Boulanger: marketplace guide

About this guide

This is a ChannelEngine guide on the Lille-based marketplace Boulanger. Here you can find information on how to request a Boulanger 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
• Listed products

FAQs

Commercial information

Active markets	France
Monthly visitors	10 million
Website	Boulanger
Commission	it varies based on the product category
Other costs	monthly fee of EUR 40.00 (excl. VAT)
Payment	1st, 11th, and 21th of the month
Product categories	household appliances, refurbished, multimedia, accessories, cooking, DIY/gardening, electronics, cameras, office supplies, telecommunication
Input language (title + description)	French
Input currency	EUR
Content creation	yes
Profile on ChannelEngine	Boulanger

How to request an account

Merchants willing to sell their products on Boulanger are required to:

• Have their headquarters in the EU
• Ship orders from the EU
• Offer customer service in French
• Meet Boulanger's quality requirements

If you meet those requirements, you can request an account by contacting Boulanger via email. Make sure to indicate what products you are selling and mention that ChannelEngine is your integrator.

The following documents and additional information are also required:

• Personal information of the legal representative, such as name, surname, date and place of birth, job title, and phone number.
• Company information, such as the name of the store, a French VAT number, customer care phone number and email address, company address, and shipping country.
• Catalog information, such as number of products, product categories, and integration method.

Associated costs

Boulanger does not charge a setup fee. However, it does charge a monthly fee of EUR 40.00 (incl. VAT) and a commission fee that depends on the product category.

Marketplace features

Supported	Not supported
Product offers	Cancelations (marketplace)
Product content	Returns (marketplace)
Orders	Repricing
Cancelations (merchant)	Marketplace fulfillment service
Returns (merchant)	Sales channels*
Shipments
Carrier mapping
Refurbished products
Multiple stock locations

* 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, once you add the marketplace:

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

Boulanger 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.

As Boulanger does not support repricing, you can leave the Mirakl seller name field empty.

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 enable the invoice upload to ChannelEngine via the Merchant API. For that, call the POST /v2/orders/{merchantOrderNo}/invoice endpoint. Note that only invoices in PDF are supported.

Invalid XML characters

To remove invalid XML characters from your product data, click Advanced settings and enable the Check and filter invalid XML characters setting. ChannelEngine checks product data submitted in the XML format for invalid characters (e.g.: Ã, ¢, â, etc.). Once identified, invalid characters are removed or converted to a valid equivalent.

Categorization

Categorization is only needed on Boulanger if you want to create new products or update existing product information. The categorization is straightforward, and it uses attribute names in French.

Mappings

Content

Contrary to most marketplaces, Boulanger does not have a product title attribute. Product titles are the result of the combination of three different attributes: Type, Marque (Brand), and Référence commerciale (Commercial reference).

All products (required)

• Marque (Brand) - if the product's brand is known by Boulanger, use this attribute to map it. If the correct value is not present, contact Boulanger to have it added.
• Référence commerciale (Commercial reference) - the product's unique identifier, such as its SKU. The maximum number of characters is 40, including spaces.
• Référence universelle (Universal reference) - the product's European article number (EAN).

Category-specific

Different product categories may have different attributes, such as attributes related to French environmental taxes. Boulanger recommends you to map as many attributes as possible to improve your products visibility. 

• Descriptif court ou accroche (Short description or catchphrase) - sums up the product in one sentence. The maximum number of characters is 95.
• Descriptif marketing ou descriptif long (Marketing description or long description) - describes the product features from a marketing perspective. The maximum number of characters is 5,000. HTML tags are allowed. 
• Le viseul principal (Main image) - the product's main image. The related requirements are: a white background, JPEG or PDF, a minimum of 1,000x1,000 px, and a maximum of 4,000x4,000 px.

Category-specific

Some of the most commonly required product type-attributes are listed below:

• Coloris (Color) - the base color for the product, provided in French.
• Type de produit (Type of product) - describes the type of product. E.g.: a coffee table under the category 'tables'.
• Usage (Usage) - describes the use of the article. E.g.: indoors or outdoors for tables and chairs.

Offer

Required

• Price - your desired sale price.
• Garantie (en mois)(Warranty) - the product's warranty in months.

Optional

• 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.
• 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.

The following offer attributes are common to some Mirakl-based marketplaces, particularly in France and Germany:

• 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 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 uses of logistic class codes, they can be found below.

Code	Label	Description
XXS	Famille logistique XXS	Free shipping
XS	Famille logistique XS	0-0.25 kg
S	Famille logistique S	0.25-0.5 kg
M	Famille logistique M	0.5-0.75 kg
L	Famille logistique L	0.75-2 kg
XL	Famille logistique XL	2-5 kg
XXL	Famille logistique XXL	5-15 kg
XXXL	Famille logistique XXXL	>15 kg
XXXXL	Famille logistique XXXXL	>30kg
XXXXXL	Famille logistique XXXXXL	>50 kg

By default, the logistics class assigned is XL. I.e.: EUR 11.90 shipping costs.

Carrier

Carrier mapping is not required on Boulanger. However, you can map your carrier to a specific list of carriers maintained by Boulanger. 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 Boulanger.

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 filter on Channel status (select Invalid to show all products that ChannelEngine has not exported, such as products with an empty GTIN or that currently do not exist on the marketplace) or use the Validation and feedback tab to see all known errors for specific products.

For detailed status reports, go to the Mirakl back-end. Their reports contain specific errors if a product or product offer cannot be created. To find them, go to My inventory, Import from file, Track offer imports/Track product imports. By hovering over the 'i' under the Status section, you can see how many products in the file were processed correctly and how many had errors, etc.

If there are errors, the last column shows a downloadable file in which they are listed. The same goes for the product file import, but this can contain multiple files because processing goes through several systems. There is also a manual check of your submitted content, which, once approved, goes to staging as well. Note that you need to map as much as possible to prevent products from not being created.

FAQs

How do I know what optional fields should be mapped?

You can download a file template from the Mirakl back-end. Select My Inventory, Import from file. In the panel on the right-hand side, select the CSV or XLSX template to download. Select a file template to download and the requirement level of attributes, then select the categories. The downloaded file shows you an overview of the required, recommended, and optional fields for the selected product category.

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 channel	every 60 minutes
Export product offers to channel	every 15 minutes
Import product offers from channel	every 15 minutes
Import orders from channel	every 15 minutes
Export order shipments to channel	every 15 minutes
Export returns to channel	every 30 minutes

Can I simultaneously set up mapping on ChannelEngine and in the Mirakl back-end?

Configuring mapping in the Mirakl marketplace back-end interferes with ChannelEngine's content export. For accurate product content export, stick to categorizing and mapping your products’ content on ChannelEngine only.