vtwonen: marketplace guide

About this guide

This is a ChannelEngine guide on the Hoofddorp-based marketplace vtwonen. Here you can find information on how to request a vtwonen 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
• Mappings
• Pricing
• Listed products

FAQs

Commercial information

Founded	1964
Headquarters	Hoofddorp, the Netherlands
Area served	Netherlands, Belgium
Revenue	circa USD 39.7 million (2023)
Number of monthly visits	circa 1.5 million
Website	shop.vtwonen.nl
Setup cost	none
Commission	15% (excl. VAT)
Other costs	EUR 40.00/month
Payment	as agreed with payment platform - multiple payments per month are possible
Product categories	garden, home and living, home appliances, office supplies, tools and home improvement
Input language	Dutch
Input currency	EUR
Content creation	yes
Minimum number of SKUs	no
Advertisement options	yes
Profile on ChannelEngine	vtwonen

How to request an account

To start selling on vtwonen, contact them via email. The following requirements apply:

• Deliver directly to the customer.
• Be able to ship individual items.
• Free shipping in the Netherlands and Flanders.
• Ecommerce proof packaging.
• Insight into current stock status.
• Provide free returns.
• In-house customer service, questions answered within 24 hours
• Quality content, including multiple product photos, videos, and mood images.

Associated costs

vtwonen does not charge a setup fee. However, it does charge a commission on sales of 15% – as well as a monthly fixed fee of EUR 40.00.

 

Marketplace features

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

* 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, though not every marketplace includes the steps listed below.

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

vtwonen 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 upload the invoice to ChannelEngine via the Merchant API or via the web interface. To learn more, check out the article ChannelEngine: merchant invoices.

Mappings

Content

All products (required)

• Brand - the product's brand or manufacturer. The spelling and case should match those indicated by the brand. If the brand is all uppercase, change to title case. E.g.: NITRO -> Nitro.
• Color - the product's dominant color. E.g.: yellow.
• Color tint - the product's color shade. E.g.: ocher yellow.
• Description bullet 1-3 - the product's unique selling points, displayed as bullets on the website. HTML is not supported. E.g.: Stijlvolle, comfortabele fauteuil (Stylish, comfortable armchair).
• Home interior styles - the product's interior style, as defined by vtwonen. 
• Lifestyle image - the product's lifestyle image. The image should depict the product in use.
• Main image - the product's main image. The requirements are:
  • Background - white.
  • Aspect ratio - 1:1 or 3:1.
  • Recommended resolution - 2048x2048 px.
  • Minimum resolution - 800x800 px.
  • Maximum resolution - 4472x4472 px.
  • Maximum file size - 3 MB.
  • File formats - JPG, JPEG, and PNG.
  • No border, outlines, watermark, logos, labels, or prices.
• Material - the product's main material. Additional materials can be specified under category-specific attributes.
• Product title - the product's title. The requirements are:
  • Maximum character count - 150.
  • HTML is not supported.
  • Structure - [brand] [product type] [name] - [attribute]. E.g.: HKliving ontbijtbord Chef Ceramics - Ø 20 cm - rustic pink.
  • Include at least one [attribute], and the maximum of two [attributes].
  • Separate [name] and the attributes with a dash (-). 
  • Follow these guidelines for case. [Brand[ case should be as specified by the brand or manufacturer. [Product type] should be lowercase. [Name] should be as provided by the brand or manufacturer. If a name consists of several words, all of them must be capitalized. [Attribute] should be lowercase.
• Shop SKU - the product's SKU, also known as the Merchant product number.
• Short description - the product's short description. 

All products (optional)

• Description bullet 4-5 - the product's unique selling points, displayed as bullets on the website. HTML is not supported.
• Depth/Height/Length/Width - the product's dimensions, in cm. Only provide a value without the unit of measurement.
• Image 4-15 - the product's additional images. Show the product from different angles or in different usage scenarios. For image requirements, check Main image.
• Image detail - the close-up shot of the product's details, such as the quality and texture of the material.
• Long description - the product's long description that is shown below the short description and bullets on the website. HTML tags, such as b, ul, li, are supported.
• Main video - the product's main video. The requirements are:
  
  • Duration - between 30 sec and 2 min.
  • Resolution - 1080 p or higher.
  • Maximum file size - 1 GB.
  • File type - MP4 or MOV.
  • No borders, sketches, watermarks, logos, labels, or prices.
• Product manual - the link to the product's manual in PDF format.
• Product type - the product's main category or type. E.g.: schotel (dish).
• Product variant group code - the reference that groups product variations, such as parent product SKU. The maximum character count is 254.
• Size - the dimension that is most relevant for the product. E.g.: '49,5 cm' for a pendant or '160x230 cm' for a rug.
• Video 2-5 - the product's additional videos. For video requirements, check Main video.
• Weight (gr) - the product's weight, in gr.
• Weight (kg) - the product's weight, in kg.

Offer

Required

• Price - the product's regular sales price. Only include the value without currency. This is the discounted (from) price if you set up a discount. To learn more, check out the 'Working with discounts' section of the guide. 
• EAN - the product's GTIN. The preferred format is EAN-13.

Optional

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

• 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 all Mirakl-based marketplaces:

• 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. This attribute must have a lower value than the Price attribute.
• 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.
• 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 use of logistic class codes, they can be found below.

Code	Label	Description
INIT	Standaard logistieke klasse: Free shipping	Standard logistic class

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.
• The discounted price is only exported if it is lower than the base price.
• If you do not want to set a bulk discount, leave the Discount quantity threshold attribute unmapped – otherwise, the export is broken.
• 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 not required but is recommended on vtwonen. You can map your carrier to a specific list of carriers maintained by vtwonen. This allows for working tracking codes in the back-end, as well as for the buyer. If your default carrier is missing, please contact vtwonen.

Note that you must provide a shipment method and tracking code for all shipments.

Pricing

vtwonen requires the prices to be submitted in EUR. If you do not have pricing attributes in EUR, 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 use the Channel status filter (e.g.: products that ChannelEngine has failed to exported, such as those with an empty GTIN or that do not exist on the marketplace yet, are shown as Invalid) or the Validation and feedback tab to see all known errors for specific products.

Alternatively, you can access the marketplace's back-end and download the error report generated by Mirakl. To do so:

1. Log in to the Mirakl back-end and go to Catalog, Product imports.
2. Identify the latest report and click the See details button by it.
3. Download the CSV file Non-integrated products report.

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 map attributes on ChannelEngine and in the Mirakl back-end?

No. Mapping attributes in the Mirakl marketplace back-end interferes with ChannelEngine's content export. Therefore, it is recommended to stick to categorizing and mapping content only on ChannelEngine.

Why am I not receiving feedback on my content and/or offer exports?

Chances are you are receiving the feedback. However, different types of error report can take a couple of hours or several days to be generated:

• Offer feedback
  • Error reports are mostly generated automatically, and are imported quickly.
• Content feedback
  • Transformation error report - this is automatically generated, and usually imported within a maximum of one day.
  • Conventional error report - this requires a manual review by the Mirakl-based marketplace, and not all do so. It can take several days for this report to be imported.

Note that the previous feedback report is not removed from ChannelEngine until both the latest transformation and conventional reports have been fully processed by ChannelEngine – or no new reports have been generated because there are no errors to report.