Technical Specifications

Silver Program – Getting Your Catalog Loaded

UniformMarket follows a proven methodology to gather your information and data.  Currently we maintain over 1,000,000 products and images and are experts in helping you get your product data ready for your retailers.

At any time you have access to Product Advocates within UniformMarket to assist in data preparation and image manipulation.
Materials vendors should provide UniformMarket to assist in loading products to the UMPL include:

• Excel Spreadsheets
• Product images
• DVD or FTP access
• Price lists
• Printed catalogs
• PDFs of catalogs

Vendor Data Import Overview & Instructions – Click Here
Product Import Spreadsheet Template – Click Here
UMPL Image Conventions Management - Click Here

Gold Program – Adding Inventory Status

The purpose of the Vendor Gold Alliance Program is for you to provide a timely update (“near-time) to UniformMarket of the current stocking levels of the products available for sale or, indeed, if any of those products have been discontinued.  If products are temporarily out of stock, any additional information, such as expected restocking dates, would also be useful.

• The technical aspects are divided into three sections:
• Transport: how the information can be transmitted from you to the retailer.
• Content: exactly what information is being sent and what portion, if any, of the information is optional.
• Format: how the information is organized and presented.

Download Technical Specification for “near-time” Inventory Status Feeds – Click Here

Platinum Program – Adding Drop Ship Capability

There are several important goals associated with the Vendor “Platinum Alliance Program”.  These also define the five data streams or communication events required:

• The retailer must provide all necessary order information to you so that you can fulfill the customer’s order on behalf of the retailer.
• You must provide the retailer, and the customer indirectly through the retailer, confirmation that the drop ship request was received.
• Likewise, you must notify the retailer when all or part of the order was shipped along with tracking information.
• Also, you need to provide a timely update to the retailer of the current stocking levels of the products available for sale or, indeed, if any of those products have been discontinued.  If products are temporarily out of stock, any additional information, such as expected restocking dates, would also be useful.
• Finally, you need to provide the retailer with a method to properly compute the shipping charges associated with a drop ship request.  This can be a fixed amount, a rule, or even a web service that accepts a weight, method, and postal code and returns an amount.

The technical aspects are divided into three sections:

• Transport: how the information can be transmitted between the retailer and you.
• Content: exactly what is contained in the five data streams and what portion, if any, of the information is optional.
• Format: how the information is organized and presented.

Finally, this is based on the presumption that there is an official relationship between you and retailer covering all aspects of a drop ship program.  The purpose of the UniformMarket specifications is not to cover that relationship.  Instead, it covers the technical aspects of transferring specific drop ship orders to the vendor and receiving status about those orders and your inventory levels and shipping charges.

Also, the intent of these specifications is not to limit the information that the retailer can send you.  If there is additional information that is required when sending a drop ship request or providing status, then consider those fields covered by the “?” field designator that can be found in the definition of each data stream described.

Download Technical Specifications for Drop Ship – Click Here