PrestaShop dropshipping module WATCHIMPORT
🌐 Source catalog available in: 
✅ Automatic multilingual store. In 1 single import, the module fills every product page in all active languages of your store. No manual translation, no third-party tool.
⌚ ✨ 🕰️
WatchImport Dropshipping Module
The module that automates your watch dropshipping with ILA Uhren GmbH on PrestaShop
PrestaShop 1.7 → 9.x · 3 languages (DE/EN/FR) · Real-time CSV import · Premium brands
Do you sell watches online and work with ILA Uhren GmbH? Are you spending hours copying Adidas, Casio, Diesel, Festina or Fossil product sheets from the wholesaler portal, reformatting German descriptions, uploading photos from the CDN, recalculating your retail prices with your margin?
With the WatchImport dropshipping Module, everything becomes automatic. You provide the URL of your ILA CSV file, you click "Start import", and the module creates trilingual PrestaShop products one by one, before your eyes, in real time.
⚡ Before vs After the WatchImport Module
| Task |
❌ Without the module |
✅ With the module |
| Import 500 trilingual watches | 8h+ manual, copy-paste from the ILA portal | 1 click, ~25 min in the background |
| Price & stock update | Full manual re-import | Auto light update on existing products |
| Multilingual German → English | Paid DeepL or manual writing | Native DE/EN/FR texts from the CSV imported in parallel |
| Brand/Model/Gender categories | Manual tree creation per product | Auto 3-level cascade + persistent mapping |
| Margins & retail prices | Excel to recalculate for each tier | 6 % tiers per purchase price bracket |
| Product photos | Manual download from the ILA CDN | Auto from watchimport.eu, resized for PS |
| SEO & meta-descriptions | Unique writing per product | Templates with variables {name}, {brand} |
| PS Tags for facets | Manual entry per product + language | PS Tags auto from CSV keywords (3 languages) |
👤 Who is this module for?
⌚
Online watch shop
You sell branded watches (Casio, Diesel, Tissot, Festina) and want to multiply your catalog without managing physical stock at ILA Uhren GmbH.
🇩🇪
DACH/EU market e-merchant
You target Germany, Austria, Switzerland or France and want to sell premium German watches with native DE/EN/FR descriptions without manual translation.
📈
Scaling dropshipper
You manage 1,000+ watch SKUs manually and waste time on operations. The module gives you back hours every week.
🎯 Full features of the WatchImport Module
📥 Trilingual CSV import from URL — In real time
- Configurable CSV URL: the module automatically downloads the file provided by ILA Uhren GmbH (28 trilingual columns)
- Real-time product-by-product import: each created product is shown in a live log with progress bar, status badge (Created / Updated / Skipped / Error), name and PrestaShop ID
- Stop button during import: stops cleanly, you can resume later
- Configurable product limit: 0 = all, 50 = test on 50 rows
- Light update mode: if a product is already imported (same
artikelnummer), only price + stock + availability are updated. No rewriting of descriptions, categories, tags.
