Product Feeds

Audience: Retailers use this to view and manage product data sent from their suppliers.  Suppliers use product feeds to send attributes to retailers.

In this article, you will find information related to Product Feeds. The sections within this article are outlined below:

• Overview
• Data Flow
• Navigating to Product Feeds
• Product Feeds Defined 
• Related Content

Overview

Products Feeds provide the ability to aggregate product data from many suppliers to one feed for the retailer. Retailers are able to collect their required attributes from their suppliers, where product feeds serve as validation against the required attributes. Feeds are then reviewed and approved by the Retailer.

Retailer-required attributes are loaded into the Logicbroker Portal with the goal of providing supplier’s compliant products for the Retailer’s PIM and showcasing the products on the Retailer’s eCommerce site.

Product data can be imported and exported through API, FTP, or manually through the Portal.

Data Flow

The Product Feed process is shown in the diagram below.

Navigating to Product Feeds in the Portal 

To access Product Feeds, navigate to the Products tab on the left-hand side toolbar and select Product Feeds from the dropdown. This feature has various components, which are explained below, including a feed log, an event log, and feed specifications.

Definitions

At a Glance

Partner – Since the data changes depending on which partner a user is working with, a dropdown is available for retailers and suppliers (if they have multiple retail partners) to select what data they are looking at

Feed Specification – This is where suppliers are able to view the retailer’s feed specifications. When viewing the specifications, suppliers will see the field, the column name (on the upload), whether it is a required field, and a description of what should be provided in that field.

Upload – This box is where the supplier should drag their CSV/XLSX file to upload to their retail partner. Once the file has been uploaded, a notification box will appear saying “File uploaded successfully. It might take a few minutes to process.” Users are able to close this message while they wait for their file to process.

Feeds Log

Feed ID – this is a unique identifier that is automatically generated by Logicbroker each time a file is uploaded

File Name – this is the name of the excel file that was given by the user who uploaded the file

Created - this is the date and time (your time zone) that the file was uploaded to Logicbroker.

Status – this is an easy indicator of where the feed is in the process. Some of these status types include New, Pending, Failed, and Complete. These are also color-coded to help easily distinguish where each feed is in the process.

Items – this is the total number of items that have been uploaded from the CSV/XLSX file

Compliant - this is the total number of items that have been uploaded and have passed the validation in place

Last Update - this is the date and time (your time zone) that the file was last touched such as sending the file to the retailer

Events Log

Date - this is the date and time (your time zone) that the event was created.

Severity - this indicates if the event is informational (info) or if there is an error and action needs to be taken (alert)

Summary – This will provide users with a general idea of what the event is (Product Feed Submitted for Approval, Product Feed Imported, Product Export Error, etc.),

Details - this provides an overview of that particular event. This may include the user who submitted the feed, the product feed ID, and the date the feed was created. The view button to the right of the details will create a pop-out box to show the full details.

Display

Filter results – click on the 3 horizontal lines in the top right of the section (Feeds or Events) you are working in. Select how you would like to filter your results from the list in the dropdown. These filters vary depending on the section you are working in. Once a filter is added, you will see a button with that filter in the top left of the section. Filters can be stacked, so add new filters or remove them by clicking the x in the filter button up top. 

Actions

Download – by clicking on the download button, users are able to download an excel file of the feed. Suppliers (or Retailers) may do this to fix any errors, add new fields, etc.

Delete – this provides the ability to remove a feed from the Logicbroker system. When a feed is removed, it will appear in the event log.

Send – Suppliers are able to send their product feeds to retailers to review once all of their items are compliant. This is not always required as some companies are configured to have these automatically sent.

Approve – Retailers are able to approve any feed that is received from their suppliers. These are often shown as feeds in pending status and will be marked as complete once approved.

For suppliers who are looking for step-by-step instructions on how to upload product feeds, click on the link below to be redirected to our Product Feeds Quick Start Guide.