Catalog Setup
How your product catalog is built during onboarding — and how products are matched when you connect additional channels.
How it works
When you connect a channel, Carpe Inventory IQ fetches your product catalog, analyzes it for matches, and suggests a primary SKU Code for each product. You review the suggestions, confirm or correct them, and your catalog is ready.
Connect a channel
Add Amazon, Walmart, or Shopify from the Channels page. The system immediately begins importing your product listings.
System analyzes your catalog
Products are compared using UPC barcodes, Manufacturer Part Numbers (MPN), and channel SKU codes. Each product gets a confidence score based on how much matching data is available.
Review and confirm
A review table shows every product with a suggested SKU Code. High-confidence items can be accepted in one click. Medium- and low-confidence items need your attention.
Catalog is live
Once confirmed, your products appear in the SKU Registry with all channel aliases linked. Inventory tracking begins immediately.
The system does the heavy lifting. For most catalogs, the majority of products are high confidence and can be accepted without changes. You only need to spend time on the exceptions.
The review step
After your catalog is imported, a review table shows every product with the following columns: product title, channel SKU codes, MPN, UPC, and a “Your SKU Code” column with the system’s suggestion. Each row is color-coded by confidence level.
High confidence(green)
All channels agree on the SKU Code, or the MPN matches your brand’s known part numbers. These are auto-suggested and can be accepted in one click. For example, if your Amazon Seller SKU is “WIDGET-100” and your Shopify SKU is also “WIDGET-100,” the system confidently suggests “WIDGET-100” as your primary SKU Code.
Medium confidence(amber)
An MPN exists but differs from the channel SKU Code, or a UPC groups products together but the SKU codes across channels don’t agree. The system suggests a code, but you should review it. For example, the MPN might be “PART-A1” while the Amazon Seller SKU is “PART-A1-FBA” — the system suggests “PART-A1” but needs you to confirm.
Low confidence(red)
No matching signals are available — no shared MPN, UPC, or overlapping SKU codes. You need to enter the correct SKU Code manually. This typically happens with products that are only listed on one channel or that use completely different identifiers everywhere.
Accepting and editing suggestions
You have several ways to work through the review table, depending on your catalog size and how much you trust the suggestions.
Accept All (high confidence)
One click to accept every high-confidence suggestion at once. This handles the bulk of most catalogs. Medium- and low-confidence items remain in the table for individual review.
Inline editing
Click any SKU Code field in the table to type a different value. Changes are saved as you go. Use this for medium-confidence items where the suggestion is close but not quite right.
Use MPN for All
If you’re a brand owner and your internal SKU codes match your Manufacturer Part Numbers, click “Use MPN for All” to populate every SKU Code with the MPN value. Review the results and fix any exceptions.
Skip items you don’t want. If a product shouldn’t be in your catalog (test listings, discontinued items, etc.), skip it. Skipped items stay in staging and won’t be added to your SKU Registry.
CSV round-trip
For merchants with large catalogs or who prefer working in a spreadsheet, the CSV round-trip lets you handle the entire review step offline.
How it works
- 1Click “Export CSV” on the review page to download a spreadsheet with all your products.
- 2The CSV includes product title, channel SKU codes, MPN, UPC, and a your_sku_code column. High-confidence items are pre-filled.
- 3Fill in the your_sku_code column for any items that are blank or need correction. Leave rows empty to skip those products.
- 4Upload the completed CSV back to the review page. Carpe Inventory IQ matches each row and applies your SKU codes.
Tip: If you have hundreds of products, the CSV approach is usually faster than editing inline. Use filters and find-and-replace in your spreadsheet app to fill in SKU codes in bulk.
Product identity fields
After you confirm your catalog, each SKU in the registry shows three identity fields on its detail page. These are populated automatically from your channel’s catalog data when available.
MPNManufacturer Part Number. The part number assigned by the product’s manufacturer. Useful for reordering from suppliers and cross-referencing across channels.
BrandThe brand name associated with the product in the channel’s catalog. Helps distinguish products when you carry multiple brands.
UPCUniversal Product Code (barcode). The primary signal for automatically matching products across channels. If two products share a UPC, they’re the same item.
You can edit MPN, Brand, and UPC manually from the SKU edit form at any time.
Connecting a second channel
When you add another channel after your initial setup, the process is even faster. The system already has your catalog and uses it to auto-match incoming products.
- 1Connect the new channel from the Channels page.
- 2The system imports the channel’s catalog and compares each product’s UPC against your existing SKU Registry.
- 3Products with matching UPCs are linked automatically — no manual work needed.
- 4Only unmatched products (those without a UPC match) appear in the review table for you to handle.
Why UPC matters. UPC barcodes are universal product identifiers. If your products have UPCs in both your existing catalog and the new channel, matching is automatic. Products without UPCs fall back to the manual review step.
Frequently asked questions
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