How do I create a source feed for use in the IR Platform?

Intelligent Reach’s ideal source feed format

Our preferred feed type is a flat file / text file which is pipe i.e. “|”delimited.

Experience shows that this the most reliable of the common list separators as it doesn’t tend to appear in the contents of any of the data fields unlike commas, spaces and tabs etc. However we can work with any format - XML, comma or tab separated CSVs. If in doubt contact us at help@intelligentreach.com.

What if I can’t produce a feed or some of the required fields?

We always try to recycle the data feeds you have spent time developing but if you cannot build a feed or cannot provide some of the required data then we can do this by scraping your site. We can either merge the additional data to fill in the “gaps” or use the scrapped data as your main source feed. This requires no IT resource at your end and can be carried out at non peak times.

What data do I need to provide?

Ideally we want you to provide the following 3 files (if relevant): 
  • Product Feed: with all key attributes for your products updated at least once per data
  • Inventory Feed: listing the Price and Stock for all of your products (or containing Delta changes to the main product feed)
  • Store Inventory Feed: listing the price and stock level for each of your stores (if you do not have stores then there is no need to provide this feed)

Please ensure that each of the 3 files has the same unique ID (product matching) so the files can be referenced against each other

 

1. Main Product Feed (full Variant)

The following tables show the information that you need to provide in the columns or fields in the main product data feed. We have broken them into a number of tables (related to specific activity or industry type) and colour coded them to indicate if they are required or optional. Please try and provide as many of the optional columns as possible as these will have a direct impact on your performance levels as they ensure a fully optimised data feed. They will also ensure we can build out data for any channel in an optimised way. Adding as much data as possible allows you to drive maximum value out of our platform using. Please note the main product feed should still contain Price and Stock data, even if you are providing this in separate inventory feeds.
 
Full Variant Level Feeds
A product variant refers to any colour or size variation of a product (parent products) and these are sometimes referred to as the “Child” product. A full variant level feed refers to a product feed that populates a separate line of data for each colour and size variation so for example a Polo Shirt that comes in 3 different colour and each colour is available in 3 different sizes we would expect to see 9 rows of data present in the full variant level feed. Further to this we need to have a couple of IDs to tie these rows of data together. They would be a Parent ID i.e. one that is shared by all 9 variations which could be the product base name or model such as Ralph Lauren Polo Shirt or a SKU, but we would also need to the colour Grouping Key i.e. the ID that links the 3 sizes for each colour combination. If we have both of these IDs and the data at a full variant level then IR is able to easily produce product data feeds for all partner types i.e. full variant such as Google, Colour Grouped such as for Criteo, or colour and size grouped as required by some affiliate channels. For this reason IR would ALWAYS require product data at a full variant level.
 
Common Fields
The below fields apply to all merchants irrespective of your industry sector, Orange indicates optional fields and green indicates required or mandatory fields.
 
Fashion Specific Fields
The below fields are specifically required for fashion products to ensure a well optimised data feed and to power our advanced modules.
 
Grocery Specific Fields
The below fields are specifically required for Grocery goods, ensuring optimised data feeds are produced. If your products target any of the EU member states or Switzerland, please consider the legal requirements to display these fields.
 
Product Review Fields
The below fields, if provided, allow us to add details about your product reviews to listings and adverts. Please note this is different to work we can do to ensure your Bizaarvoice is integrated into google product search.
 
Performance & Action Fields
You can provide a number of extra fields which allow the feed to help manage your performance and to control which products are listed on which sites. It can also be used to manage variable pricing models if required.
 
Label Fields
These fields can be used to specify certain information which can be used in our platform to decide on product performance actions or on channel distribution
 
Custom Fields
These 5 fields can be used for any attribute that is important to your business which is not specified in the main fields above.
 

2. Main Inventory Feed

This can be updated multiple times per day, upto every 15 minutes if you are selling on channels such as Ebay and Amazon or your products sell through at high velocity.

3. Store Inventory Feed

This can be updated multiple times per day, upto every 15 minutes if you are selling on channels such as Ebay and Amazon or your products sell through at high velocity.
 
How can I submit my feed to you?
Intelligent Reach can work with most formats of source data and can take the data either from URLs or FTP locations hosted on your site, or you can push your data to our dedicated FTP locations. We also offer SFTP locations now due to the sensitivity of some of the information being sent.