Datafeed Standard Concept (Work in Progress)

download Datafeed Standard Concept (Work in Progress)

of 22

Transcript of Datafeed Standard Concept (Work in Progress)

  • 8/14/2019 Datafeed Standard Concept (Work in Progress)

    1/22

    Product Data Feed Standard Draft

    Version: 0.1Revision: 1Date: August X, 2008Author: Carsten Cumbrowski, Cumbrowski.com

    ContentsAffiliate Product Data Feed Standard ........................................................................................................ ...2

    Why a Standard ..................................................................................................................... .............. ....2

    Benefits .................................................................................................................................... ............2

    Introduction to Product Data Feeds ................................................................................ ................ .........3

    Why NOT Comma Delimited (CSV = Comma Separated Values)? .................................... ................ .5

    Why TAB-Delimited and not Pipe? .......................................................................................... .............5

    XML Format......................................................................................................................... ................ ....5

    Compression ...................................................................................................................................... ......6

    Columns ............................................................................................................................................... ....7

    Network Feed Sub-Version ..................................................................................................... ............... .9

    Definition File Proposal.................................................................................................... ................ ......11

    Additional Resources ............................................................................................................... ..............15

    Appendix Previous Proposals ................................................................................................. ................17

    Data Feed Standard Proposed by AddHandler@ABestWeb ...................................... ................ ...........17

    Column Headers ................................................................................................................. ...............17

    Column Headers ................................................................................................................ ...............18

    Data Feed Standard as proposed by Fred from web-procreate.com .................................. ................ ...19

    Datafeed Standard .................................................................................................................. ..........19

    Specifications ............................................................................................................................. ........21

    Page 1 of22

  • 8/14/2019 Datafeed Standard Concept (Work in Progress)

    2/22

    Affiliate Product Data Feed StandardAs part of the Performance Marketing Alliance (PMA) from 2008Specifically a response to this post at the PMA bloghttp://www.performancemarketingalliance.com/issues-for-the-pma-to-consider/data-feed-standard-update/

    Why a Standard

    If you are an advertiser working with one affiliate network or an affiliate that onlyworks with a single network, you might not see the problems as clearly as affiliateswho work with advertisers across multiple networks and in-house solutions, buteven within the networks exist problems with products feeds, mostly because ofvague definitions of the requirements and little or no verification of the provideddata before they are passed along to the affiliates.

    I worked with interfaces between different systems that include flat files as a step inthe process of the data transfer for over 15 years. I worked with them on Mainframe

    computers, client-server environments and on the internet. I thought that theexchange of data in tabular structure is not very difficult and fairly easy. It seems tobe simple at first glance, but there are many things that can be done ... Aehmdifferently (okay, some wrong too). I say differently, because most issues thatarise from data feeds are due to the lack of specifications, which leaves room forassumption and speculation on both part of the interface; an interface that leavesroom for assumption and speculation. Yes, it is as bad as it sounds. You maybeassume the wrong thing and it will not blow into your face right away, but causeweird things later on, when you work with the imported data, in other cases doessimply the import interface application (on the affiliate side) crashes or if theaffiliate added sufficient fail-safe checks and options, only the import from aparticular advertiser or network fails, but allows the processing of feeds from other

    sources.Every network does it different and due to limitations of the format at some of thenetworks, some advertisers developed custom workarounds that many affiliateslearn about the hard way, when they try to use the advertisers data feed for thefirst time for their website or project.

    If everybody would provide clear definitions and documentation for their data feeds,the need for a standard would be much less pronounced, although it is still annoyingand inefficient for affiliates to do the same thing in XX different ways.

    Benefits

    One standard to learn and to worry about (versus multiple standardswithout proper specs)

    A standard opens the door for 3rd party re-usable tools and plug-ins

    A standard opens more likely support of product feed features by shoppingcart apps and ecommerce, material management apps and databases

    Guides and helps apply to all networks and in-house affiliate programsoftware solutions

    Specific questions and requests for help are much more likely answered andresponded to with targeted and actionable suggestions (explain to somebody

    Page 2 of22

    http://www.performancemarketingalliance.com/issues-for-the-pma-to-consider/data-feed-standard-update/http://www.performancemarketingalliance.com/issues-for-the-pma-to-consider/data-feed-standard-update/http://www.performancemarketingalliance.com/issues-for-the-pma-to-consider/data-feed-standard-update/http://www.performancemarketingalliance.com/issues-for-the-pma-to-consider/data-feed-standard-update/
  • 8/14/2019 Datafeed Standard Concept (Work in Progress)

    3/22

  • 8/14/2019 Datafeed Standard Concept (Work in Progress)

    4/22

    environment or Windows.

    Recommendation: Replace all line breaks in text content with "
    ".Don't use "\n", because that could be part of other content, specifically URLs.Decoding it would cause broken URLs.

