Intro
Generally, before starting to create a custom feed, what you would like to do is to download the template you want to fill in from the desired marketplace. In most cases, the template product fields will vary depending on the category, so you need to make sure you choose the correct one. Once obtaining the right template, we recommend going through it to see which fields are required and which are optional. Also, the order of the fields in the template is important, but we'll get to that later.
Custom Feed Creation
To start, you need to log in to Shoppingfeed and navigate to Channels>Custom feeds>Create a Custom Data Feed. And there you're going to see the following screen.
In the screenshot above, you can see three highlighted areas:
- Red: Contains the list of product fields that you currently have. Those include the default ones from the source feed and the ones you created in Shoppingfeed. Information on how to create new product fields in Shoppingfeed can be found here.
- Yellow: This is the area where you should drag and drop the fields from the red area.
- Green: This area allows you to select a name and some of the format-related settings. In most cases, you want these exact settings to be applied when creating a custom feed.
Then you proceed to add the necessary product fields to the Exported Fields by dragging and dropping them from the All usable dynamic fields area. Important to note here that the order of the exported fields will be carried over to your custom feed later on. So you generally want to have the same order or at least be as close to the order of product fields in the template you downloaded before. That is done to make it easier for you later on transfer this data from the custom feed to the template. Once you've selected the fields for your custom feed, simply click on Save Export to proceed further.
Custom Feed Customization
Since your custom feed is technically created, you are able to access and manage it as you would manage other channels. Click on Manage next to the newly created custom feed in Channels>Custom feeds.
And from the Dashboard, head to the Settings tab.
It's highly likely that you would need to check on the option to Include the Child SKUs in your feed. This option is not enabled by default and will result in Child SKUs not appearing in the Selection tab list. After enabling it, go through other settings and decide whether you'd like to have them on.
Then please head to the Field Mapping tab on the upper left to validate the mappings Shoppingfeed is going to use. Most of the fields are going to be mapped automatically, especially if they're coming from your Source feed. But if you have added new fields that you created in Shoppingfeed, they would need to be mapped accordingly. Other to the static value or to a dynamic field. Note, that the order of the attributes in this section corresponds to the order of fields you selected during the feed creation stage. The same order will carry over to the feed file. Don't forget to hit Modify Mapping at the bottom of the page to save the changes.
The next step would be to go to the Selection tab and toggle the SKUs you'd like to be included in your feed. In case you can't find some of the SKUs, please make sure that you have enabled the option to add Child SKUs to the feed under the Settings tab.
If you selected the needed SKUs, verified the field mappings and enabled the necessary settings, it's safe to say that you're ready to get your feed file. For that, you need to go back to the Settings tab. Click on the Update button on the upper right to apply the latest changes to the feed. It shouldn't take more than two minutes to update it. You may use the Timeline to make sure it's done. And then just click on the feed Source Feed link to download your feed to get an electronic copy. You might also use the link itself, in rare cases, when that's all you need.
The last step before feed submission would be to copy the data in columns to the template file that you have downloaded from the marketplace. If you followed the instructions carefully and sorted the fields in a similar order as your template suggests, then this task should be much easier. Once the data is copied from the feed file to the template, you may use that template to submit those products. You may also adjust the template to your liking if necessary.
What you need to know
It's fair to say that the process described above is the basic tutorial to get the idea of how to create a custom feed. There are also other possible steps that haven't been covered in depth in this article. Please go through the points below to see what I'm talking about. And be advised, that this is very dependent on the marketplace and the template you need to work with.
- Once again, depending on the template and marketplace, it's highly possible you would need to create New Fields in Shoppingfeed and add values to them either through the Rules tool or by setting a static value. As you simply won't have the necessary data that the chosen marketplace requires. For example, on Wayfair, you need to include the delivery package dimensions or different compliance information or other data that is simply not common to have in your Shopify. For Walmart, you would need to properly point out the parent/child relationship by assigning a parent SKU basically to all SKUs in the feed. And there could be many other examples. So it's very common to add New Fields during custom feed creation to reach the goal.
- Another point worth mentioning is that in certain marketplaces, you don't have to deal with the template file. Provided you created the feed properly and each column is in the right order, and the required data is valid, you may just be able to upload the feed file itself to have the products submitted. But there are few such marketplaces, the most popular ones would need you to fill their template file no matter what. So, unfortunately, copying and pasting data columns is an integral part of this process.
- When adding the data to the template, be sure not to change anything within the template. As if you remove something that was there previously, it will probably not be validated, and you would need to download the new one to do it all over.
- Even though the process seems complicated at first, once it's set it up properly, you should be able to add/edit products in bulk without issues
In case you're facing any difficulties or need further advice on custom feeds, be sure to reach out to our support team at support@shoppingfeed.com, we'll be glad to assist you.