Ecommerce Online Store - Inventory - Product Feeds
Overview
The product feeds tool allows you to easily create product feeds for comparison sites (i.e. Google, Shopzilla, Shopping.com, etc.). These product feeds can include all of your products or can be restricted to specified categories or manufacturers. Your product feeds will be shown on the Storefront Overview. Once a feed has been constructed, you generate the feed, which collects the product information you specify and incorporates it into the feed to send to the proper comparison sites.
- Creating a Product Feed
- Generating a Product Feed
- Google Base Product Feeds
- Shopzilla Product Feeds
- Shopping.com Product Feeds
- Bing Shopping Product Feeds
Creating a Product Feed
You can create multiple product feeds for each comparison engine, as well as product feeds for specific manufacturers or specific categories. You also have the option of sending hidden products in your product feeds.
How to Create a Product Feed
1. Click Home > Inventory > Product Feeds to open the Product Feed Manager.
The Product Feed Manager is where you will create, edit, and generate your product feeds for submission to your comparison sites. Your current product feeds will be displayed here, along with which products are included, the format the feed is based on, the last time the feed was updated, a link to the .txt file of the feed, a Generate button and an edit feed button (the pencil).
2. Click the Create a New Product Feed button to open the Product Feed Editor.
3. Specify the name of your feed.
4. Select which comparison site to which you would like this feed submitted. Each comparison site has its own set of required, recommended, optional, and custom fields your feed must include. Selecting the product feed will automatically switch the product feed editor to the relevant fields.
5. You may also filter your products included in the feed using the drop down menu. You can include in your feed: All Products, filter By Category, or filter By Manufacturer. If you wish to include hidden products in your feed, select the check box.
6. Fill out the Recommended, Optional, and Custom fields listed below as desired. The four comparison sites supported are discussed in greater detail below.
Generating Up Your Product Feed
Selecting Google Base (Product Search), Shopzilla, Shopping.com, or Bing Shopping as your Product Feed target will automatically select certain product fields, but there are other fields that you may select to include in your feed.
1. Select the checkbox next to the name of the field that you wish to include.
2. Once you are satisfied with your field selections, click Save, Save & Return, Save & Generate, or Cancel & Return.
- Save - This button will save your current feed and keep you on the Product Feed Editor page.
- Save & Return - This button will save your current feed and return you to the Product Feed Manager page.
- Generate & Save - This button will generate your feed (using your feed criteria and creating a feed with your current products) and then save the feed. At the bottom of the feed editor a feed link will appear with the last date the feed was updated. You can click on this link to see the information included in your product feed. The link itself is what you will need to submit to Google.
- Cancel & Return - Cancels the feed without saving it and returns to the Product Feed Manager page.
3. Once your feed has been saved, it will appear on both the Product Feed Manager page and the Storefront Overview page, where you can generate the feed again.
Note: If you change your available inventory by adding, editing, or deleting products, you will need to re-generate your feed and re-submit it to your comparison site.
Google Base Product Feed (aka Google Shopping / Google Product Search)
The Google Base Product feed will require you to sign up with Google Base using your existing Google Account. Once you have generated your Google Product Feed, you will need to visit the Google Base home page and submit the product feed link.
You can include Recommended, Optional, and Custom Google Base Fields, as well as add Custom Attributes.
Note: You must have an active Google account to use Google Base.
Google Feeds and Product Attributes - The Condition Attribute
Google requires that the condition attribute for products which indicates the condition of the products being sold. For your convenience we automatically include this field (as well as all other required fields) in your data field file. If you have not set a condition for your product, the default condition is "New".
Shown below are the accepted google condition values.
New
The product is brand new and in perfect condition. It has never been opened, used, or worn. If the product normally comes packaged, it is in its original packaging with all original packaging materials and does not contain any blemishes.
Used
The product has been used, worn, or opened. This includes sealed items with blemishes, open box items, or unsealed collectible items for resale.
Examples: Uncirculated coins sold by private parties, autographed items.
Refurbished
The product has been refurbished, remanufactured, or recertified by the manufacturer or a professional third-party remanufacturer to meet original manufacturer specifications, and includes a warranty.
Examples: Recycled ink or toner cartridges, refurbished computer equipment.
Google currently supports these three conditions but they might add more at a later date. For more information about Google feeds, please visit the Google Feed page.
Note: You are not required to give the Condition attribute any visibility on your storefront or invoice if you only wish to use the condition to make your Google Base feed compliant with Google's requirements.
For more information, please see Product Attributes to learn more about creating product attributes.
Shown below are the Recommended, Optional, and Custom fields for Google Base. Please note that the drop-down boxes refer to your current available Product Attributes so if you wish to use those fields, you must create a product attribute that matches.
Recommended Fields
These fields are recommended by Google.
Optional Fields
These fields are considered optional by Google.
Custom Google Base Fields
These fields are considered custom fields. Please refer to Google Base Field instructions for help with crafting custom fields.
Shopzilla Product Feeds
The Shopzilla comparison site requires that you submit a Site Category ID for your products.
Note: You must have an active account to use ShopZilla.
Shopping.com Product Feeds
The Shopping.com comparison site requires that you submit a Site Category for your products. A list of Shopping,.com categories can be found here.
Note: You must have an active account to use Shopping.com.
Bing Shopping Product Feed
The Bing Product feed will require you to sign up with Microsoft Advertising account. Once you have generated your Bing Feed, you will need to visit the Microsoft Advertising AdCenter and submit the product feed link.
You can include Required, Recommended, and Custom fields, as well as add Custom Attributes.
Bing Feed Recommended Attributes
The Bing Feed requires a handful of fields, which are auto-mapped for you. They also recommend additional fields, which can improve your visibility in the shopping engine. Some of these are auto-mapped and require you to check the box next to them to include. Other fields which are not predefined can be entered by creating a Product Attribute and then selecting it from the drop down to manually create the mapping for your products.