Migrate from spreadsheets to Order41

Should you do this?#

A spreadsheet is worth keeping while your range is small, your buyers are few, and you are the only person touching the file. It stops working when several people edit the same linesheet, when buyers order against prices that have since changed, or when you cannot answer what a given account bought last season without opening four files.

The tell is usually reconciliation. If you spend the days after market week comparing order forms against stock and chasing what was actually confirmed, the spreadsheet has become the bottleneck rather than the tool.

What moves#

Four things need to exist in Order41 before you can take an order:

• Product data — styles, colourways, size runs, wholesale prices, retail prices, delivery windows.
• Images — one or more per style, ideally per colourway.
• Partners — the retailers and agencies you sell to, with addresses, contacts, and terms.
• Open orders — anything confirmed but not yet shipped.

Getting product data in#

You do not need to reformat your spreadsheet first. The product import agent takes the file as it is — XLSX, CSV, a PDF linesheet, even a screenshot — reads it, and returns a structured XLSX you review before anything is created. That review step matters: it is where you catch a size run that was split across two columns, or a price that was stored as text.

Work one season at a time rather than importing everything you have ever sold. A season is a natural unit to check, and it keeps the first import small enough that mistakes are obvious.

Images can be added in the same pass using URL imports, which is faster than uploading files one by one when your images already live on a server or a shared drive.

Partners and open orders#

Partners are usually a much shorter list than products and are worth entering carefully, because addresses and payment terms are what later invoices depend on. Accounts can hold multiple addresses, so a retailer with several doors does not need duplicate entries.

For open orders, the simplest approach is to leave them in the old system and let them ship from there, then start Order41 clean with the next selling window. Recreate them only if you need one place to see everything, and if you do, recreate them as confirmed orders rather than drafts so your reporting is not skewed.

Before you switch#

• Every active style is in Order41, with the right colourways and size runs.
• Prices are correct per currency and per price list.
• Your partners exist, with the right addresses, contacts, and payment terms.
• Open orders from the old system are either closed there or recreated here.
• One buyer has placed a real test order end to end.
• Your team knows which system is authoritative from which date.

Common questions#