A messy catalog isn't a content problem you fix once — it's a state problem you govern continuously. This guide gets a 1,000+ SKU store from a raw export to a catalog the Catalog Specialist can run, in ten working days.
Days 1–2: get the ground truth
- 1Export the full catalog and join it to landed cost. SKUs with no cost are your Tier C problem — flag them now.
- 2Tag obvious dead inventory: zero sales in 180 days, no stock, discontinued lines still listed.
- 3Identify your top 20% of SKUs by contribution margin. These get the most conservative gates.
Days 3–6: classify into lifecycle states
Assign every SKU a lifecycle state. Don't agonize — the agent will surface corrections as review rows once it's running. The point is to start with a defensible baseline.
- active / throttled — currently sellable, full or capped velocity.
- winding_down — phase out, no new promotion.
- archived — removed from sale, retained for history.
- blocked — held by a policy or compliance flag.
Days 7–8: stamp cost-confidence tiers
Tier A means landed cost is known and current; Tier B means estimated within a confident band; Tier C means unknown or stale. The tier decides which actions the agent may take — price moves only unlock at Tier A.
{ "sku": "4471", "state": "active", "cost_confidence": "A", "margin": 0.52 }Days 9–10: dry-run and read the rows
Connect read-only and let the Catalog Specialist propose. The first dry-run will tell you where your classification was wrong faster than any spreadsheet review. Tune ALLOWED_TRANSITIONS where it complains, and you're ready to flip.