Importing new draft products is not a storefront-publishing action. Updates to existing products are different: where content sync is connected, changes to synced fields may reach existing listings, so review that scope before re-importing. Your team reviews the drafts, fills what the file didn't carry, and decides what goes where and when.
For a buyer evaluating the tool, this is the important distinction: the import gets the range into a reviewable state. It does not publish it.
6. Next time, the mapping can be reused
After the first import from a supplier, the assistant offers to remember that supplier's mapping. If you save it, a later file with the same layout can reuse that mapping [1]. A changed layout, mixed units or a new ambiguity can still need review.
What about PDFs, pasted text and supplier websites?
The same import accepts PDFs and product photos, and a website address can be pasted in instead of a file [1]. With those sources the assistant has to read and extract the products rather than map columns, so expect more questions and check the result more carefully than you would a spreadsheet import.
On supplier websites the agent follows product and category pages and multi-page ranges. For trade portals behind a login, you sign in and hand control back. It won't bypass logins or CAPTCHAs, enter your credentials for you, or accept a supplier's terms on your behalf [1].
Variants, and what the import does not do
For a range with variants, the assistant asks how the rows should be grouped when the structure is unclear, then builds from the confirmed answer [1]. So "Open-Back Dining Chair, Oatmeal" and "Open-Back Dining Chair, Cobalt" can come in as one parent with two variants rather than two products. How that works, and where it needs your judgment, is covered in how one supplier file becomes products and variants.
Import is not a license to invent missing facts. The missing depth on row 10 stays blank until the supplier confirms it. Autofill can draft supported copy from the facts you have; it should not manufacture that depth. Its controls are covered in how Autofill fills the gaps in a new range.
This is step one of the whole journey set out in getting a new furniture range online.
Try it on the file in your inbox
The quickest way to judge this is with your own worst supplier file, not a tidy sample. New Starter and Growth subscriptions include 30 days of unlimited product imports. See the pricing page for current subscription prices, currency and billing options. After the first 30 days, the plan's product limit applies to new additions; products already imported remain accessible, while credits, materials, seats and channels follow the plan throughout [4]. Import the file as it came, read the report and inspect the drafts before deciding what happens next.
