Secret Sales v2: marketplace guide

About this guide

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

Table of contents

About this marketplace

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

About this marketplace

Secret Sales is a London-based off-price marketplace for fashion, sportswear, and beauty. Through a series of acquisitions, it has grown into a group of storefronts across Europe: Afound (Sweden), Dress for Less (Germany), Dreivip (Spain), Secret Sales (Netherlands and United Kingdom). Each storefront keeps its own brand, language, and audience, but all run on the Secret Sales platform.

This guide covers all marketplaces in the Secret Sales group. On ChannelEngine, each one is a separate channel plugin and follows the same setup and mapping steps, with storefront-specific exceptions noted where they apply.

Commercial information

How to request an account

Secret Sales is an invitation-only marketplace. You can only get an account after you sign a contract with them.

Before integration can start, you must agree on the contractual terms, including discounts and product volumes.

Contact your ChannelEngine representative to get an introduction to the Secret Sales business team.

Associated costs

Secret Sales does not charge setup fees, but it does charge commission and monthly fees, which must be negotiated on an individual basis.

Marketplace features

Settings and configuration

Setting up each channel on ChannelEngine follows the same flow, though not every channel 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. Fill in the Stock settings.
7. Finish the Activation.
8. Check the Listed products overview.

Marketplace-specific requirements and exceptions

Setup

On Secret Sales

1. Log in to the Loom backend.
2. From the left sidebar menu, go to API keys.
3. Click Create API key.
4. Enter a descriptive name of the key, e.g.: ChannelEngine API key.
5. Under Role, select api.readwrite to give the read-and-write permission.
6. Click Create API key.
7. Copy your API key and store it in a safe location.

The API key does not expire and is created once only.

On ChannelEngine

1. Go to the Setup step of your channel.
2. In Connection, enter the API key that you copied in the previous step.
3. Click Save and refresh the page.

Country-specific plugins

ChannelEngine offers different channel plugins to support the Secret Sales group of storefronts:

• Afound SE
• Dress for Less DE
• Dreivip ES
• Secret Sales NL
• Secret Sales UK

Categorization

Categorization is mandatory if you want to create or update existing product information on Secret Sales. Both categorizations and mappings only result in updates if the content connection is enabled, and the relevant credentials have been entered (see the Setup section).

Mappings

Content

All products (required)

• Brand - select the product's brand or manufacturer. If your brand does not appear in the list, or if its design or spelling is incorrect, contact Secret Sales.
• Colour - select the product's color.
• Gender - select the product's target gender or age.
• Main image - the product's main image. URL must start with either http:// or https://. The supported formats are GIF, PNG, JPG, and JPEG.
• Material - select the main material that the product is made of.
• Size - the product's size. It is mandatory even if a product only has a single standard size, such as a handbag.
  • For clothing and footwear, correct sizes should be chosen.
  • For all other products where there is only a single standard size, the value 'One size' should be chosen.
• Style ID - the unique code used to group product styles (colors), usually the Grandparent SKU on ChannelEngine.
• Variant group code - the unique code used to group product size variants, usually the Parent SKU on ChannelEngine. Within Secret Sales, a product style's colors are listed on the product listing page (PLP), not as options within a product description page (PDP). Therefore, the color is the parent SKU. The unique identifier of the group (aka parent) is based on the primary color. It should be the GroupNo/parent SKU, but not the grandparent SKU. If the product is a standalone, use the Merchant product number via an advanced rule.

All products (optional)

• Care advice (language) - free-text instructions for maintaining the product: washing, drying, ironing, dry-cleaning, and storage.
• Composition (language) - a free-text field where you can enter information relating to the composition of a product. The maximum number of characters is 255. E.g.: 100% cotton; 60% viscose, 40% polyester.
• Country of origin - the country where the product was manufactured or last substantially transformed.
• Description (language) - the product's main description field, written in the local language and containing as much information about the product as possible.
  • There is no support for HTML formatting.
  • The maximum number of characters is 2,000.
• EAN - the product's 13-digit EAN or another GTIN, validated by both ChannelEngine and Secret Sales. If you have a 12-digit EAN, add a zero to it.
• Second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth image - the product's additional images. The RFC 3986 standard applies to the URL itself, i.e.: URLs must start with either http:// or https://. The minimum number recommended per product is four, and the following also apply:
  • Only JPG (but not JPEG) and PNG files are supported.
  • Special characters are not supported (except for underscores).
  • Uppercase characters are supported for the main filename, but not for the extension. E.g.: FILENAME.jpg is okay, but FILENAME.JPG is not.
  • A combination of numbers and text is supported.
  • Images provided cannot be hosted with Dropbox, as they have an invisible login wall that prevents Secret Sales from scraping the URLs.
  • In terms of the order of the images, the preference is for a model shot to always be the product's Main image.
• GPSR - to comply with the General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR), provide the following details:
  • The manufacturer's name and contact information.
  • If the manufacturer is not located in the EU, indicate an EU-based responsible person or entity, along with their name and contact details.
  • Any relevant product information, including model number, pictures, type and CE marking.
  • Product safety and compliance information, including safety warnings, labels and product manuals in the local language.
• Measurement (language) - a free-text field where you can input information relating to the measurements of the product. The maximum number of characters is 255. E.g.: 100 cm x 120 cm x 20 cm.
• Product name (language) - the product's title in the local language. It can be unique or generic. The maximum number of characters is 255. E.g.: Black Leather Backpack. Note that the size of the product cannot be a part of the product name.
• Supplier colour - a free-text field where you can describe the color of the product.
• Condition - the state of the product. The options are vintage (i.e.: used) and new.
• Event - the product's season, selected from Secret Sales' list. Common values such as spring and summer are available, as well as back to school, Christmas, etc.
• Warranty (language) - a relevant warranty policy, if applicable.

Category-specific

There are no category-specific attributes on Secret Sales.

Offer

There are no Offer mappings on Secret Sales. Price attributes are mapped at Pricing, Price rules.

Carrier

Carrier mapping is not required on Secret Sales. However, you can map your carrier to a specific list of carriers maintained by Secret Sales. This allows for working track-and-trace links on the backend, as well as for the buyer.

You cannot use a custom carrier that is not part of the list of carriers maintained by Secret Sales. If your default carrier is missing, contact Secret Sales.

Pricing

Secret Sales requires the prices to be submitted in the local currency of the country. If you do not have pricing attributes in that currency, you need to set a currency conversion.

Price rules

Map your price attributes at Pricing, Price rules. Additionally, set up some price adjustments. See ChannelEngine: price rules v2.

Both pricing attributes are required on Secret Sales:

• Price - your product's recommended retail price (RRP) before discount, in the local currency. E.g.: 199.99.
• Discounted price - your product's purchase price, in the local currency. It is always required on Secret Sales. Since there are no attributes to create a time-limited discount, the discounted price is always your active selling price. E.g.: 169.99.

FAQs

How often does each task run on Secret Sales?
Follow the schedule below: