Setting up Praxis & Brico APIs

Maxeda, the organization behind Praxis (Netherlands) and Brico (Belgium), offers a major marketplace for DIY products in the Benelux region. Through Mirakl, third-party sellers can list products on both platforms, reaching a wide audience while maintaining quality standards.

This guide provides step-by-step instructions for setting up the Praxis and Brico APIs using Mirakl in Channable, along with guidelines for effective implementation.

Table of Contents

1. Praxis and Brico explained
2. Account acceptance
3. Creating Connections for Praxis and Brico
4. Create the APIs for Praxis and Brico
5. Creating product listings
6. Activating APIs
7. Finalizing setup and account verification
8. Verify product listings for errors

Praxis and Brico APIs explained

To sell on either Praxis or Brico, you must list your products on both platforms. In Channable, this is managed through two separate APIs, one for each platform. These APIs connect to the same Mirakl seller account, which then links to the individual shops for Brico and Praxis.

Maxeda operates differently compared to other marketplaces because it requires that all data be identical across both APIs. This is an important consideration when setting up your product listings and creating rules, as maintaining consistency is crucial for successful integration.

Account acceptance

To successfully list products on the Maxeda platform, and before setting up your APIs, several steps must be completed to comply with Maxeda guidelines. We'll discuss them below:

1. Create the Praxis NL shop: Start by creating the Praxis NL shop.
   Shops creation:
2. Create users in the Praxis NL shop: Inform the Maxeda Marketplaces team to open the Brico BE shop and duplicate the NL account users.
3. Verify account information: After both shops are created, ensure all information in your Mirakl account is filled in according to the guidelines.
4. Check shop status: Check the status of each shop in Mirakl. If a shop is not live, additional information may be required. Contact Maxeda for assistance.

Maxeda must also review your products. This will only happen when your shops are live and all necessary product information is provided. For more information, consult the documents at the bottom of this article or contact Maxeda directly.

Step 1: Creating Connections for Praxis and Brico

To complete the setup for Maxeda Praxis and Maxeda Brico connections, you will need to repeat the following steps for each platform:

1. Navigate to Connections in Channable.
   
2. Click on +Add a new connection.
3. Select either Maxeda Praxis or Maxeda Brico.
   
   
4. Enter a label name, e.g., "Praxis" for Praxis or "Brico" for Brico.
5. Click on "Create" You will be redirected to Maxeda/Mirakl for the next step. Once there, log in using your Maxeda/Mirakl credentials.

After successfully logging in, the connection with Maxeda is established and available for use.

Step 2: Create the APIs for Praxis and Brico

Once back, navigate to the API's page in your project.

1. Click on +Add new API. Select either the Praxis or Brico connection you created earlier,and start configuring the API settings:
   • Name your API.
   • Select the Unique ID per item, we recommend selecting the 'id' field.
   • Select the language of your API, the chosen language does not affect the language of the data sent to Maxeda.
   • We strongly advise using a master rule group, to create synergy between the two APIs.
     
2. To create the new API, click "Continue" to create it.

Step 3: Creating product listings

To set up your API, follow these steps. Click on each step to expand and view the detailed instructions which will guide you through the process.

1. Categorization

2. Rules

3. Build step

The Build step allows you to configure all necessary attributes for your items, ensuring your product data aligns with marketplace requirements. This step is crucial for successful product listings and avoiding errors.

3.1 Overview

1. Access the Build step: Start by accessing the centralized interface of the Build step. This is where you will manage and map all product attributes.
2. Identify mandatory and optional Fields: Mandatory fields are highlighted in pink, indicating they are essential for listing your products. Optional fields are marked in orange and can be filled based on specific needs.

3.2 Populate Shared Attributes

1. Fill Shared Attributes: Enter common details that apply to all products, such as EAN, prices, and titles. This step ensures uniformity in basic product information across your listings.
   • Use static or dynamic Values:
     • Static Values: Directly input values that remain constant, like brand name or manufacturer.
     • Dynamic Values: Utilize fields that automatically update based on linked data, ideal for variables like stock levels or prices.

After you have filled in the desired values for the Shared attributes, continue to the Category specific attributes below.

3.3 Specify Category-Specific Attributes

1. Select product category: Choose the relevant category for your product, such as clothing or furniture.
2. Input Category - specific attributes: Fill in attributes that are specific to the selected category, such as size for clothing or dimensions for furniture. This step helps in fine-tuning your listings according to category requirements. Here you can again use static or dynamic values.

Read more about the Build step.

4. Quality step

The Quality step provides instant feedback on setup quality, highlighting mandatory and optional errors to ensure your product data meets the marketplaces' standards.

