SalonCentric: marketplace guide

About this guide

This is a ChannelEngine guide on the St. Petersburg-based marketplace SalonCentric. Here you can find information on how to request a SalonCentric account, how to configure this marketplace on ChannelEngine, what the specific requirements are, and more.

Table of contents

Commercial information

How to request an account

Associated costs

Marketplace features

Settings and configuration

Marketplace-specific requirements and exceptions

• Setup
• Categorization
• Mappings
• Pricing
• Listed products

FAQs

Commercial information

Founded	2007
Founder	Chris Hetherington
Headquarters	St. Petersburg, United States
Area served (orders)	United States
Revenue	USD 590 million (2023)
Number of monthly visits	circa 500,000
Website	SalonCentric
Setup cost	none
Commission	18%
Other costs	USD 39.00/month (lower for the first year)
Payment	1st and 15th of every month
Product categories	bags, beauty, cosmetics, electronics, food, furniture, healthcare, household appliances, interior design, luggage, perfumes, shoes
Input language	English
Input currency	USD
Content creation	yes
Minimum number of SKUs	no
Advertisement options	yes
Profile on ChannelEngine	SalonCentric

How to request an account

To start selling on SalonCentric, fill out the Become a Seller on SalonCentric form on their website. The following requirements apply:

• You must have a distribution center or 3PL in the US.

• You must be able to ship to all 48 continental states.

• You must be able to ship single products.

• You must have a dedicated team to manage orders and shipping.

• You must have a dedicated customer service team.

• Your products should have UPCs.

• You must have a US bank account.

Associated costs

SalonCentric does not charge a setup fee. However, there is a monthly fee of USD 39.00, which is waived during the first year of sales. In addition, SalonCentric charges a commission on products you sell at a rate of 18% across all categories.

Marketplace features

Supported	Not supported
Product content	Automatic relationships
Product offers	Bundles
EAN matching	Refurbished products
Cancelations (merchant)	Repricing
Returns (merchant)	Cancelations (marketplace)
Carrier mapping	Returns (marketplace)
Multiple stock locations	HTML formatting
Product variations (size/color)	Marketplace fulfillment service
	Sales channels*

* A marketplace that supports sales channels allows merchants to list and sell products across multiple markets (e.g.: countries, regions, and states), all from the same connection.

Settings and configuration

Setting up each marketplace on ChannelEngine follows the same flow, once you add the marketplace:

1. Go through the Setup.
2. Create a Product selection.
3. Complete the Categorization.
4. Set up the Mappings: content, offers, and carriers.
5. Configure the Pricing: rules and currency conversion.
6. Finish the Activation.
7. Check the Listed products overview.

Marketplace-specific requirements and exceptions

Setup

On ChannelEngine

SalonCentric is a Mirakl-based marketplace, so you can connect it with ChannelEngine using a Mirakl Connect SSO account. For more information on this, check out the Mirakl-based channels: SSO authorization article.

Invoice uploads

To configure your invoice settings, click Advanced settings. You can then click the dropdown menu Enable invoice uploading, which contains the following options:

• ChannelEngine invoices - when ChannelEngine receives a shipment, it automatically generates an invoice and attaches it to the shipment before exporting it.
• Merchant invoices (optional) - when ChannelEngine receives a shipment, it exports it – even if there is no invoice attached to it.
• Merchant invoices (required) - when ChannelEngine receives a shipment, it only exports it if an invoice is attached to it. If not, you receive a notification.
• None - when ChannelEngine receives a shipment, it takes no action other than notifying you that no invoice is present.

If you select one of the Merchant invoices options, make sure to enable the invoice upload to ChannelEngine via the Merchant API. For that, call the POST /v2/orders/{merchantOrderNo}/invoice endpoint. Note that only invoices in PDF are supported.

Invalid XML characters

To remove invalid XML characters from your product data, click Advanced settings and enable the Check and filter invalid XML characters setting. ChannelEngine checks product data submitted in the XML format for invalid characters (e.g.: Ã, ¢, â, etc.). Once identified, invalid characters are removed or converted to a valid equivalent.

Categorization

The categorization on SalonCentric is straightforward, and all categories are listed in English.

Mappings

Content

All products (required)

• PIM brand - brand name - the product's brand, which has to be approved by SalonCentric.
• Product description - the product's description. The maximum number of characters is 100,000. The requirements are:
  • No special characters.
  • No HTML formatting.
  • Plain text only.
  • Same for all product variants.
  NB: since no HTML formatting is supported by SalonCentric; to export multiple paragraphs, start each paragraph on a new line.
• Product main image URL - the product's main image. The requirements are:
  • Resolution - at least 331x500 px, at 72 dpi.
  • File size - 15 MB at most.
  • File format - PNG or JPG.
  • Background - white.
  • Color - web-safe RGB.
• Product name - the product's name. The maximum number of characters is 70. E.g.: Garden Trousers. The requirements are:
  • No special characters.
  • No reference to the product's brand.
  • Same for all product variants.
• Product small image URL - the product variants' thumbnails. The thumbnails are visible on the product's parent page, and showcase different color options. If the product does not have variants (i.e.: standalone), provide the URL to the product’s main image.
• UPC - the product's unique identifier.
• Vendor item # (shop SKU) - the product's SKU, which is usually the Merchant product number on ChannelEngine.

