Åhléns: marketplace guide

About this guide

This is a ChannelEngine guide on the Stockholm-based marketplace Åhléns. Here you can find information on how to request an Åhléns 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	1899
Founders	Johan Petter Åhlén and Erik Holm
Headquarters	Stockholm, Sweden
Area served (orders)	Sweden
Revenue	circa USD 76 million (2020)
Number of monthly visits	circa 2 million
Website	Åhléns
Setup cost	none
Commission	25%
Other costs	SEK 500/month
Payment	monthly, on the 25th (for all orders made 21-42 days earlier)
Product categories	beauty, home, fashion
Input language	Swedish description, with all another attributes are in English
Input currency	SEK
Content creation	yes
Profile on ChannelEngine	Åhléns

 

How to request an account

To start selling on Åhléns, send an email directly to key account manager Mimmi Sandell with a short description of your brand and a link to your website.

The following requirements apply:

• You must have a Mirakl Connect account.
• You must be able to ship your products within the 6-day timeframe.
• You must be able to provide square-shaped product images.

Associated costs

Åhléns does not charge a registration fee, but it does charge a commission of 25% on every sale (which is negotiable, based on your product and brand portfolios) and a monthly fee of SEK 500.

 

Marketplace features

Supported	Not supported
Product offers (EAN matching)	Returns (marketplace)
Product content	Marketplace fulfillment service
Orders	Repricing
Cancelations (merchant)	Automatic relationships
Returns/refunds (merchant)	HTML formatting
Shipments	Sales channels*
Product variations (sizes/colors)
Carrier mapping
Multiple stock locations
Bundles
Invoice uploads
Settlements

* 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

Åhléns is a Mirakl-based channel, so you can connect it to 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.

Categorization

Categorization is mandatory if you want to create or update existing product information on Åhléns. 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).

Although product descriptions must be in Swedish on Åhléns, the categorization and mappings are in English.

Mappings

Content

• Brand - the brand of the product, must to be mapped to Åhléns' specific values. If your brand does not appear on the list or if its design and/or spelling are incorrect, please contact Åhléns. ChannelEngine imports the latest data model containing the brands once a month, but at times a manual import is needed.
• Front image - the main image of the product. All images must be squared, with a resolution of 1,000x1,000 px, and a minimum of 300 dpi. Additionally, the URLs must start with either http:// or https://.
• Gender - the target gender of the product. The options are: male, female, unisex, and not applicable.
• GTIN 13 - the 13-digit EAN/GTIN of the product.
• Material percentage 1 - the proportion of the main material in the product. E.g.: if the product consists of 80% cotton and 20% polyester, Material percentage 1 is 80 and Product material 1 is cotton.
• Product material 1 - the main material in the product. E.g.: if the product consists of 80% cotton and 20% polyester, Material percentage 1 is 80 and Product material 1 is cotton.
• Product name - the title of the product, written in English.
• Product SKU - your internal variant identifier. Usually your Merchant product number on ChannelEngine. E.g.: ABC123-Yellow-Medium.
• Size - the size of the product. Must to be mapped to Åhléns' specific values.
• Standard color - the standardized color of the product, used as a color filter on Åhléns. E.g.: red, green, blue, multicolor, etc.

The following required attribute is common to all Mirakl-based marketplaces:

• Export strategy - choose a strategy for exporting the product data. You can select from the following export strategies:
  • Yes - export all of the product content to the marketplace, including its EAN (GTIN), category, and other mapped attributes. This option is ideal if you manage both product content and offers through ChannelEngine for the marketplace. Before you set this option, ensure that you map all required attributes.
  • No - do not export product content to the marketplace. Choose this option to keep the product content excluded from exports and only export the offers. This option is ideal if you do not want to export the product content yet, or you want to export only the product offers because the product content already exists on the marketplace.
     
    NB: the default export strategy is Yes, even if the Export strategy attribute is left unmapped.

Offer

The only mandatory offer mapping is Price, which is your desired sale price.

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, if you use pricing v2:

• Allow promotion below min price - set it to ‘true’ to allow the promotion price to drop below your product's minimum price. To learn more, check out the article ChannelEngine: promotions.
• Fee groups - the ID of the fee group you want to assign to this product. To learn more, check out the article ChannelEngine: marketplace fees.
• Strike price - the regular selling price. Use it in combination with the Price attribute to set up a discount/strikethrough pricing. To learn more, check out the 'Working with discounts' section of this article. 

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
S	Standard	Non-bulky items that can be sent to a pick-up point
XL	Home Delivery (Bulky)	Bulky items that have to be delivered to customers home

Working with discounts

Pricing v1

• 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.

Pricing v2

• To set up a discount, you must map the Strike price attribute to your regular price. Also, map the Discount start date and Discount end date attributes to indicate the start and end date of your discount.
• Under Pricing, Price rules, map the Price attribute to the discounted price. Both Min. price and Base price fields must be mapped.
• The Price and Strike price attributes cannot be mapped with the same value. ChannelEngine only sets a discount if the value in Price is lower than the value in Strike price.
• Same as in pricing v1, if you do not want to set a bulk discount, leave the Discount quantity threshold attribute unmapped.
• 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 on Åhléns. However, you can map your carrier to a specific list of carriers maintained by Åhléns. This allows for working tracking codes in the back-end, as well as for the buyer. If your default carrier is missing, please contact Åhléns.

Pricing

Åhléns requires the prices to be submitted in Swedish krona (SEK). If you do not have pricing attributes in SEK, 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 export, 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.