Create and update your price lists automatically
Price lists go by several equivalent names: companies sometimes refer to them as “pricing tables,” “price lists,” “pricing catalogs,” or simply “rates.”
Ces grilles représentent un outil de communication essentiel pour les entreprises. Elles facilitent la communication des tarifs des produits commercialisés et permettent de mieux aiguiller les clients dans leur décision d’achat. Ces documents sont amenés à être actualisés très régulièrement.
These documents are essential communication tools for businesses. They make it easier to present the prices of marketed products and help guide customers in their purchasing decisions. Price lists also need to be updated very regularly.
Fortunately, this constraint can be addressed by using a tool specifically designed for this purpose.
Existing methods for creating price lists
When a company wants to launch new products or simply update its prices, new price lists must be created or existing ones edited. In practical terms, graphic designers create the layout of one or more pricing tables in which data is then inserted manually, one item at a time, using copy and paste.
Redundant and extremely time-consuming, this manual work comes with several drawbacks. It requires a high level of vigilance and attention, making the task labor-intensive and prone to errors. This can result in delays—or even jeopardize the entire production of your price lists.
Fortunately, the layout of these documents can be simplified. How? The answer is simple: by automating layout directly in InDesign with EasyCatalog.
How can you automate the creation of price lists?
Automation does not always depend on complex and expensive software. It is possible to automate the creation of price lists through a rigorous information management methodology. To move from manual data entry (a common source of errors) to automatic generation of your pricing documents, the process generally relies on three pillars:
- Data centralization: Everything begins with a clean data source (Excel, ERP, or PIM), where your pricing is structured in a clear and organized way.
- Templating (Modeling): Instead of designing each table individually, create “smart cells” in InDesign. These templates define where the product name, reference number, and price will appear.
- Dynamic synchronization: This is the stage where the data populates the template. At this point, it is recommended to use a powerful automation solution that not only generates the document but also updates prices with a single click in case of last-minute changes.
Expert tip: Although it is possible to attempt native XML imports into InDesign, professionals often use specialized connectors such as the EasyCatalog plug-in. This additional module for InDesign maintains an automatic link between your pricing data and your documents, ensuring that every change is instantly updated in your InDesign catalog.
Note: Using EasyCatalog does not require specific programming skills.
EasyCatalog: an automation tool for document creation
Automated layout helps avoid many of the challenges that can arise during document creation. EasyCatalog was designed to save designers time by freeing them from copy-paste constraints and data management tasks.
For designers, the added value is evident throughout the entire process—from data collection to updating price lists, including the design phase itself.
In addition, reusing data and layout templates becomes much easier, making it simpler to adapt documents into multiple languages.
What should I know about finalizing my price lists?
After using EasyCatalog to create your price lists, you can still refine them in InDesign. If necessary, you can enhance the visual appearance of your documents by rebalancing graphic elements to improve readability.
Your price lists are then ready to be distributed to customers through your various communication channels. Need to make a last-minute price change? Don’t waste time: update the information in your data source in just a few clicks to automatically apply the changes to your documents.
If this process interests you, feel free to take the “Is your document automatable?” test. The results will help you determine whether your price lists, pricing tables, or pricing catalogs can potentially be automated.
