AI-Assisted Vendor Pricing Updates

Overview

Vendor Pricing Updates let you import price lists from suppliers and update your catalog items automatically. Upload a CSV or Excel file, paste price data, or type a natural language prompt - AI matches vendor items to your catalog, applies your markup rules, and shows you exactly what will change before you commit. Perfect for keeping your pricing current when suppliers send updated cost sheets.

How It Works

Upload Your Vendor Price List

1. Go to Operations > Items > Price Updates tab
2. Choose your input method:
   • Upload a file (CSV or Excel) - AI detects columns automatically
   • Paste price data - Copy from emails or spreadsheets
   • Type a prompt - "Update this price list using 40% markup"

AI Column Detection

When you upload a file, AI automatically identifies:

• SKU/Item Code - Product identifiers
• Name/Description - Item names
• Vendor Cost - Your cost from the supplier
• MAP Price - Minimum advertised price (if provided)
• MSRP - Suggested retail price (if provided)

If AI can't detect columns, the system falls back to common patterns like "cost", "price", "sku", "item code".

Set Your Intent

Use natural language to tell AI how to process the price list:

Example prompts:

• "Update this price list using 40% markup"
• "Apply exact SKU matches first and flag the rest for review"
• "Update vendor cost only, keep sell prices unchanged"
• "Only update items with exact SKU matches"

AI understands:

• Markup percentage - How much to mark up vendor cost
• Update mode - Cost only, or cost + price
• Match mode - Exact SKU only, or allow fuzzy name matching
• Manual override protection - Preserve prices you've manually adjusted

Review Matches

AI matches vendor items to your catalog using:

1. Exact SKU match - Same SKU, highest confidence
2. Normalized SKU - Removes spaces/dashes, still very high confidence
3. Exact name match - Same name after normalization
4. Fuzzy name match - Token-based similarity scoring

Each match shows:

• Status badge - Ready (green), Review (yellow), Unmatched (gray), Locked (red)
• Match method - How AI matched the item
• Confidence score - 0-100% confidence in the match
• Current vs. proposed - Side-by-side cost and price comparison
• Manual override warning - If you've previously adjusted pricing manually

Select and Apply

1. Review the preview - All matches with status badges
2. Select items to update - Check boxes next to items (defaults to "ready" items)
3. Click "Apply Updates" - Only selected items are updated
4. Your catalog is updated - Cost and/or price fields change based on your intent

Match Statuses

Ready (Green)

• High-confidence match (exact or normalized SKU)
• No manual override detected
• Pre-selected for update

Review (Yellow)

• Fuzzy name match with lower confidence
• Or manual override detected (you've adjusted pricing before)
• Requires your review before updating

Unmatched (Gray)

• No catalog item found
• Won't be updated unless you manually match

Locked (Red)

• Manual override detected and preserve flag is ON
• Item is excluded from updates to protect your custom pricing

Tips

• Start with exact matches - Use "exact SKU only" mode first to update items you're confident about
• Review fuzzy matches - Check name-based matches manually before applying
• Preserve overrides - Include "preserve manual overrides" in your prompt to protect custom pricing
• Update cost only - Use "cost only" mode if you want to keep your current sell prices

Questions

Q: What if AI matches the wrong item? A: Uncheck the box next to that item before clicking "Apply Updates". Only checked items are updated.

Q: Can I update just a few items from the vendor list? A: Yes - check only the items you want to update, then click "Apply Updates".

Q: What happens to items not in my catalog? A: They show as "Unmatched" and are skipped. You can add them manually from the Items tab.

Q: How does AI detect manual overrides? A: It compares your current price to what it would be with your standard markup on current cost. If they don't match, it assumes you manually set the price.