Bulk Importing Products via CSV
How to upload your entire product catalogue to AskBiz POS using a CSV file — preparing the template, mapping columns, handling errors, and verifying the import.
Key Takeaways
- Bulk import is the fastest way to load an existing catalogue — entering 500 products one by one would take hours; a CSV upload takes minutes.
- Download AskBiz's CSV template first — don't create your own structure or the import will fail.
- Required columns are Name and Price; all others are optional but recommended for a complete setup.
When bulk import makes sense
If you're setting up AskBiz for the first time and already have your products in another system — a spreadsheet, an old POS, an accountancy package — bulk CSV import is far faster than adding products one by one. It's also useful for loading seasonal catalogue additions (e.g. 50 new Christmas products), updating prices across many items at once, or migrating from a competitor POS. For ongoing single-product additions, the manual form is usually quicker than creating a CSV.
Downloading the CSV template
Go to POS > Operations > Retail > Products and click Import > Download Template. This gives you an AskBiz-formatted CSV with the exact column headers the system expects. The key columns are: Name (required), Category, SKU, Barcode, Cost Price, Selling Price, VAT Rate, Minimum Stock, Current Stock, Unit, and Supplier. Do not rename or reorder the columns — AskBiz maps data by column header, not by position.
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Start for free →Filling in the template
Open the CSV in Excel or Google Sheets. Add one product per row. For columns with specific allowed values (like VAT Rate: 'Standard', 'Reduced', or 'Zero'), use exactly those terms — not '20%' or 'VAT'. For Category, use the exact name of an existing category in your AskBiz account. If you enter a category name that doesn't exist, AskBiz creates it automatically — useful, but leads to duplicate categories if you're inconsistent with capitalisation or spacing. Set Current Stock to your opening inventory count. Leave Barcode blank for products without one.
Uploading and reviewing
Click Import > Upload CSV and select your file. AskBiz validates the file before importing. The validation screen shows: total rows found, rows with errors (highlighted red with the error description), and rows that will be skipped (duplicates by SKU). Common errors include: missing required fields, invalid VAT rate values, and SKUs that already exist in the catalogue. Fix errors in your spreadsheet and re-upload — you can re-upload as many times as needed before confirming the import.
Confirming and verifying the import
Once validation passes with zero errors (or with acceptable skipped rows), click Confirm Import. AskBiz processes each row and adds the products to your catalogue. After completion, a summary shows how many products were added and how many were skipped. Browse to Operations > Retail > Products and spot-check 5–10 random products to confirm prices, categories, and stock quantities imported correctly. Test 2–3 barcodes at the till to confirm scanning works. If anything is wrong, you can edit individual products or reimport with corrections — reimporting with the same SKU updates the existing product rather than creating a duplicate.