Secret Sales: marketplace guide

About this guide

This is a ChannelEngine guide on the London-based marketplace Secret Sales. Here you can find information on how to request a Secret Sales 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

How to request an account

Secret Sales is not an open marketplace, therefore it is only possible to get an account following the conclusion of the contracting process.

The contractual terms, including broad commercial terms around discount and product volumes, must be agreed before the integration process can begin.

Associated costs

Secret Sales does not charge setup or monthly fees, but it does charge a commission fee which must be negotiated with their sales representative.

Marketplace features

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

Secret Sales is a Mirakl-based marketplace, 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 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 - the product's brand or manufacturer. Must be selected from Secret Sales' list of available brands. If your brand does not appear on the list or if its design and/or spelling are incorrect, please contact Secret Sales.
• Introduction/Detailed description - en_GB - the product's main description field, written in English 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.
• Main image - the product's main image. The RFC 3986 standard applies to the URL itself, i.e.: URLs must start with either http:// or https://. The image formats supported are GIF, PNG, JPG, and JPEG.
• Product name - en_GB - the product's title, 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.
• Shop SKU - the product's unique internal ID, usually the Merchant product number. The maximum number of characters is 60. E.g.: ABC123
• Variant group code - also referred to as the Parent SKU, which groups together sizes of a color style. 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)

• 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.
• 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.
• Image 2-6 - 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' Main image.
• Measurements - en_GB - 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.

Category-specific

• Composition (fabric-en_GB) - a free text field where you can input information relating to the fabric composition of a product. The maximum number of characters is 255. E.g.: 100% cotton; 60% viscose, 40% polyester.
• Color (color) - the product's color, selected from a predefined list of values. Secret Sales' palette cannot be extended beyond these colors, therefore you either need to map your colors to theirs or use their palette.
• Size (size) - 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.

Offer

Required

The only mandatory offer mapping is Price. This is your desired sale price, after (re)price rules are applied.

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:

• 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.

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 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 in the back-end, as well as for the buyer. If your default carrier is missing, please contact Secret Sales.

Pricing

Secret Sales requires the prices to be submitted in GBP. If you do not have pricing attributes in GBP, 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:

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.