> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://developer.voyado.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Importing stores

Stores can either be added manually one by one, or via file import (CSV, UTF-8 encoded).

If you are importing stores, we recommended you do it before anything else is imported. This is because contacts (which are a separate import) might contain store references in their data, such as favorite store or recruited-by store, requiring the stores data to already be in place.

A transactions import will also require stores to be set up first.

<Warning>
  Make sure stores are imported / set up before any other kind of data is imported.
</Warning>

When using a file import, your CSV should use semicolon (;) as a delimiter to separate the fields. The order of the fields doesn't matter.

### Import stores by API

You can create a store in Voyado Engage through this API endpoint:

```http theme={null}
POST /api/v3/stores
```

See your Swagger page for an example of the payload.

### Import stores by CSV

There are three mandatory fields (see table below). Apart from these you only need to include the fields you want to set.

| **Field**    | **Example**      | **Type** | **Description**                                                  |
| :----------- | :--------------- | :------- | :--------------------------------------------------------------- |
| \*externalId | 222              | string   | The store's unique id.                                           |
| \*name       | The Store        | string   | The name of the store.                                           |
| \*timeZone   | Europe/Stockholm | string   | The time zone.                                                   |
| type         | ECOMM            | string   | The store's type, either ECOMM (eCommerce) or RETAIL (physical). |

Download the file example to see all the optional fields.

<Warning>
  In **externalId** there is a small letter L followed by a large letter I that might be hard to tell apart in certain fonts.
</Warning>

**File example**

You can download examples as CSV and Excel [on the example files page](/docs/file-based-transfer/example-files).

**Starting the import**

Processing of the file must be manually triggered by your Voyado Engage team.