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Build Your Product List (APL) From Scratch – For New Stores

Start strong with four required fields. Build a clean, reliable APL that powers your POS and reporting from day one.

This guide is designed for new stores building an APL (Approved Product List) from scratch.

✏️ Note: If you’re already a POS and/or a back office solution, Vori’s Solutions Engineer will work with you to retrieve and import your existing data. This guide is intended for new stores only, not stores migrating from another system.

Table of Contents

What is an APL?

An Approved Product List (APL) is a list of every product your store will carry, including key details that power your POS, reporting, and inventory workflows.

Setting up your APL is one of the first steps to getting started with Vori.

👉 Important: Be sure to make a copy of the template before editing.
      Open the APL Template

Required Fields in APL

You need four required fields to build your APL:

Field Definition Priority
Product Name
  • The name is what’s displayed on the POS and printed on receipts.
 Required
Department Name
  • Vori organizes products into top-level categories (Departments) to support reporting, apply shared attributes like EBT eligibility or bottle deposits, and keep your store organized for easier sales tracking.
  • Define and name these in your APL file. They’ll be automatically created in your Back Office after upload.
 Required
Price
  • The retail price entered as a decimal (e.g., 2.49).
 Required
Barcode
(UPC / PLU, etc.)
  • A unique product code used for scanning at checkout, ideally a GS1-standard code like a UPC, EAN, GTIN, or PLU. Enter barcodes as text to preserve leading zeros (e.g., by adding a single quote ' at the start).
 Required
Sales Tax Applies
  • Marks whether the product is subject to standard sales tax (true) or not (false). 
 Required

Additional Fields

Once your required fields are in place, you can include additional product attributes to support ordering, inventory, and checkout operations. These fields are optional, but they streamline Vori workflows as your store grows.

✏️ Note: If you already have this data on hand, it’s better to include it now rather than waiting to add it later.

Product Categories

Field Definition Priority Notes 
Sub Department 
  • Second-level category for organizing products within departments.
 Optional
  • Vori currently supports only two levels of product organization: departments and subdepartments.

Vendor & Cost Details

Field  Definition Priority Notes 
Vendor Item Code    
  • The ordering or reference code used by your vendor.    
 Critical for Smart Pricing  
  • Often printed on invoices or case labels.
Vendor Name    
  • The primary vendor for the product.     
 Critical for Smart Pricing  
  • Vori currently ingests one vendor per product.
Cost
  • Vendor cost of the product.
 Critical for Smart Pricing  
  • Used to calculate margins and track cost changes.
Case Size
  • Number of units per case.
 Critical for Smart Pricing  
  • Used for invoice and order accuracy.
Brand    
  • Product's brand or label name.
 Optional 
  • Helpful for inventory search and shelf labeling.

⚠️ Important for Smart Pricing (Cost Changes): Including vendor, cost, and case size info now will significantly improve your ability to manage invoices and track margins.

Pricing & Sales Settings

Field  Definition Priority Notes 
Price Embedded
  • Marks products where the barcode includes the price, such as items labeled and weighed in-store using deli or meat scales. These are often pre-printed labels with a Type 2 UPC generated by the scale itself.
 Recommended 
  • Applies to printed barcodes from meat/deli department scales.
Manual Price
  • Allows cashiers to enter a custom price at checkout.    
 Optional
  • Useful for open or flexible-priced items.
Prompt for Quantity   
  • Triggers POS to ask for quantity input at checkout.    
 Optional    
  • Good for loose-pack or variable-quantity items.
Sold by Weight    
  • Marks the product as sold by weight at the register (e.g., $3.99/lb).    
 Recommended 
  • Common for produce, bulk items, meat, or deli.

Packaging & Size

Field Definition Priority Notes 
Pack
Size
  • Inner pack units per retail product.
 Optional

Unit
Volume
  • Size of the product (e.g., 16oz, 500g).
  Optional

Unit of Measure
  • The unit the item is sold by (e.g., Each, LB, OZ).
  Optional
  • Defaults to “Each” in the Back Office. 

Compliance & Tax

Field Definition Priority Notes
Age Restriction
  • Minimum legal age to purchase (e.g., 16, 18, 21).    
 Recommended
  • Can be set at the item or department level.
EBT
Eligible
  • Marks whether the product qualifies for EBT.
 Recommended 
  • Can be set at the item or department level.
Country of Origin
  • The country where the product was produced.
 Optional 
  • Required by law in some states (e.g., California).

⚠️ Caution: Compliance Reminder: Certain fields, such as Country of Origin and Other Tax, may be required by city, state, or federal regulations (e.g., California law requires Country of Origin labeling on certain products).

It is the responsibility of each store to ensure compliance with all applicable labeling and regulatory requirements. 

 

Enhancing Your Product List Further

After your initial upload, you can continue improving your product list using tools in Vori Back Office:

💡Tip: If you already have this info available, such as from purchase orders or invoices, it’s worth entering now to avoid backtracking later.