- 1-click URL test: validates the download and displays detected columns before import
- UTF-8 BOM detection automatic (the ILA file sometimes has one)
- "Active products only" filter: ignores
aktiv=0 rows
🌐 Native trilingual DE / EN / FR — European markets
| 🇩🇪 German (Deutsch) |
🇬🇧 English |
🇫🇷 French (Français) |
- Automatic detection of active PS languages that have a CSV equivalent (mapping
de/en/fr)
- Auto-generation of structured HTML for the description when the CSV does not provide one (template with brand, category, reference, EAN)
- Automatic mini-description per language (PS description_short) for category pages
- Translation of auto-generated labels: all texts "Discover", "from the brand", "Reference", "EAN" are localized in the 3 languages
- Clean slug (link_rewrite) without accents or special characters per language
- PS ISO codes managed:
gb → en alias automatic for PrestaShop UK
📁 Cascading 3-level categories — Smart tree
The ILA CSV contains 3 levels of categories per language (kategorie1/2/3). The module automatically creates the cascading PrestaShop tree and stores the mapping for subsequent imports:
| ILA CSV (EN) | Result in PrestaShop |
|---|
Watches › Casio › G-Shock | Home › Watches › Casio › G-Shock |
Watches › Diesel › Mr. Daddy | Home › Watches › Diesel › Mr. Daddy |
Watches › Festina › Chrono | Home › Watches › Festina › Chrono |
- Persistent mapping:
wp_watchimport_category_mapping table avoids recreation on each import
- Customizable root category: Home by default, or any category in your shop
- Assignment to ALL ancestors: the product appears in Brand AND Model AND Gender, perfect for SEO and navigation
- Default category = the deepest one: optimal for SEO redirects
- Selective deletion of empty categories in the Maintenance area
🏷️ Brands (Manufacturers) — Automatic creation
- Auto-creation of the PS manufacturer for each brand detected in the CSV (level 2 of the tree)
- Duplicate detection by exact
name, no duplication
- Multilingual: brand meta_title filled in all active PS languages
- Product ↔ brand link:
id_manufacturer set automatically
💰 4 pricing modes — Flexible margins
| Mode | Description | For whom? |
|---|
| UVP | Supplier recommended price (UVP) as is | Quick start, standard ILA margin |
| Tiers ⭐ | Different % depending on the purchase price bracket (e.g.: +200% under €30, +60% above €500) | Recommended — maximizes margin on small prices |
| Fixed markup | A single % applied to all products | Simple strategy, constant margin |
| Wholesale | Purchase price (EK netto) as is — you set the margin elsewhere | B2B, resellers, external calculations |
Default tier configuration (6 optimized brackets):
0–30 € → +200 % · 30–60 € → +150 % · 60–100 € → +120 %
100–200 € → +100 % · 200–500 € → +80 % · 500 €+ → +60 %
🔍 SEO & PS Tags — Native PrestaShop 9 optimization
- Meta title / meta description with variables:
{name}, {brand}
- Multilingual PS Tags: the
keywords_de/en/fr CSV column is automatically converted into ps_tag + ps_product_tag via Tag::addTags() (PrestaShop 9 removed meta_keywords from ps_product_lang; the module handles this migration transparently)
- Auto-generation of structured HTML for the description when the CSV does not provide one long enough (≥30 characters): title, brand, category, reference, EAN, formatted paragraphs, lists
- SEO mini-description with natural keywords (link_rewrite, automatic 160-character meta_description)
- Auto-disable on out-of-stock (option) or "keep visible for SEO" option
- Auto-disable inactive product on ILA side (option) if
aktiv=0 in CSV
📸 Images from the watchimport.eu CDN
- Hardcoded CDN URL:
http://watchimport.eu/images/product_images/popup_images/ — the user has nothing to configure
- curl download with custom User-Agent, 301/302 redirect followed automatically
- Format validation via
getimagesize(): JPEG / PNG / GIF / WebP accepted, corrupted files rejected without crashing the import
- Automatic generation of all PS sizes (small_default, medium_default, large_default, etc.) via
ImageManager::resize()
- Multilingual caption: uses the product name in each PS language
- Main image = cover automatically
- Detailed error logs in case of 404 / timeout / invalid format
⚡ Real-time import architecture — A UX revolution
The scenario that changes everything:
- 📥 Preparation: the module downloads the CSV from the ILA URL and caches the rows locally as JSON
- 🚀 "1 product = 1 AJAX call" import: no 30-minute freeze, you see each product created one by one
- 📊 Golden progress bar: live percentage + X/Y counter
- 📋 Live console-style log: colored badge (Created / Updated / Skipped / Error) + product name + PS ID#
- ⏸️ Stop button at any time, resumable
- 📈 Live stats: Created, Updated, Skipped, Errors in real time
→ No more lagging page. No more worry. You see everything that's happening.
