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What is a Product Feed?

And what role do they play for successful eCommerce businesses?

Product feeds purpose and product feeds definition

Also known as product data feeds or data feeds - these are files in a variety of formats (CSV, txt, XML)(product feed formats) containing any manner of different product information.

XML-icon

Extensible Markup Language (XML)

CSV-icon

Comma Separated Values (CSV)

JSON-icon

JavaScript Object Notation (JSON)

TSV-icon

Tab Separated Values (TSV)

Product Feed Meaning

In an eCommerce context, these 'feeds' or 'e-commerce feeds' are used by sales and marketing channels like Google Shopping, eBay, Pricerunner and Facebook to receive the product data from eCommerce merchants and then use it to display their product listings on their site.

Why are product feeds important in e-commerce?

Product feeds play a vital role in getting data from your online store to be listed on global marketplaces.

Different channels have their own unique requirements regarding the appearance and structure of your product feed. When it comes to showcasing your products, it is crucial to understand and adhere to these guidelines. For instance, Google, being one of the leading platforms, demands that each product in your feed is accompanied by a Global Trade Item Number (GTIN). This serves as a standardized identifier that helps to ensure accurate product information and seamless integration with Google's systems.

On the other hand, Miinto, another prominent channel, has specific guidelines concerning product titles. They explicitly state that brands should not be included in the product titles. This requirement aims to create a consistent and uniform presentation across their platform, allowing customers to focus solely on the product itself, rather than brand recognition.

By carefully studying and adhering to the distinct requirements set forth by each channel, you can optimize your product feed to effectively meet the expectations of both Google and Miinto. This attention to detail ensures that your products are accurately represented and increases the likelihood of successful integration and exposure on these platforms. Ultimately, complying with channel-specific guidelines enhances your overall visibility, accessibility, and customer engagement.

Data-Feed-Management

For digital marketers, product feeds are important as they are the line between a successful online campaign and a waste of online spending. For them, it's not just a matter of making sure the product feeds have all the requirements the sales channels require. For effective results, e-commerce product feeds should be about more than just getting product data from one place to another.

Product feeds represent the overall quality of your campaigns in the eyes of shopping channels. These channels rely on the information contained in your product feeds to assess the relevance and value of your offerings. By evaluating factors such as content, feed entirety, and relevant keywords, the channels determine whether or not your products should be displayed when a shopper conducts a specific search query.

What are the benefits of an optimized product feed for digital marketers?

Better Quality Scores

As an online seller, your product feed is the primary source of information that you provide to sales channels. It serves as a critical link between your inventory and the algorithms these channels use to determine which listings should be displayed to shoppers. Since the feed is the sole basis for their decision-making process, the quality and completeness of the data you include become paramount.

  • Detailed Product Information: A detailed product feed includes comprehensive information about each of your products. This encompasses attributes such as title, description, brand, SKU, price, availability, images, variations, and more. The more detailed your product information, the better the algorithms can understand and match your products to relevant search queries from potential customers.
  • Enhanced Discoverability: By providing accurate and detailed product information, you increase the likelihood of your listings appearing in relevant search results. Sales channels rely on algorithms that consider factors like keyword relevance, product categorisation, and attribute matching. By ensuring your product feed contains rich and relevant information, you improve the chances of your listings being displayed to interested shoppers.
  • Competitive Advantage: A high-quality product feed gives you a competitive edge in the online marketplace. When your feed is complete, accurate, and optimized, it enhances the visibility and appeal of your listings. This can lead to increased click-through rates, conversions, and ultimately, sales. Additionally, if your feed contains unique and valuable data, such as detailed product descriptions or additional images, it can differentiate your listings from competitors and attract more potential buyers.
  • Channel Compatibility: Different sales channels have specific feed requirements and guidelines that you need to adhere to. It is crucial to ensure that your product feed meets the specifications of each channel you choose to sell on. By providing a feed that aligns with the requirements of the sales channels, you can ensure a smooth integration, minimize errors or rejections, and maximize the exposure of your products to the target audience of each channel.
  • Trust and Customer Satisfaction: When shoppers have access to accurate and detailed product information, they can make informed purchasing decisions. By providing a high-quality product feed, you build trust with your customers, reducing the likelihood of returns or negative reviews. Additionally, consistent and accurate data across multiple channels helps maintain a positive brand image and reinforces your reputation as a reliable seller.

