Setting up a Douglas API

Step 1: Add a new Douglas connection

The Douglas API uses the Mirakl platform, which means you will need a Mirakl account to start sending your product listings to Douglas.

When you have a Mirakl Douglas account, go to "[Your company] settings menu > Connections > Add connection". Click on "+ Add a new connection" and you will see a screen, where you can select Douglas. Fill in the label for your connection, for example, Douglas. Then click on ''Connect with Douglas". You will be redirected to the environment where you can log in with your Mirakl-credentials. After logging in, you will be redirected back to Channable where the connection will be available.

Step 2: Add a new Douglas API in Channable

Now go to the API's overview in your project. Click on Add new API, select the Douglas connection you just made, and give your new API a name.

Select the field you want to use for Unique ID per item (we recommend the 'id' field), and the Language in which you do categorizations and setup attributes. You can also add a master rule group here if you want. Click on "Continue" to finish creating the new Douglas API.

Step 3: Create your product listings in Channable

Once you have created the Douglas API you can set up your product data by following the steps of the API.

1. Categories
   For your product data to be created your products need a category. Add categories to your products by using the generate categories feature or create new categories from scratch.
   
   
2. Rules
   Create different rules to optimize your product data. Take a look at our common rules support article for some examples.
   
   
3. Build
   Here you can find our preset template for the product listings. All you have to do is fill it out by clicking on the field itself and selecting what you would like to go in there. For example, the field 'Price' should display the price of your product and so on. When you have finished setting up the product listings, just click 'save' at the bottom of the screen.
   
   
   Important: Mirakl APIs do not have a 'title' in the build step. There is a “ Product Title" field in the attribute step to connect the title!
   Note: Where usually for Mirakl you can select sales channels within 1 shop, Douglas has a strict 1 sales channel per shop policy. That's also the reason why you don't see a 'Sales channels' tab here. For every region, there is a separate sales channel that is tied to the shop. So every shop only has access to one sales channel. If you want to sell in multiple regions, you have to have separate shops (and thus connections) for every sales channel. This is Policy from Douglas. For this reason, they don't have 'channel-specific pricing' enabled.
4. Attributes
   Almost done! Next up is filling in the fields in the Attributes step. Select the category you want to optimize first. An example of what should be in front of you now can be seen in the screenshot below. A more detailed explanation of what to do in the Attributes step can be found in our Attributes support article.

Step 4: Send your products to Douglas

Almost there, your product listings are ready to be sent. If you have not activated your project, go to Setup > Project settings on the left-hand side of the screen and click 'activate project'. After, go back to the APIs overview and go to "Your Douglas API Name" > Settings, where you activate the API by selecting "Activate API". After you have completed this step, navigate back to the APIs overview and select the blue "Run now" button to send your product listings to Douglas.

Step 5: Check your product listings for errors

After you have sent your product listings to Douglas, go to the Results tab of your Douglas API. Click in the filter on 'error'. Now you can see which product listings have errors and are not placed. Click on a specific error to see more information on what is causing the error. If you have solved some errors by changing the settings or product information, re-run the Douglas API to see the new results. 

Best practices

Adding multiple attribute values: when adding multiple values in an attribute field for Mirakl Marketplaces, separate each value with a pipe symbol "|" to ensure proper detection and processing. 

Seller's Product ID for Single/simple products: Please note that there are two attributes named 'SellerArticleId' and 'SellerProductId,' respectively. 'SellerProductId' refers to the Parent ID, while 'SellerArticleId' refers to the variant items. For single products, both attributes must be filled with the same value.

For more information on Mirakl Marketplace errors, how-to's, and best practices, check out our dedicated guide. Click here to read more.