- Persistent state on disk: if the browser closes, you can resume
- No Apache 5xx timeout: each AJAX = 1 product, never more than 2-3 seconds
- 500-row DOM memory limit: import 5,000 products without browser freeze
- Smart auto-scroll of the log when close to the bottom
🛠️ Maintenance area — Selective deletion
3 independent checkboxes + double confirmation (dialog box + typing the word DELETE):
- Imported products: 4-source deletion (meta table, ILA id_supplier, product_supplier join table, category fallback). Compatible with PS9 multi-shop quirk: actually verifies the row's absence in SQL after
Product->delete() + direct SQL wipe fallback on 25 related tables if needed
- Empty categories: 10-pass cascade algorithm — deletes from deepest to highest, never categories that still have products or children
- Internal logs: truncate of
wp_watchimport_history and wp_watchimport_import_errors tables
- Transparent diagnostics: if 0 products deleted, the module shows a breakdown of scanned sources to understand why
📊 History tab — Catalog control
- Import history: who, when, how many products created/updated/skipped
- Detailed error log: image download errors, malformed CSV rows, PHP exceptions
- Global statistics: number of currently imported products, date of last import, size of last batch
- Limit 100 entries per query so as not to overload the BO
🏷️ The ILA Uhren GmbH catalog — Available brands
ILA Uhren GmbH is one of the best-known B2B wholesalers in Germany for multi-brand watchmaking. Non-exhaustive overview of the brands available in their catalog:
Adidas
Casio
Diesel
DKNY
Emporio Armani
Festina
Fossil
G-Shock
Guess
Ice-Watch
Invicta
Lacoste
Michael Kors
Nautica
Police
Seiko
Skagen
Swatch
Timex
Tissot
Tommy Hilfiger
+ hundreds of others
Categories covered: women's watches, men's watches, kids' watches, chronographs, connected watches (smartwatches), sport watches, analog & digital watches, straps & accessories.
⭐ 10 reasons to choose the WatchImport Module
- 🚀 3-minute installation: paste your ILA CSV URL, test the download, you're set
- ⌚ Real-time product-by-product import: progress bar, live log, colored badges. An unprecedented UX experience on PrestaShop.
- 🤖 100% AJAX, zero reload: smooth, modern, pleasant interface
- 📚 Built-in documentation: no internet connection required to view it
- 🛡️ Compatible PS 1.7 → 9.x:
WiCompat compatibility layer that handles all versions, including the PS9 meta_keywords → ps_tag migration
- ⚡ Optimized for modest hosting: 1 product per AJAX call, never a 5xx timeout, ideal for shared hosting
- 🎨 Custom watchmaker design: black + gold palette reminiscent of horological luxury
- 🧹 Easy maintenance: robust 4-source selective deletion, compatible with PS9 multi-shop quirk
- 💎 No AdminController, no BO Tab: doesn't pollute your menu, configuration only in the module sheet
- 🇫🇷 French author: support in French, regular updates, clean & commented code
🎬 How it works in 4 steps
1
Install the module
Download the ZIP, install via the BO. Auto-creation of 4 tables, 1 ILA Uhren GmbH supplier, secured uploads folder.
2
Enter the CSV URL
Go to Settings, paste the URL of the CSV file provided by ILA Uhren GmbH, choose the root category, save.
3
Configure your margins
6 default tiers, or choose UVP / Fixed markup / Wholesale. Customizable SEO templates.
4
Start the import
Click "Start import". The golden progress bar and live log start. You see each product created before your eyes.
🔧 Technical compatibility
| PrestaShop | 1.7.x → 9.x (tested on PS 9.0) |
| PHP | 7.4 minimum, recommended 8.1+ |
| MySQL / MariaDB | 5.7+ / 10.3+ |
| Multi-shop | Compatible (uses the current shop + forces CONTEXT_ALL for deletion) |
| Hooks used | None (no pollution of the event chain) |
| Class override | None (preserves your other modules) |
| AdminController | None |
| BO sidebar tab | None (doesn't pollute your menu) |
| ILA Uhren GmbH account | B2B account required (on watchimport.eu) |
| CSV URL | To be requested from your ILA sales rep |
❓ Frequently asked questions
Q: Does the WatchImport dropshipping Module work on PrestaShop 9?
