About You: (drop shipment) marketplace guide

About this guide

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

Table of contents

Commercial information

How to request an account

Associated costs

Marketplace features

Marketplace-specific requirements and exceptions

Settings and configuration

• Setup
• Product selection
• Categorization
• Mappings
• Pricing
• Listed products

Additional information

• Fulfillment by About You (FbAY)

FAQs

Commercial information

How to request an account

To start selling on About You, contact your customer success manager or a member of the Support team at ChannelEngine.

Associated costs

To be determined.

Marketplace features

1. ChannelEngine does not actively import drop shipment orders from About You. Instead, About You pushes orders in real time to ChannelEngine. This means that there is no option to retrieve old orders. FbAY-fulfilled orders are retrieved once per day from About You's SFTP server.
2. About You expects merchants not to cancel orders. If the item is in stock, the order should be fulfilled.
3. About You requires product variations, so make sure that your products are set up accordingly before adding this channel.

Marketplace-specific requirements and exceptions

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.

Setup

On About You

To establish the connection with About You on ChannelEngine, you need to retrieve the following credentials from the About You platform:

• API access token
• Merchant API key
• Webhook authentication user
• Order authentication password
• Order delegation webhook URL (merchant fulfillment)
• Stock delegation webhook URL (fulfillment by About You)

To obtain your API access token and Merchant API key, contact your onboarding manager at About You.

If you are enrolled in the FbAY partner program, retrieve the following additional credentials:

• SFTP URL (production)
• SFTP URL (sandbox), if using
• SFTP merchant key for FbAY

On ChannelEngine

1. Go to the Setup page of your About You marketplace.
2. In Connection, enter values for the following fields: 
   • API access token - provided by About You.
   • Merchant API key - provided by About You.
   • Order or Stock delegation webhook URL - auto-filled by ChannelEngine.
   • Webhook authentication user - auto-filled by ChannelEngine.
   • Order authentication password - set by you.
     
     NB: To connect with About You, provide your About You contact with the following credentials: Order or Stock delegation webhook URL, Webhook authentication user, and Order authentication password. Double-check these before sending – incorrect details can cause connection delays of at least two weeks.
3. In Plugin-specific settings, configure the setting:
   • Countries - select from the dropdown the countries where you want to sell. The order lines are identified by the country in which the item is sold. E.g.: About You [DE] - for orders in German, from Germany; About You [BF] - for orders in French, from Belgium.
4. In Advanced settings, check the values in the following fields:
   • Set orders to closed after import -  select 'Yes' or 'No'. If you select 'Yes', imported orders are automatically set to Closed, and inventory reservations are not updated. Shipments and returns are not imported and processed.
   • Automatically reject out-of-stock items - select 'Yes' or 'No'. By default, 'Yes' is selected to automatically cancel orders when the product is not available. You need explicit approval from About You to change this setting.

5. If you are enrolled in the FbAY partner program, and if ChannelEngine has activated the FbAY feature for you, verify the following settings in Advanced settings:

• SFTP username for FbAY (Production) - is the merchant key shared by the FbAY program, with the prefix ‘app_’. E.g.: if the merchant key is ‘fbay_ce_myshop_cspp’, fill in ‘app_fbay_ce_myshop_cspp’.
• SFTP username for FbAY (Sandbox) - if you are using an SFTP sandbox environment with ChannelEngine, then provide the username of the sandbox.  
• SFTP merchant key for FbAY - the merchant key for your FbAY connection. This is different from the API key. 

For more information on FbAY, check out the section Fulfillment by About You (FbAY).

Product selection

Before you add a listing, make sure to have your brand and assortment approved by About You. To indicate if a product has been approved or not, it may be helpful to add an extra data field named Pre-approved, for instance, and populate it with either yes or no values.

Categorization

About You supports a wide range of categories, which are listed in German.

You must provide the Product name and Product material in German. Other attributes, such as the Color or Description, can be provided in English if German content is not available. About You maps these values to country-specific languages.

About You also maps the target audience to men or women; therefore, you must always include the gender for your categories and products. E.g.:

• Correct - ‘Frauen - Kleid’.
• Incorrect - ‘Frauen - Accessoires’ (not detailed enough), ‘Accessoires - Gürtel’ (gender missing).

