PrestaShop CSV Import: Products, Categories, and Combinations

PrestaShop Is CSV-Native — Especially in Europe

PrestaShop powers a huge share of EU and UK SMB storefronts. Merchants bulk-load products, categories, customers, and combinations via CSV from the back office. French and German Excel habits (semicolons, decimal commas, Windows encodings) collide with UTF-8 import requirements constantly — this guide is the practical fix list.

Which PrestaShop Import Entity?

Pick the entity matching the sample.

Step-by-Step: Product CSV Import

Back office path.

• Advanced Parameters → Import (wording varies by version).
• Download the sample CSV for Products.
• Build your file from the sample — do not invent Magento/Shopify headers.
• Set the matching field (Product ID or Reference) intentionally for updates.
• Choose field separator (; common in FR/DE Excel) to match the file.
• Choose UTF-8 encoding.
• Map columns in the import UI; save mapping if you import often.
• Run a small pilot; verify storefront; then import the rest.

Reference;Name;Price tax excl.;Quantity;Active
MUG-BLU-01;Blue Stoneware Mug;23.53;40;1

Separators, Decimals, and Excel (FR/DE)

This is where PrestaShop imports die.

• Field separator in the file must match the import form (comma vs semicolon).
• Decimal commas in prices confuse imports expecting periods — normalize per sample.
• Convert with a quote-aware delimiter tool; do not blind replace.
• See European Excel CSV and CSV Date Formats guides for locale stacks.

Multi-Language Shops

Name/description columns often repeat per language.

• Follow PrestaShop’s language column conventions for your version.
• Do not overwrite FR copy with EN accidentally via wrong column map.
• UTF-8 required for accents and German umlauts.
• URL rewrites/links may need separate attention after import.

Combinations (Variants)

Sizes and colors are their own import type.

• Parent product reference must already exist.
• Attribute/value pairs must match predefined attributes.
• Quantity and impact on price fields follow the combinations sample.
• Import combinations after products, not before.

Images and Categories

Common second-pass work.

• Image URLs/paths must be reachable by the shop per PrestaShop’s import rules.
• Category paths/IDs must exist or be imported first.
• Home category mistakes park products where customers never look.

PrestaShop vs Shopify / Woo / Magento

Do not cross-upload.

• Maintain a master catalog; generate PrestaShop-specific CSV.
• Reference (SKU) discipline still applies across channels.
• See Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, and BigCommerce guides for other templates.

Common Mistakes

EU merchant classics.

• Wrong separator vs import setting.
• Updating by ID when you meant Reference (or the reverse).
• Importing combinations before parents.
• ANSI file with é/ü mangled.
• Skipping the pilot on a multi-language shop.

Best Practices

Treat imports like releases.

• Save column mappings for repeat jobs.
• Version every import file.
• Pilot 5–10 products including one accented name and one combination.
• Back up DB before huge catalog loads.
• Edit in a browser tool when Excel keeps changing separators.

Why Use Convert CSV Online?

Convert CSV Online is free, browser-based, and requires no account for everyday conversions. Switch semicolon/comma layouts with the Delimited converter, preview PrestaShop sheets in the Online CSV Editor, and deliver UTF-8 files for FR/DE/UK shops on Windows, macOS, or Linux.

Conclusion

PrestaShop CSV success is sample discipline plus locale discipline. Align separators and UTF-8 with the import form, load parents before combinations, and pilot multi-language rows before you touch the full catalog.