Product Feed synchronization allows you to automate the update of the items in your Connectif catalog using an XML file containing the product information from your eCommerce. This method makes a single request to download the file, which reduces the load on your web server and speeds up synchronization compared to querying each product individually.
In this article, you will learn how to activate product synchronization via Feed.
Implementation time: 30 min.
Difficulty: Medium.
When to use it?: When you want to periodically update the products in your Connectif catalog using the information available on their product pages.
STEP 1. Access Product Feed Settings
(In this step you will access the configuration for Product Feed synchronization).
1. In your Connectif Store, from the side menu, go to “Ecommerce > Catalog.”
2. Click on Product Synchronization.
3. In the Product Feed tab, click Configure.
STEP 2. Configure the Product Feed
(In this step you will add the file from which Connectif will obtain your catalog’s product information).
4. Under Add product feed, enter the public URL of the XML file containing your catalog information.
2.1. Product Feed Specifications
The Feed must be a publicly accessible XML file using “UTF-8” encoding. You can only add one Product Feed, so it must contain all the information you want to synchronize using this method.
At the end of this article (or by clicking this link), you will find a sample Product Feed document.
You will also find a downloadable file with the schema used to describe the structure and constraints of the XML Product Feed documents (or by clicking this link).
Please keep the following specifications in mind when preparing your Feed:
- When Connectif attempts to read the feed at a URL, it uses the header 'User-Agent': 'Connectif'. This can be useful if you need to allow access to the resource only for certain applications.
- You can use the feed model as specified by Google. If you use another format, only the "Product" element is allowed at the second level, meaning the feed can have a maximum of three levels: the one containing the product list, the product item itself, and the product property/properties.
- The feed encoding must be UTF-8.
- Google fields that Connectif automatically converts (when the feed fully complies with the Google format):
- G:AUTO_PRICING_MIN_PRICE, G:SALE_PRICE, G:PRICE: formatted to remove the currency and treated as numbers.
- G:AVAILABILITY: accepted Google values 'in_stock', 'in stock' are transformed into our valid value "instock".
- G:GOOGLE_PRODUCT_CATEGORY, G:PRODUCT_TYPE: Google-required separator character ">" is replaced by the Connectif-allowed "/". For this field, Connectif will obtain the Google category definitions.
- If you want to use custom categories with your own hierarchy, it is possible via the G:PRODUCT_TYPE field.
- To indicate different categories a product may have, repeat the field in the feed.
- To indicate different sublevels of a category, use the value ">".
- For more information about this field, review the official Google Merchant Center documentation.
For example, a product with the following custom categories:
- First level:
Bicycle
Outlet
- Second level:
Bicycle/Mountain
Bicycle/Touring
Outlet/Bike.
- Third level:
Bicycle/Mountain/Mil_metros
Should appear in the feed as follows:
<g:product_type>Bicycle > Mountain > Mil_metros</g:product_type>
<g:product_type>Bicycle > Touring</g:product_type>
<g:product_type>Outlet > Bike</g:product_type>
- Fields not mapped in the feed are respected and not overwritten.
- Products created by mechanisms other than the feed are not discontinued.
- If the Google format is not used, price-related data must be in number format.
- Multiple tags with the same name can be used.
- When manually mapping a field not auto-detected, the field path consists of the names of each tag level down to the value separated by a ">".
- All fields defined as "array" type in a mapping, if appearing multiple times in the Feed, Connectif will collect all values in that field.
If you use custom categories for your store’s products and your product feed is of the Google type, you can add them in the G:PRODUCT_TYPE tag and then configure it in the mapping so Connectif retrieves it. For more information on how to send custom product categories, visit the official Google documentation.
STEP 3. Configure Synchronization Frequency
(In this step you will set how often and at what time Connectif will query the Product Feed).
8. Under Synchronization frequency, select how often you want Connectif to check your catalog’s product pages. You can choose:
- “1 day.”
- “2 days.”
- “3 days.”
- “1 week.”
9. Under Time, select the time at which you want each synchronization process to occur.
10. Under Customize product discontinuation, enter the number of days a product can be absent from the Feed before its status changes to “Discontinued.” You can set a value between “1” and “30” days.
If you do not enter a value, Connectif will use “10 days” by default.
11. Click Next.
STEP 4. Map Feed Fields
(In this step you will link the fields detected in the Product Feed to the fields in Connectif’s product record).
12. Under Automatically detected product fields, locate the Feed fields you want to synchronize.
The selection of fields to map is based on unique fields from a sample of your Feed’s products.
13. Click on each field and drag it to the center column to link it to the corresponding field in Connectif’s product record.
The field mapped as "Product URL" is validated against allowed domains.
4.1. Manual Mapping of Undetected Fields
(If a field from your Feed does not appear among the automatically detected values, here you can link it by manually entering its path).
12. Select the value “Field path” and link it to the corresponding field in Connectif’s product record.
15. Locate the field you want to obtain in the XML file and copy its full path, including each level from the main tag down to the field.
16. Enter the path you obtained from the XML, separating each level with the symbol “>.”
In our example, we created the field "product_tags," extracted from the path in the previous image. In this case, the full path would be RSS>CHANNEL>ITEM>G:PRODUCT_TAGS.
STEP 5. Activate Synchronization
(In this step you will activate Product Feed synchronization with the established configuration).
17. Once the synchronization configuration is set, click:
- Activate, to schedule synchronization according to the set frequency.
- Activate and synchronize immediately, to run a synchronization immediately and schedule the next one within the established period.
With this configuration, Connectif will synchronize products via the Feed with the frequency, product discontinuation, and mapping you have set.
Success!
Your product synchronization via Feed is now ready.
Keep Learning!
To make the most of your Connectif account, we recommend continuing with the following articles:
Mass Product Synchronization, to learn how mass synchronization works and the differences between Web Scraping and Product Feed.
Synchronization Methods and Product Verification in Connectif, to learn about the different ways to keep your catalog updated.
Product Synchronization via Web Scraping, to configure mass synchronization using Web Scraping.
Product Synchronization via API, to import and update products using Connectif’s API.