In e-commerce, CSV remains one of the most popular data exchange formats. It’s simple, supported by almost every system—from CMS and ERP to marketplaces—and doesn’t require complex tools to read. But behind this simplicity lies a whole set of challenges. The moment multiple suppliers with different habits and templates get involved, chaos begins on the retailer’s side. One uses commas as delimiters, another uses semicolons, and a third sends a spreadsheet with an encoding your site can’t read. Instead of fast integration, you end up spending hours—or even days—on manual file preparation.
1. Why CSV Is Still Popular
The reason for CSV’s longevity is simple: it’s accessible even to those far from programming. You can open it in Excel or Google Sheets, edit it, and export it again. It integrates easily into virtually any system, making it a universal tool.
However, that same universality creates difficulties. There is no strict international standard defining field order, value formatting, or allowed delimiters. As a result, two CSV files that look similar can be fundamentally different in structure. For integration, this means you must normalize the data to a single standard—spending time and resources on routine work.
2. Where the Problems Start
As soon as an online store starts working with multiple suppliers, file incompatibility becomes obvious. Column delimiters don’t match, and even column names vary. Where you expect to see “Name,” a partner might have “Title” or “Product name.” In one file, prices might appear as 1000, while in another they look like 1 000 RUB, making automatic recognition impossible. Units of measurement can also be inconsistent: one supplier uses centimeters, another millimeters.
Encoding adds another layer of complexity. Different systems export files in different encodings, and if one isn’t compatible with yours, text turns into unreadable characters. Some suppliers also omit key fields—like a unique ID or product image URL—without which you can’t create a complete product listing.
3. How to Structure CSV Properly for Integration
To make CSV a truly reliable tool, a store should define a set of mandatory fields in advance and establish unified rules for filling them out. Field names should be consistent, and value formatting strict: prices without extra symbols, dates in a single format, brands and categories from an approved directory. You also need to agree on a single delimiter and lock in the encoding—UTF-8 remains the most universal option.
Another crucial rule is storing each attribute in its own column. If size, color, and material are combined into one field, automatic processing becomes harder and less reliable. Separating them not only makes integration easier but also enables more precise product filtering on the site. While these sound like obvious rules, enforcing them requires constant oversight.
4. Automation vs. Manual Routine
Even the best-defined standards won’t help much if you have dozens of suppliers at different automation levels. Manual file cleanup becomes a never-ending task: adjusting each new price list, removing extra spaces, fixing encoding issues, and renaming columns.
This is where automation delivers maximum value. NotPIM, for example, accepts CSV files in any format and standardizes them automatically. The system detects and corrects delimiters, converts files to the right encoding, and arranges columns according to the store’s requirements. Missing data is enriched with descriptions, specifications, and images, while incorrect values are transformed into the proper format. The result is a catalog ready for upload—no manual intervention required.
5. What a Proper CSV Process Delivers for Business
Having a structured, automatically processed CSV file dramatically reduces the time it takes to get products online. Instead of spending days on editing and checks, product listings can appear in the catalog within hours of receiving the supplier’s file. This speeds up market response and ensures faster time-to-market for new items.
A single standard also minimizes errors: no more listings with empty descriptions, incorrect prices, or wrong attributes. The catalog appears cohesive and professional, improving brand perception. And importantly, manual labor costs drop significantly as the system takes over most routine tasks.
6. Conclusion
CSV, when managed correctly, can be a reliable foundation for working with product data. The problems don’t stem from the format itself but from the lack of structure and unified rules. Combine these with automation—as NotPIM does—and you can turn chaotic files from different suppliers into a clean, standardized, and ready-to-publish catalog. In e-commerce, where speed and data accuracy directly impact sales, this is a competitive advantage that’s hard to overestimate.