Product feed – what is it, and why is it needed in e-commerce? 

One such tool is product feed (also known as the data feed), which we will explore more today.  

I will explain precisely what product feed is and describe some good practices on how you can use it in your e-commerce to increase its visibility and sales results and stand out from the competitors.  

What is a product feed? 

Presenting offers in a clear and understandable way is one of the essential elements of the proper functioning of an online store. The potential customer also expects the information about offered products tobe up-to-date. And this is where the product feed, a solution that every e-commerce owner should know, comes to the rescue. 

In the simplest terms, a product feed is a list of products available in your online store, which must contain attributes including: 

• product names and descriptions,
• products ID,
• URL address,
• availability,
• product category, 
• price (including price after discount),
• and link for the main photo. 

The list is usually saved in XML format (Extensible Markup Language) or CSV format (Comma Separated Values). 

The elements included in the product feed are determined by the providers of the tools you will use as an online shop owner (marketplaces, price comparison sites, Google Merchant Center, CRM, and marketing automation systems).

How to create a product feed?

Creating a product feed can be done in two ways. The first is to prepare it manually, which is a time-consuming task, especially if you offer a wide range of products . Such a solution works well for small and start-up businesses whose offer has few products and doesn’t change often. It is then enough to list everything in Excel. 

Fortunately, it can be made simpler – modern platforms on which online shops are set up allow you to generate a product feed automatically and download it in the format of your choice. Here, it is also worth noting that a massive advantage of this solution is that you can also update the product feed automatically. 

How to use product feed?

Product feed have many uses. You can use them across several sales channels, making your e-commerce offer the same across different platforms. Another use of product feed can be found when posting an offer on price comparison sites or for advertising campaigns. But let’s go through the possible uses in more detail.

Increase sales and visibility

As mentioned before, you can plug your product feed into price comparison sites, making your products more visible, especially to people who are actively looking for the best deals. 

Moreover, you can use the product feed file for dynamic advertisements (e.g., Facebook Ads), which automatically adapt to users’ preferences and behavior. Synchronization with social media platforms and sales channels, such as Facebook and Google, makes it possible to promote products in different environments and reach many new customers. 

Personalization of content 

Above, we listed the attributes that a product feed should contain. They are essential for providing solid product information in an online store. What for? To guarantee a better customer shopping experience.  

It also helps to create dynamic remarketing campaigns that are personalized to specific users and present them with products they are interested in. Additionally, by segmenting users based on their preferences and behaviors, you can effectively target your advertising campaigns and increase the conversion rate in your e-commerce. 

Facilitate product management 

Product feed enables product data to be updated automatically, eliminating the need to make changes manually on each sales platform. Thanks to that, you can be sure that information about your products is always up-to-date and precise. Moreover, central management of the product range makes it easier to control your offerings and provides uniform data across all platforms. You can also monitor sales performance, analyze trends and adjust strategy based on collected data.  

Best practices in creating and optimizing product feed 

Product file structure and format  

Your file must have the right structure and format. It should contain proper columns and data fields that match the requirements of the platforms you intend to promote your products on.  

Unique product IDs are also essential to ensure the accuracy of data synchronization and updates. However, in most cases, you don’t have to worry about this because the platform does it for you!  

Quality of products data

To provide a positive shopping experience, all product data should be complete, accurate, and up-to-date (in terms of required fields). Optimizing content – including titles and descriptions – will allow products to match user queries better and improve positioning in search results. 

Optimization for product search engines

Product search engines, such as Google Shopping, use algorithms to present search results. To increase the visibility of your products, it is advisable to use the right keywords and choose proper categories and attributes which accurately describe your products.

Monitoring and analysis of results

Product ads, product pages, and price comparison sites are all places that provide you with data that can help optimize your product feed. Verify the click-through and conversion rate,  and make changes so that you display products that are currently likely to bring you better sales.  

Product feed in the edrone system

In edrone, a CRM and marketing automation system for e-commerce, an uploaded product feed is an excellent solution if you want to maximize the potential of the solutions offered.

First of all, only products that are currently in stock will show up in the prepared creations. Plus their current prices – therefore, you don’t run the risk that the user will be unpleasantly surprised to see a higher price on the store’s page than originally expected. 

Product feed also helps you to create personalized content and allows you to create tailored automation scenarios. It also helps create newsletters quicker, as you can easily add products straight from the product file rather than manually. 

Another tool that edrone’sproduct feed uses is Mobile Voice SearchGPT – a widget that allows products to be searched naturally for users; by voice and by typing a query. 

You can find out how the product feed works in edrone and how to run it step by step in this post.   

Product feed – update 

To make the product information consistent and accurate, the product feed file must be updated regularly. You have to keep it in mind in the following cases: 

New products: product feed must be completed if you introduce new products into your online store. Remember to fill in all necessary information, i.e., name, description, category, price, and availability. Add photos too. 

Changes to existing products: when product information already available in the store changes, such as price or availability information, the product feed must be amended accordingly with the new product information so that customers receive updated information. 

Removing unavailable products: when withdrawing products from an offer, you must remember to remove them from the product file as well. In this way, you avoid showing customers an out-of-date range, thus improving their shopping experience. 

Automated updates

The automatic updating of the product feed is a great feature to take advantage of. You can use tools or content management systems to automatically synchronize product data with our online store and other sales platforms.

Update schedule

Depending on your need and the size of your online store, set a schedule for updating your product feed. This can be daily, several times a week, or once a week, depending on the frequency of changes to the product range. In edrone, updates are carried out between one and 12 times per day. 

Verify and test 

Once you have updated your product feed, check carefully that the changes have been saved correctly and displayed as they should on the platforms where the file is used. 

A regularly updated product feed is integral to effective stock management in online stores. It ensures consistency of product information across different sales platforms and allows customers to access up-to-date data. Its regular replenishment prevents accumulating old data and keeps the shop’s offerings in order. 

The product feed is an integral part of an effective e-commerce sales strategy, and using it allows you to increase product visibility, tailor advertising to individual user preferences, and make it easier to manage and monitor sales performance.