Posti Glue – connecting e‑commerce and suppliers

Usernames for the Posti Glue service 

• Your company’s administrator manages the usernames and can add new users via username management. 

• To use the Dropshipping service, you need either Dropshipping Supplier (supplier) or Dropshipping Reseller (online store/retailer) rights. You can find them under the heading Posti Glue in username management. 

• If you already have an ID for Posti’s services (e.g. SmartShip or Oma Posti Pro) but do not know who the administrator of your company is, you can view the administrator's information in username management. 

To use the service, Posti grants your company access rights. You can manage your own credentials and access rights through the credentials management system. Note that your company may have two types of credentials: one for the Glue service interface and another for potential integrations. If you are setting up an integration, you will have separate integration credentials for both the production and test systems.

Before starting sales, arrange order deliveries and returns with the reseller:

• When using Posti’s parcel services and Express freight, the package price includes delivery to the recipient but not pickup from the sender (supplier). Ensure that you have a way to get shipments into Posti’s transportation network. If your company has an existing pickup agreement, you can use it, but assess whether additional pickup capacity is needed.

• Freight services include pickup from the sender. When you create a freight shipment, a freight pickup order is automatically generated.

• How will returns be handled? The contract number for Posti’s parcel services contains information on the customer return address. Uncollected shipments or those that could not be delivered are returned to the sender's address as specified in the shipment details.

• There is no separate return service for Express freight and freight shipments, so customer pickups must be arranged in the same way as with regular freight services.

Steps to start using the service:

Once you have received access to the Glue service, log in using your Posti business credentials. If you have not yet received an introduction to the service, arrange this with your Posti contact person.

To start using the service, follow these steps:

1. Inform your reseller that you have access to the Glue service. The reseller will create a product catalog for your products.

2. Once the reseller has activated you as a supplier, activate the product catalog they created under the "Catalogs" tab.

3. Set up the basic information for your products, then publish them in the reseller’s catalog. You can add product details manually in the Glue service, import them from an Excel file, or use an integration. Products can be published to the reseller’s catalog from the product page, the product list, or when uploading a product file.

4. Inform the reseller that the products are now available for sale.

There are two types of product catalogs:

1. private catalog

   is exclusive to the supplier and reseller. The basic product information remains the same, but the available quantity can be either reseller-specific or the same for all resellers. The wholesale price is always reseller-specific.

2. public catalog

   allows all resellers using the Glue service to see product details. However, sales prices and availability are only visible to companies to whom you have granted access. Public catalog details are not visible online.

Product information can be created by inputting manually, uploading it from a CSV or Excel file, or via the integration interface. Once you've set up your products, be sure to publish them in your reseller's product catalog. You can specify the wholesale price and availability of products on a retailer-by-retailer basis.

Upload production information from a file

Create a CSV file or Excel file where each line has one product. See example of a CSV-file.

Note the following:

• The first line can be a header. During the upload this helps you to map columns of your file to fields used by the Glue service.

• Comma (,) and dot (.) are accepted as decimal separators.

• If you use the CSV file then the field values shall be separated by semicolon (;).

• If Excel file has multiple sheets, then the first one shall include values used for the product upload.

• Field value to be uploaded can be reference to other field in the other sheet.

• It is strongly NOT recommended to use calculations in the Excel as uploaded value may not be the same as it looks in the Excel due to round up of values. For example, Excel may show rounded value of price with two digits but the Glue imports non-rounded value.

• If EAN is the following format: 1,1234E+12, then Excel changed the format of the value to scientific format. Use Excel to change the format of the field to number.

• Upload does not work if:

  • the same column name is used multiple times.

  • the same product ID is multiple times.

When the file is ready, follow the example (see video) and upload the file to the service.

See video here: How to add products to a retailer

Input product information manually

You can easily create a product using the user interface of the Glue service. Go to the "Products" tab and create a product with the "Add Product" function.

