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Retail Star XML Export Files

Question

I'm using Retail Star version 9.9 and I'm wondering if the following export files will allow me to integrate CAM Commerce with my ecommerce website.

Could you please let me know?  Thank you.

Answer

We took a look at the following XML files:

  1. cust.xml
  2. ohbal.xml
  3. xrcpt.xml

Here is what is included in each of these XML files.

cust.xml

The Retail Star cust.xml file has some useful information about the customer including their customer ID, email address and phone number. Unfortunately, this cust.xml will not help us with the integration.

ohbal.xml

The ohbal.xml file looks promising but it too is missing key fields in order to integrate your website with Retail Star.  The contents of the XML look like the following.

The following fields are include in the ohbal.xml export and would be helpful with this integration:

  • UPC - We could use the UPC code as the unique identifier, allowing us to connect this product in Retail Star with the product on your website.
  • ShortSku -We could stick this ShortSku number somewhere, like the Product Name, to help you identify it when adding products to your website.
  • Vendor - We could also stick this Vendor number somewhere as well and even concatenate it with the ShortSku to help you identify products when they are first added to your website.
  • ItemID -Same thing with ItemID.  Used in combination with ShortSku and the Vendor number it may be enough information for you to be able to add these products.
  • Onhand - Onhand is essential and store's the currently quantity on hand by store.
  • CurrRetail - This appears to be the current retail price of the product.

Unfortunately, it doesn't have some additional key fields including:

  • Product Name - Having the name of the item from Retail Star is immensely helpful when adding the product to your website.  Using a descriptive name like "Avant Garde Long Open Flannel Shirt" makes it easier to find and identify the product.
  • Sale Price - There is no sale price in the feel and it looks like CurrRetail is the current retail price of the product.  Because there's only price, it will be impossible to show the sale price on your website, say for example $100 is crossed out and the sale price of $80 is shown.
  • Size - There appears to be no way of showing the sizes that are associated with the product.  This is the deal-breaker because without size, you won't be able to show a dropdown on the Product Page letting the consumer know the product comes in say Small, Medium and Large.

xrcpt.xml

There doesn't appear to be any useful information in the xrcpt.xml report either.

We're open to explore other methods of getting Retail Star integrated with your website but unfortunately the above 3 XML files from Retail Star 9.9 will not work.