As an online seller, your product feed is the critical link connecting your inventory to sales channels and their algorithms. Investing time and effort into creating a detailed, complete, and high-quality feed can significantly improve your results on the chosen channels. The more relevant and accurate your product information, the better the algorithms can match your listings to interested shoppers, enhancing your visibility, competitiveness, and overall success as an online seller.  

Accuracy of your data

When you are selling online, there are a number of factors you have to complete to ensure success:

  • Do the listings on your store match those on the channel?
  • Has your inventory been recently updated?
  • Have you included new promotions, products or sales prices? 

Having a mismatch between your online store and sales channels can lead to suspension, so product management is about getting the right information at the right time.

Effective Product Data

When you are paying for every click, impression and sale, you want to adhere to the recommended methods and techniques which you know will get you the sale. Managing your product feeds efficiently gives you the control over your data which you need. 

What options are available to merchants wanting to start selling on multiple channels? 

1
Method 1

Using a spreadsheet to manually build product feeds.

2
Method 2

Adding product feeds directly from your store using API.

3
Method 3

Automated product feeds from feed marketing platforms.

Who do automated product feeds work best for? 

Merchants with multiple SKUs 

If you only have 20 products, you probably don't need to use product feed automation tools. As eCommerce businesses grow and begin to stock more products, the need for a tool that simplifies and saves time becomes more relevant. 

Merchants with Product catalogues which frequently change

As mentioned above, it's crucial to give eCommerce channels up-to-date information. Any changes to your pricing, inventory, sizes etc need to be registered and exported quickly, which is where a tool that can automate the whole process will come in handy! 

data-feed-management-before-after

Merchants who Want to Sell on More Channels

Perhaps the most crucial use of automating product feed management is when it comes to multi-channel sales strategies. In today's digital landscape, businesses often sell their products across various platforms, such as Google, Fruugo, Facebook, and Amazon. However, it's important to recognize that each channel has its own unique requirements and specifications for product feeds.

When you have a product feed specifically tailored for your online store, it may not be optimized for other channels. This is where the need for automation and specialized tools arises. Feed management tools, also known as data feed solutions, play a vital role in ensuring that your product information is seamlessly adapted to each channel without altering your original product data from the online store.

These feed management tools offer pre-made templates that enable you to import a single feed and customize it for each and every channel you sell on. By using these templates, you can effortlessly modify your product data to meet the specific demands and formatting requirements of different channels. This saves you valuable time and effort that would otherwise be spent manually adjusting and optimizing product feeds for each platform.

Moreover, a product feed management tool provides a centralized hub for managing and optimizing your product feeds for any number of channel exports. Instead of juggling multiple platforms individually, you can utilize a single tool to streamline the process. This allows you to efficiently monitor, update, and synchronize your product data across various channels, ensuring consistency and accuracy.

In summary, leveraging automated product feed management tools is essential for successful multi-channel sales strategies. These tools empower retailers to effortlessly adapt their product feeds to meet the diverse requirements of different platforms. By centralizing and optimizing the management of product data, businesses can enhance their visibility, reach a wider audience, and ultimately maximize their sales potential in the ever-expanding digital marketplace.

About WakeupData

WakeupData isdata feed management platform, which helps merchants on Magento, Shopify, WooCommerce, Prestashop and more to optimize their product data feeds.

We support you every step of the way to set up integrations for your Google product feed, Amazon feed, Facebook feed and hundreds of other sales channels worldwide.

Apply for a 30 day free trial

We offer a user-friendly interface, intuitive design and a Customer Success Team to deliver ROI through feed management and optimization through effective Data feed management.  

Download our FREE Product Feed Audit Guide or book your live demo and free evaluation today.

Wakeupdata allows me, a person with no programming background, build the feed by myself from scratch and customize it as I go, which definitely has the potential to be a big time-saver.
Joni Helminen, Senior Specialist at OMD Finland