Actions

• View items: See products with specific issues.
• View in build: Redirects to the build step to map missing information.
• Set categories: Directs to the categories step to categorize items.
• Show source: Available for ID fields, directing to the settings step.

Read more about the Quality step.

5. Preview step

The Preview step displays mapped attributes for multiple items, highlighting errors before exporting to the marketplace.

Features

• Search & filter: Find specific products or filter by error message/category.
• Item overview: Shows all items to be exported; it can filter to show only items with errors.
• Detailed product preview: Displays missing information and dynamic actions to correct errors.

Checklist for finalizing attributes

• Review shared attributes: Ensure all mandatory shared attributes are filled.
• Review category-specific attributes: Ensure all mandatory category-specific attributes are filled.
• Check for errors: Correct any red-marked fields.

Read more about the Preview step.

6. Result step

Additional information for Praxis & Brico

The following information is specific to Maxeda. Below, we outline important information about the Praxis and Brico APIs, along with the golden rules to follow.

• Ensure consistency across both APIs
  

  To avoid errors and ensure smooth product listings for both Praxis and Brico, it is essential to maintain consistent product data across both platforms. Inconsistent data can lead to errors such as:

  "Rejected product: Mandatory fields are not filled in, add content to both channels (BE+NL)."

  To prevent these issues, use the Master Rules feature in Channable. This allows you to centralize and enforce consistency in your product listings for both APIs. You can create a master rule group and apply it to both Praxis and Brico APIs, ensuring all mandatory fields and key data remain synchronized.
  For more information on how to use master rules, please refer to our common master rules article.

• Images
  Although both APIs indicate that images need to be added in the attributes, Maxeda specifically requests that you only send images via the Praxis API. For the Brico API, leave the image attributes empty.
• The Golden rules
  Maxeda conducts initial checks using the Golden Rules. Once your product meets these criteria, further evaluations will follow. Below are the Golden Rules:

  Requirement	Description	Applicable for
  Mandatory Fields Completion	Product data must be complete for both Praxis and Brico mandatory fields.	Praxis, Brico
  Title Composition (BE-NL, NL-NL)	'brand' – 'product type' – 'serial number' – 'attribute 1' and/or 'dimensions' – 'other keywords' (Max. 85 characters).	Praxis, Brico
  Title Composition (BE-FR)	'product type' – 'brand' – 'serial number' – 'attribute 1' and/or 'dimensions'(Max. 100 characters).	Brico
  Product Description	Use basic HTML only (no CSS). Highlight key benefits of the product. Clearly list what’s included in the box. (or what's not) Describe product usage and intended audience. Repeat main keywords and brand throughout. Address the customer with 'you' (Min. 150 characters).	Praxis, Brico
  Unique Selling Points (USPs)	3 USP’s in all languages is mandatory. Highlight characteristics that make the product stand out. (Max. 65 characters).	Praxis, Brico
  Images	At least 2 images with a minimum size of 500x500px. Add dimensions or a manual if relevant.	Praxis, Brico
  Number Formatting	Always use '.' (dot) for numbers instead of ',' (comma).	Praxis, Brico

Step 4: Activating APIs

Follow the steps below to activate your APIs:

1. Go to Settings > Project settings on the left-hand side of the screen.
2. Click "Activate project".
3. Navigate back to the APIs overview.
4. Go to [Your API Name] > Settings.
5. Select “Activate API” to activate the API.

Return to the APIs overview and click the blue “Run now” button to send your product listings.

Step 5: Finalizing setup and account verification

After setting up your APIs, it is essential to verify that your products are successfully sent and properly listed in the marketplace. Follow these steps to finalize the setup:

1. Verify product status in the Marketplace

After setting up your APIs, products may be successfully sent to the marketplace but may not yet be live. To resolve this, ensure that your Maxeda account in Mirakl has completed all required steps as discussed in the Account acceptance section of this article.

When you log in to Mirakl, you can see the status of each shop. If a shop is not live, it may indicate that additional information is required. In such cases, contact Maxeda for assistance.

2. "Golden" rules errors

When sending products to Maxeda for the first time, you may encounter the error: "mirakl_unknown_error_code" followed by "The product does not exist". This error occurs when some or all of the EANs/products are not yet reviewed and accepted by Maxeda. These products will be reviewed by Maxeda according to their golden rules policy.

3. Product review timeline

The Maxeda content team typically takes about a week to review products. If the products comply with their policy, the error will be resolved, and the products will go live.

Step 6: Verify product listings for errors

Once you have resolved the "mirakl_unknown_error_code" and the subsequent "The product does not exist" error, you can manage the APIs as you would for any other Marketplace in Channable. However, remember to synchronize changes across both APIs whenever you make modifications.

To review your errors, navigate to the Preview tabs of your APIs. Here, you can see which product listings have errors and need corrections.