Mappings

Content

At least two weeks before the first product feed export, merchants must provide About You with the complete partner setup file, containing relevant information for About You to set up the merchant.

Grandparent-parent-child relationships

About You requires a grandparent-parent-child relationship:

• Product-master (grandparent) - one specific article style. E.g.: Adidas Originals Stan Smith Sneaker. Note that each product-master must have at least one product, and each product must have at least one variant. Note that grandparent products also need to be categorized, otherwise the related parent and child products are not published.
• Product (parent) - the product’s color variants. E.g.: red, blue, yellow, etc.
• Variant (child) - the product's sizes. E.g.: 37, 38, 39.

Below you can find the list of attributes required per relationship level:

1. These attributes are mapped per category.
2. Fill in the image background, image kind, and image view attributes.
3. The size dimension is a numeric value, entered in the [specialized] size attribute.
4. The measurement group is the unit of measure, given as a text value in the [specialized] measurement attribute. 

All products (required)

• Brand - the product’s brand, without any other details.
• Country of origin - select the country where the item was produced.
• [country] export enabled - specifies if the product should be sold in this country. You may be able to sell certain brands in some countries, but not in others. If you select No, the product is not shown in this country.
• [country] recommended retail price - the product's base sale price for each specific country.
• [country] reduction - to apply a discount to a product, enter a percentage as an integer. E.g.: 10 for 10%, 10.257 for 10.257%.
• [country] VAT rate - the VAT rate for this product type in this country.
• EAN - a product variant’s 13-digit unique identification number, be it the EAN or the GTIN. If you use UPCs, add a zero (0) to them. Do not include a backslash in your product variant's reference key. About You cannot process orders for product variants whose reference key contains a backslash (\). Therefore, ChannelEngine flags the product as invalid.
• Fulfillment override - set whether the product’s fulfillment is done by About You (FbAY) or by the merchant.
• HS code - the customs tariff number. This code is required when you sell products in countries other than Germany.
• Image URL 1 - the URL of the main product image. The following requirements apply:
  • Number of images - About You recommends 1 bust picture, 2-4 model pictures, and 1-2 detail pictures.
  • Bust shot
    • Photographed frontally.
    • Transparent or white background.
    • Shot on mannequin/ bust and exempted.
  • Model shot
    • Light gray background (alternatively, white or transparent).
    • 3:4 format at 1,500x2,000 px and 96 dpi.
    • No cut-off of textile.
    • Product in the front, with no extreme cut of the model.
  • File format
    • JPEG for images with a white or gray background and a maximum file size of 2 MB.
    • PNG for images with a transparent background and a maximum file size of 4 MB.
    • The image URLs must end with the file extension (i.e.: .jpeg or .png), without additional query parameters. E.g.: http://image-server.com/blouse1.png, instead of http://image-server.com/blouse1.png?brand_id=1900.Image hosting
  • Background - strong color variations are not allowed.
  • Hosting - services such as Google Drive or Dropbox are not supported. Contact About You for an up-to-date list of supported image hosting services.

• Name - the name of the product type, written in German. The name must be as specific as possible and cannot include details. E.g.: Lederrock and Blusenkleid are correct, but Calvin Klein Mantel schwarz XS is incorrect. If the product has a specific name, provide the specific name in single quotes (e.g. Sneaker ‘Stan Smith’).
• Quantity per pack - the quantity of items included in each package.
• Vendor size - this value must match the primary size dimension on the item’s physical size label, and cannot be remapped to a different value.
• Weight - the weight of the product, in grams.