Once you have saved the product information, you can publish it to your reseller by selecting the product in the product listing ("Products" tab) and pressing "Add to List". You can then choose to whom you publish the product.

Creating production information using the API

You can upload products also using API. See more information from Products API. With API you can automate, for example, stock balance updates.

How to download product information from the Glue service

You can download product information to your computer. First, go to the "Products" tab and select "Export to CSV". If you want to include wholesale prices in the product download, first select the product catalog opened for you by the reseller, and then select "Export to CSV".

If you open a CSV file in Excel, Excel can interpret values in euros as dates. This can be avoided by first opening Excel, then selecting the "Data" tab from Excel, and then opening the CSV file via the "From Text / CSV" function (this may be slightly different in different versions of Excel).

You can use downloaded file to update prices and upload it back to Glue.

In Posti Glue, there are two ways to publish the supplier’s products to the retailer:  

• General product catalog: An easy way to publish basic product information to retailers. All retailers can see product information without prices and availability information. Prices and availability are only visible after you have approved the retailer activation request. 

• Private product catalog: A catalog set up by the online retailer in which the supplier publishes the products. This information will not be shared to other retailers. The retailer starts using the catalog and the supplier then activates it. 

Please note that the basic supplier information is visible to all retailers, but availability and prices vary by catalog. Product information stored in the service is never shared with users outside the service. 

Posti Glue can be integrated into your own online store or ERP system using the API interfaces available at api.posti.fi.

If you wish you can receive notification of new order to your email.

Select "Settings" from right hand upper corner, activate "Notification about new order" and save your e-mail address.

Product availability is one of the most important features of the Glue service, as retailers use availability information when publishing product information in the online store. Glue decreases quantity of product after each order, which means that overselling does not happen so easily, and you can update the availability of products at a pace suitable for your own products.

The quantities of the products are either the same for all retailers, i.e. "shared product quantity", or specific to the retailer. The product must always be published to the retailer so that its quantity can be updated.

Glue offers several ways to maintain product quantities:

- You can quickly update product quantities by manually entering them in the Products > Manage inventory tab. Click the "Edit inventories" button to enter editing mode. The product quantity applies either to the products of all retailers or to only one retailer, depending on what is active in the "Catalog" drop-down menu.

- The fastest way to update large quantities of products is an Excel or CSV file. Make a file with your product ID and product quantity and upload it on the Products > Upload products > Update catalog balance and price. You can find a template for maintaining product information in the "Download instructions" link.

- At the end of the product information, you can see the retailers for which the product has been published. You can choose whether to use a "shared product quantity" or whether to maintain availability per retailer.

- You can update the quantities directly from the product listing by clicking on the ">" on the right side, which opens a view for maintaining prices and product quantities. Product maintenance here is possible if you publish the product quantities per retailer.

- You can automate the update of product quantities using the API interface of the Glue service. See detailed instructions at api.posti.com/api-products.html#updateStockBalancesForAllRetailersAtOnce

Please watch the video below to see how you can add a new supplier. Supplier can publish product information for you once you have created the catalog.

Video:How to add a supplier

Form fields:

"Catalog ID" any numberic string to identify the supplier. It is recommended to use business ID (without "-") or OVT-ID of the supplier.

"Catalog usage". Select "Drop shipping" for drop shipping. "Posti warehouse service" is used if your own goods are stored in Posti warehouse. "Store shipping" is selected if the service is used for in-store picking at your own stores.

"Catalog name" is description of the catalog. You can use default value or write your own description.

"Payer contract number" is a contract number for Posti parcel services.

"Reference value for invoicing Posti parcel services" is always 5 digit long number which can be used to allocate delivery costs per reference value (shown in the invoice from Posti to your company). This information is optional.

"3PL user" and "3PL password" are used in integration with Unifaun. User ID and password are API keys for Unifaun Web Services (REST) interface if delivery operator is not Posti.

"Back order allowed" Flag to identify that backorders can be sent to this warehouse.

See this vdeo how to process the order.

Instructions only in Finnish.