All products (optional)

• Collection - the product's collection. E.g.: winter.
• Option - the attribute that groups product variations, and is different from color or size. E.g.: storage capacity.
• PIM product line - the name of the product line, if applicable. A product line is a group of related products that are often purchased together.
• PIM sub-brand - the name of the product's sub-brand, if applicable. A brand may have multiple sub-brands.

• Product alternative image 1-4 URL - the product's additional images. For the requirements, see Product main image URL. If your product has color variations, it is recommended to include a shade chart as an additional image.
• Product video - the link to the product's video. Only YouTube links are supported.
• Shade - the product's color or shade, used in variations along with the Product small image URL.
• Specialty certification - the product's certification(s), which you can select from the dropdown. E.g.: Leaping Bunny certified.
• Sustainability - the product's sustainability label(s), which you can select from the dropdown. E.g.: organic, recycled.
• Variant group code - the unique code used to group variations. If the product has variations, provide a parent product code.
• Variant group name - the attribute used to group variations. It can have the same value as Variant group code.

Offer

Required

• Price - the product's price.

Optional

• Discount end date - the date until when the product's sale price is valid, if applicable. The date format is YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS ZZ. E.g.: 2022-12-31 23:59:59 +00.
• Discount price - the product's sale price, if applicable.
• Discount quantity threshold - the minimum quantity required for the discount rate to be available.
• Discount start date - the date from when the product's sale price is valid, if applicable. The date format is YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS ZZ. E.g.: 2022-12-31 23:59:59 +00.

The following offer attributes are common to some Mirakl-based marketplaces, particularly in France and Germany:

• ECO #1-5 - Amount - the amount due for the eco-contribution related to the product. E.g.: 2.50.
• ECO #1-5 - EPR category code - the extended producer responsibility (EPR) code that applies to the product. For a list of category codes, check out the article Providing data to comply with circular economy regulations in Mirakl's help center (note that you need to be logged in to Mirakl to access this page). E.g.: DE-WEEE, FR-DEA, etc. 
• ECO #1-5 - Producer ID - your producer ID, received upon registering with a packaging register, such as Germany's LUCID. The maximum number of characters is 255.

The following offer attributes are common to Mirakl-based marketplaces:

• Leadtime to shipment - the number of days before you ship the product. By default, this is set to two. You can create your own unique rules, if applicable. For more information on this, check out the article Lead time to ship in Mirakl's help center.
• Minimum quantity alert - map this attribute to receive a notification from Mirakl if your stock drops below the threshold defined.
• Offer state - the product's condition. Find your option from the dropdown menu by selecting the fixed value to apply to all.
• Product tax code - the taxation code applicable to the product.
• Logistic class - your optional shipping class. Make sure to map it using the marketplace’s codes, not the labels visible in the front-end. These codes vary per marketplace. If this marketplace makes uses of logistic class codes, they can be found below.

Code	Label	Description
INIT	Default logistic family	-
INIT	Specialty	This is the logistical class for specialty items.

Working with discounts

• To set up a discount, you must map the Discount price, Discount start date, and Discount end date attributes. If you want to set a permanent discount, map the Discount end date attribute with a date in the far future instead of leaving it unmapped. Otherwise the offer is not exported, and errors are shown on the Validation and feedback tab.
• If your discounted price is not lower than the base price, it is not exported.
• If you do not want to set a bulk discount, leave the Discount quantity threshold attribute unmapped – otherwise the export is broken.
• If you do want to set a bulk discount, the Discount quantity threshold must be set to a value higher than 1. E.g.: a value of 2 indicates that two or more of the product must be purchased at the same time for the buyer to benefit from the discount.

Carrier

Carrier mapping is required on SalonCentric. You should map your carrier to the carriers maintained by SalonCentric (e.g.: FedEx, USPS, DHL, LaserShip, OnTrac). This allows for working tracking codes in the back-end, as well as for the buyer. If your preferred logistics service provider is not included, you can add it as an unregistered carrier.

Pricing

SalonCentric requires the prices to be submitted in USD. If you do not have pricing attributes in USD, you need to set a currency conversion.

Listed products

If you have problems with products not appearing on Mirakl-based marketplaces – especially if you are trying to create products – check the Listed products page for more information.

You can either filter on Channel status (select Invalid to show all products that ChannelEngine has not exported, such as products with an empty GTIN or that currently do not exist on the marketplace) or use the Validation and feedback tab to see all known errors for specific products.

For detailed status reports, go to the Mirakl back-end. Their reports contain specific errors if a product or product offer cannot be created. To find them, go to My inventory, Import from file, Track offer imports/Track product imports. By hovering over the 'i' under the Status section, you can see how many products in the file were processed correctly and how many had errors, etc.

If there are errors, the last column shows a downloadable file in which they are listed. The same goes for the product file import, but this can contain multiple files because processing goes through several systems. There is also a manual check of your submitted content, which, once approved, goes to staging as well. Note that you need to map as much as possible to prevent products from not being created.

FAQs

How often does each task run on Mirakl-based marketplaces?

By default, Mirakl-based marketplaces follow the schedule below:

Task	Frequency
Export product data to marketplace	every 60 minutes
Export product offers to marketplace	every 15 minutes
Import product offers from marketplace	every 15 minutes
Import orders from marketplace	every 15 minutes
Export order shipments to marketplace	every 15 minutes
Export returns to marketplace	every 30 minutes

Can I simultaneously set up mapping on ChannelEngine and in the Mirakl back-end?

Configuring mapping in the Mirakl marketplace back-end interferes with ChannelEngine's content export. For accurate product content export, stick to categorizing and mapping your products’ content on ChannelEngine only.