Introduction
Managing a large product catalog can quickly become a chore, especially if the products vary in size, frame or format. Effective product catalog management is essential for artists, photographers, and print-on-demand sellers who want to keep their stores organized while reducing manual work.
Lumaprints offers Bulk Mapping to make it easier for artists, photographers and print-on-demand sellers to streamline their workflow with bulk product upload. With it, you can map multiple products and variations at once using Excel or Google Sheets for faster bulk order processing. In this guide, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know, from preparing your catalog to successfully importing your products.
Why Bulk Mapping Matters
Bulk Mapping makes it easy to link your store’s SKUs, sizes, frames and variants directly to Lumaprints’ system. Rather than mapping each product separately, you can upload one spreadsheet that maps your entire catalog at once, which makes managing your product catalog more efficient and faster.
This tool is ideal for:
- Artists with big product catalogs
- Sellers with multiple variants or frame types
- Businesses wanting to make bulk product uploads easier
- Anyone wanting to save time on setup and syncing
Requirements Before Bulk Mapping
Make sure you’ve done these three things before you start:
This establishes the connection between your online store and Lumaprints.
- Sync your store.
You can do this on the initial link or when you make major product changes such as adding new sizes or variants.
- Upload high-resolution images to the Lumaprints Library.
The file names of these images will be used later for mapping in your spreadsheet.
When your products and image files are in sync, you’re ready to begin the bulk mapping process.
Step-by-Step Walkthrough: How to Use Bulk Mapping
Once you have your store connected, your products synced, and your artwork uploaded, you are ready to begin using Bulk Mapping. Simplify your product catalog management by mapping multiple products at once by following the steps below.
Log in and Export Your Products
Sign into your Lumaprints account. In your dashboard, click Manage Product next to your store and select Bulk Mapping.
Click Export Products to create a spreadsheet of your current listings. Choose an email address to email the file to, download the file and open the file in Excel or Google Sheets.
Update Your Spreadsheet
Work only from Column T onward. Anything before that does not need to be edited.
Under Product Handling, select from three options:
- Update – Applies the new mapped item to your store.
- Ignore – Disconnects the product from syncing with Lumaprints.
- Custom – Makes the product a manual order, bypassing automatic processing.
Then add the required information for each product:
- Enter the names of your images exactly as they are in your Lumaprints Image Library including the file extension (.jpg, .png, etc.). If you’ve renamed files after uploading, use the original filename when first uploaded.
- Select the correct Lumaprints product type (sub category).
Tip: If you have multiple products with similar options, map one product first and then copy and paste the same naming structure to similar products for faster setup and greater consistency.
Enter Width and Length. The order does not matter. Lumaprints automatically correct the orientation.
Tip: Make sure the aspect ratio of your image file matches the selected print size. A mismatch up to 1% is allowed, but larger mismatches will result in mapping errors.
Include any options for the product such as frame type or border style. For canvas prints, we recommend using Mirror Wrap or Solid-Border Wrap instead of Image Wrap to help reduce problems with the aspect ratio.
Import and Review Your Bulk Mapping File
Save the spreadsheet as a .xlsx file when you have finished editing.
Return to the Bulk Mapping page and select Import Products in the upper-right corner to begin the bulk product upload process .
Processing can take a few minutes for larger catalogs.
When the upload is complete the status will indicate either Completed or Completed with Errors. If any errors occur, download the error report to see which rows are affected. Make the necessary corrections and import the updated file again. Most mapping errors are due to an incorrect image filename, aspect ratio mismatch or invalid product options so make sure you double check these fields before reimporting your spreadsheet.
Tips and Tricks for Easier Mapping
- Use Excel or Google Sheets filters to group similar products and update them more efficiently.
- Include sizes in your image filenames (e.g., artwork_18x24.jpg) to easily match artwork to the correct print size
- Speed up your setup and maintain consistency in your catalog by copying mapped values between similar products.
Get Better Control Over Your Product catalog
So whether you have dozens or thousands of products, Bulk Mapping can help ease the burden of product catalog management by cutting down on repetitive work and making it easier to update your catalog at scale. You don’t have to map your products one by one. Instead, you can upload one spreadsheet to keep your store organized and ready to fulfill.
Why use Lumaprints Bulk Mapping?
- Upload and map multiple products at once
- Save time by reducing manual product setup
- Easily manage product variants, sizes, and options
- Support growing print-on-demand businesses with a scalable workflow
- Compatible with Excel and Google Sheets
Prefer a visual walkthrough? Watch our Bulk Mapping tutorial and explore past webinars
Frequently Asked Questions
What is product catalog management and how does Bulk Mapping help?
Product catalog management is the activity of creating, maintaining and updating product information, such as SKUs, images, dimensions, and product variants. Maintaining an accurate catalog helps to improve the customer experience and enables effective order fulfillment. With Lumaprints’ Bulk Mapping you can easily manage your product catalog by updating multiple products at the same time with a spreadsheet in Excel or Google Sheets. This will save you time and reduce the need for manual work.
How does bulk product upload work in Lumaprints?
Bulk product upload lets you create or update many products at once, using a spreadsheet instead of editing/mapping each listing individually. You export your product catalog and then you can edit details like dimensions, product variants and product options before importing the updated file back into Lumaprints. This optimized workflow increases accuracy and makes it much more efficient to manage large product catalogs.
What should I prepare before performing a bulk product upload?
Before you upload bulk product data, ensure your online store is connected to Lumaprints and products are fully synced. Upload all required artwork to the Lumaprints Image Library. Confirm your spreadsheet has the correct SKUs, image filenames, dimensions, product options, and other required information. Reviewing your data ahead of time helps you avoid import errors and makes for a smoother mapping process.
What are the benefits of using bulk product upload for product catalog management?
Bulk product upload is one of the best ways to manage large or frequently updated product catalogs. Instead of changing products one by one, you can change hundreds or thousands of listings in one import. This saves time, reduces manual errors, improves consistency and makes it easier to manage product variants as your business grows.
How can I avoid errors during a bulk product upload?
Make sure your image filenames, product dimensions, aspect ratios, product options, and other required fields match your existing catalog before importing the spreadsheet, to prevent errors when uploading bulk products. If your upload shows the status Completed with Errors, download the error report, fix the rows with errors, and import the updated file again. Following these best practices will help you ensure a successful upload and keep your product catalog accurate. Most of the major issues are caused by wrong image filenames, aspect ratio mismatch or wrong product options.
Conclusion
You don’t need to spend all of your time managing a growing product catalog. With Lumaprints Bulk Mapping, you can upload, map and update multiple products all at once, allowing you to save time, decrease manual errors and keep your catalog organized as your business grows.
Bulk Mapping is a more efficient way to manage large inventories for artists, photographers and print-on-demand sellers, so you can spend less time on repetitive tasks and more time growing your business.
Ready to make your product catalog management easier? Try Bulk Mapping by signing into your Lumaprints account or check out our video tutorial for a complete step-by-step guide.