All products (optional)

• Bullet points - keywords used to describe the product that are not obvious in the product images, but can influence the customer's decision to buy the product. E.g.: Wasserfestigkeit GORE-TEX®, Zierschnallen am Schaft, Absatzhöhe: 2.5 cm.
• Description - information about the product that is not obvious in the product images, but can influence the customer's decision to buy the product. E.g.: washing instructions, size/fit information, sport technologies, sport functions, sustainability information, etc.
• Image URL #2-6 - while only Image URL 1 is required, all image-related fields are strongly recommended. About You recommends images with a 4:3 aspect ratio and a main product image with a light background. What’s more, you must add the background color for every non-model image. E.g.: weiß, transparent, grau. In general, About You recommends adding the following attributes for every asset:
• image background #1-6 - background color of the image. Strong color variations are not allowed.
• image kind #1-6 - type of image. The options are: 'Bust Image', 'Model Image', 'Model-Outfit Image', and 'Detail Image'.
• image view #1-6 - assign this attribute to only one bust image and one model image. It marks the image to be displayed on the respective category and product detail page. It must include information on whether the image is a bust or a model image. E.g.: '1st bust image', '1st model image'.
• [specialized] size - the size dimension of the item. Must be a whole number/numeric value, no decimal value, or containing text. Correct: '11' or '134'. Incorrect: '11.1' or '13 mm'. E.g.: entering '55' for Brillenbreite size gives the width of a given pair of glasses.
• [specialized] measurement - the measurement group of the item. Must be in '%', 'mm', 'cm', or 'm'. E.g.: Entering 'mm' for Brillenbreite measurement indicates the width of the pair of glasses is provided in millimeters.
• [country] reference price - the price for a specified portion of an item, e.g.: '19.99'. Only applicable to Beauty Assortment.
• [country] reference price unit - the unit of the [country] reference price, e.g.: 'EUR'. 
• [country] reference price unit value - the volume to which the [country] reference price corresponds, e.g.: '100 mL'. The beauty item costs 19.99 EUR per 100 mL.

• Material composition attributes - add at least one attribute related to the material composition of the product, on the parent level. A product’s full material composition must be provided as it is stated on the physical product label.

  About You provides a fixed list of material composition attributes that you can select from. If the material that you want to add is not on this list, contact About You. Note that some materials are category-specific. E.g.: Obermaterial is a global material group, while Decksohle (insole) applies only to shoes.

  The material attribute must contain the name of the material, and the fraction attribute must contain the percentage of the used material. A fraction attribute value is required for textile products and optional for non-textile products.

  NB: for non-textile products that do not require the fraction attribute to be validated, you can select the material and add 100 for the attribute value.

  You must provide the materials in ascending order, with the largest fraction first. The maximum number of materials per group is two, though some groups allow for only one material.

Material composition example

• FbAY: [] - see the Additional information section. These attributes help About You identify the best ways to store, sell, and deliver your products. If you have FbAY enabled, these attributes are mandatory.
  • Baggable - specifies if the product can be shipped in a bag instead of a box. The options are yes and no.
  • Hanging Delivery - specifies if the product has to be stored in the hanging position. The options are yes and no.
  • Multipart - specifies the number of components. E.g.: 2 (for a dress with a belt).
  • Supplier color name - specifies the supplier color name.
  • Supplier style number - specifies the supplier style number.

Offer

There are no offer attributes on About You.

Carrier

You cannot set up default carriers under the Carrier mappings tab, and this tab does not appear. About You requires merchants to set up default carriers directly with them during the onboarding process. Any change of carriers has to be done directly with About You.

The following carriers are supported:

• Colissimo (COLI_FR)
• DHL_STD_NATIONAL
• DHL_BPOST_BEL
• DHL WORLD Premium
• DHL_NL
• DHL_PL
• Die Post
• Export C
• FORCE_CLOSE
• HERMES_KLV
• HERMES_POST_AUT
• Poste Italiane
• PostNL
• PPL

Pricing

About You expects prices to be submitted in the local currency of the country. E.g.: HUF for Hungary, CHF for Switzerland. If you do not have prices in the needed currency, set up a currency conversion.

You can add price rules, for example, to adjust your shipment rates. If you want to add discounts, you must use the attributes in the content mapping section. For example, to set a discount on the regular price, you must enter values for the following fields:

• Recommended retail price = 19.99
• Reduction = 10
• VAT Rate = 19

Listed products

ChannelEngine receives no data validations from About You. Therefore, it may happen that the product is not published, or that when product data is incomplete, About You fills out the product data. For all data ChannelEngine sends to About You (product content, stock updates, shipments, etc.), ChannelEngine receives a response stating whether the API accepts the data (or not). For specific processing feedback, you must contact About You.