A: Yes, fully compatible with PS 9.x. The internal WiCompat compatibility layer also handles versions 1.7 and 8 without code modification. The module even handles the PS9-specific migration where meta_keywords was removed from ps_product_lang: it automatically switches to the ps_tag / ps_product_tag system.
Q: How many watches can I import?
A: No limit on the module side. The ILA Uhren GmbH CSV file can contain several thousand SKUs. You can import everything, or use the limit "0 = all, 50 = test on 50 rows" to start gently.
Q: Will my €9/month shared hosting hold up?
A: Yes, the module is specially optimized for modest hosting. The "1 product = 1 AJAX call" architecture guarantees that no call exceeds 2-3 seconds. No risk of Apache 5xx timeout, unlike "all-in-one" import modules.
Q: Do I have to provide a URL or a CSV file?
A: A URL. ILA Uhren GmbH provides an HTTP endpoint that serves the up-to-date CSV permanently. The module downloads this URL automatically on each import. You don't have to upload anything manually.
Q: What happens to already imported products during a new import?
A: "Light update" mode: the module detects via artikelnummer that the product already exists. It ONLY updates the price and stock. It NEVER rewrites your descriptions, categories or tags — you keep your customizations.
Q: What happens if an image is broken?
A: The module validates each image with getimagesize() before import. Corrupted files, 404s and timeouts are cleanly rejected and logged. The product is created without an image rather than crashing the import chain.
Q: What if I want to stop an import in progress?
A: A "Stop" button is available during import. It stops cleanly at the end of the current product. You can resume later, the module picks up where it left off thanks to state persisted on disk.
Q: Can I uninstall cleanly?
A: Yes, but the uninstall deliberately keeps your imported products (irreversible loss avoided). A "Selective deletion" area in the Import tab allows granular cleanup with triple confirmation: products / empty categories / internal logs, independent.
Q: Does the module handle VAT?
A: The module retrieves the price excl. tax from the CSV. VAT is applied by PrestaShop according to your shop configuration (default rate, by category, by country). No specific module intervention.
⌚ Ready to automate your watch dropshipping?
The WatchImport dropshipping Module is the most complete tool to sell ILA Uhren GmbH watches (Adidas, Casio, Diesel, Festina, Fossil, Tissot…) on PrestaShop. Once configured, it imports the catalog at your pace.
⚡ 3-MIN INSTALLATION · 📚 REAL-TIME IMPORT · 🛡️ COMPATIBLE PS 1.7 → 9 · 🇫🇷 FRENCH SUPPORT
📋 Technical details for developers
DB tables created (4): wp_watchimport_history, wp_watchimport_import_errors, wp_watchimport_product_meta, wp_watchimport_category_mapping
PS configurations: WPWI_SETTINGS (JSON), WPWI_SUPPLIER_ID, WPWI_LAST_IMPORT_AT, WPWI_LAST_IMPORT_COUNT
ILA Uhren GmbH CSV (28 trilingual columns): kategorie1/2/3_de/en/fr, artikelnummer, ean_code, artikelname_de/en/fr, beschreibung_de/en/fr, keywords_de/en/fr, bild, ek_netto, uvp, datum, bestand, aktiv, lieferant
Architecture: 3 clean PHP classes (WiCompat, WiCategoryMapper, WiCsvImporter) + main module + AJAX router. No core PrestaShop class override. Code commented in French.
Real-time import: 2 AJAX endpoints (import_csv_prepare which downloads + parses + caches, import_csv_row which processes 1 product at a time). State persisted as JSON in uploads/state/ with protective index.php.
Security: pSQL() everywhere, uploads/ + uploads/state/ folders protected by redirect index.php, image format validation (getimagesize), native PS CSRF on AJAX, systematic HTML escaping (htmlspecialchars).
PS9-specific compatibility: automatic migration meta_keywords → ps_tag/ps_product_tag via Tag::addTags(), handling of the Product::delete() quirk that returns false in multi-shop (post-delete SQL verification + direct wipe fallback on 25 related tables).
📦 Module developed by WebPoint · webpoint.fr · Regular updates · Clean & commented code