It is possible that the Exported price on the Listed products page does not match the price that was exported. This is caused by, for example:

• A different price per sales channel is exported.
• ChannelEngine is not using the default Product price as the exported price.
• The offer export always tries to 'set' (and thus override) the Exported price, while it does not have price information.

Additional information

Drop shipments

It is mandatory to include a return tracking code in your drop shipments for About You.

Fulfillment by About You (FbAY)

About You can store your products in its warehouse and handle the logistics of the delivery and the returns. Further details on About You's fulfillment service can be found in the Fulfillment by About You article on About You's website.

To make use of the FbAY service: 

1. Contact About You, and begin the process to join the FbAY partner program. 
2. Once you receive a confirmation from About You that your products are in About You's warehouse, get in touch with your customer success manager at ChannelEngine or a member of the Support team to start configuring FbAY on ChannelEngine.
3. Once FbAY is enabled, verify the following settings in Settings, Advanced settings.
   • SFTP username for FbAY (Production)
   • SFTP username for FbAY (Sandbox)
   • SFTP merchant key for FbAY
4. The following optional attributes become mandatory in Content mappings: Baggable, Hanging delivery, Multipart, Supplier color name, and Supplier style number name.

SFTP reports for FbAY

Every 24 hours, ChannelEngine imports orders, shipments, and returns from a report that About You stores on its SFTP server. After import, you can view the orders that are fulfilled via FbAY on ChannelEngine; these orders are labeled with the status Shipped. 

The SFTP report contains data over FbAY-fulfilled orders from the last 30 days, excluding the current day. 

Merchant API reports for FbAY

You can also retrieve FbAY orders, shipments, and returns for reconciliation purposes via the Merchant API.

Stock movement reports

You can gain more insight into your FbAY stock on About You by downloading About You's dedicated stock movement reports, available exclusively via API. To learn how to download About You's stock movement reports via ChannelEngine, check out Merchant API: stock movement reports.  

Order extra data items

When an order is imported to ChannelEngine, ChannelEngine also retrieves extra data items related to the order itself – or to order lines. This extra data is specific to this marketplace. An explanation of each can be found below: 

Order extra data

* Conditional fields only display if the channel provided a value. 

Prefix system

During the onboarding process with About You, you must test all fulfillment flows (e.g.: order handling, shipments, etc.) and produce the right delivery documents – based on the source and shipping address of an order.

To facilitate this process, About You has designed a prefix system that identifies the storefront from which orders are generated:

• Austria - ayat-200
• Belgium (FR) - aybf-562
• Belgium (NL) - aybn-558
• France - ayfr-658
• Germany (DE) - ayou-139
• Germany (EN) - aydn-688
• Netherlands - aynl-545
• Netherlands Outlet - aonl-5216
• Portugal Outlet - aopt-5217
• Switzerland Outlet (DE) - aoch-5215

FAQs

How can I delete products on About You?
About You does not allow for the deletion of products. If the product is sold out, it must remain in the product selection with stock set to zero. If a product is on stock zero, it is taken offline from About You. After a month or so, About You takes care of the soft deletion.

How often does each task run on About You?
Tasks run according to the following schedule on About You:

*ChannelEngine exports the stock of all products in the product selection once a day to correct any stock that may not have been synchronized properly.

Why do I see a price on the invoice that differs from the price I configured?
Most of the time, the product price that you see on the invoice from About You is the exact same price that you configured. However, because About You does not share the price paid by the buyer (which could be lower or higher than the price you configured), there may be discrepancies.

Why are my price updates not reflected on About You?
About You only retrieves price updates once every 24 hours, and this happens overnight. Additionally, they have a price approval process, which only takes place during weekdays. Make sure to take this into account before contacting About You or ChannelEngine regarding missing price updates.

Why are my images not visible on my listing?
About You has specific requirements around its images and especially its model images. Reach out directly to About You when you plan to update existing model images. And, in general, if the product images are not updating, whether they are main images or model images, reach out first to About You to investigate the reason.