    Explanation: Line-breaks in content are not rendered in HTML anyway andneed to be replaced with something, such as the
    tag in HTML. If youas the merchant use the same content on your own website, chances aregood that it included code, which processes line breaks in the data for thedisplay on the website. Check with your development team and implementthe same pre-processing for the export of your product data feed.

    Page 4 of22

  • 8/14/2019 Datafeed Standard Concept (Work in Progress)

    5/22

    Why NOT Comma Delimited (CSV = Comma Separated Values)?

    The CSV format is a bit tricky and often done wrong, causing the sort of issues, wewant to avoid. The comma character is a character that appears in the content itselfall the time (such as the product description, list of keywords etc.). Another problem

    is that NO formal specifications for the CSV format exist. I do not believe that it is agood idea to base a standard on something else that is not a standard itself as well.

    There is a specification for CSV as MIME type, RFC 4180http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4180You can also have a look at the Wikipedia article to Comma Separated Values to getan idea of the things that can possibly go wronghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comma-separated_values

    Why TAB-Delimited and not Pipe?

    Although the chances are slim that the pipe character (|) is part of the content andthus a good candidate for the separation of data columns, I do prefer the TAB

    character for the following reasons.

    The TAB character is, like the line-break, a character that is not rendered by abrowser. If a tab character is part of the product feed content (probably thedescription), chances are good that the merchant himself does some pre-processingof that content prior sending it to the users web browser. It maybe invokes the useof special HTML tags like or , or is replaced by a fix number ofspaces, or triggers the generation of a HTML table. Why, because the TAB characteris not rendered by the users web browser?

    Whatever the merchant does with TAB characters in the content, is what he shoulddo with the character when he generates the product feed for his affiliates. Thegood thing with specific specifications for a format is that they trigger some veryspecific checks and considerations on the part of the data exporting side, such asthe question What should we do with TAB and Line-Feed characters in the contentand why?

    This question should an advertiser ask himself no matter the format for the productfeed that he uses today already. Many advertisers unfortunately do not. Otherformats also do not trigger this question.

    The choice of TAB and LF as delimiter characters solves two problems atonce, which makes them perfect for the task at hand.

    XML Format

    As mentioned above, XML might be a good format for data exchange via webservices or when it comes to processing small amounts of data (such as a RSS feedfor a blog), but not for bulk operations that include the transfer of huge amount oftabular data from one database to another via using intermediate files that need tobe transferred from one network to another.

    XML files are increasing the size of the data feed file significantly and XML cannotbe used for BULK import or export operations, which data feed imports and exportsessentially are by definition.

    Page 5 of22

    http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4180http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comma-separated_valueshttp://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4180http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comma-separated_values
  • 8/14/2019 Datafeed Standard Concept (Work in Progress)

    6/22

    If you have to use XML, please remember the following:

    Default XML encoding standards apply

    You must encode &, < and > characters and we also suggest encoding thedouble-quote (") character. (Tip: replace all & characters first, to prevent

    double-encoding of already encoded and characters)

    Character Encoded& &< > "

    For validation use DTD at http://www.....com/ (to be created)

    Compression

    It makes sense for large product feeds to compress the raw feed files priordownload by the affiliate.Zip is a de-facto standard, but do not use WinZip to compress files, because it usesa different compression algorithm than its previous versions and a decompressiontool for archives generated via WinZip might not available for the platform thatsome of the advertisers affiliates are using.

    If you decide to compress feed files, use the open source tool: gzip!

    gzip is a zip archiving tool that is free and available for virtually any platform. It canbe downloaded at www.gzip.org, where you can also find documentations andcommand line options for the tool.

    Just to make a point, gzip executables are available for the following platformsdirectly from the gzip.org website:

    Windows 9x/NT/2000/ME/XP in zip or self-extract format.

    Use version 1.3.5 for files > 4 GB.

    MSDOS

    OS/2

    Vax/VMS

    OpenVMS

    Sparc Solaris (also here)

    i386 Solaris

    Sparc SunOS 4.1.3 Dec Alpha OSF 2.0

    HP/PA HP/UX (includes support for files > 4G)

    i386 BSD

    SGI IRIX 5.2

    RS6000 AIX 3.2

    RS6000 AIX 4.1.1

    Page 6 of22

  • 8/14/2019 Datafeed Standard Concept (Work in Progress)

    7/22

    RS6000 AIX 4.3.1

    SCO Open Server 5.0.2

    SCO Unixware 2.1

    MVS (sources, README)

    AS/400 (sources, README)

    Mac (PPC+68K) PRIMOS

    Columns

    Name Required

    Type

    MaxLength

    DefaultValue

    Description and Notes

    SKU unique product identifier, which hasto be unique for a singlesite/merchant/product catalog, can

    be alphanumeric and contain thefollowing characters, 0-1,a-z,A-Z,-,_For performance reasons (technical)is the SKU preferably provided innumeric format, if that is possiblewithout risking that the SKU/ID isnot unique anymore.

    Model_NumberBrandManufacturerProduct_NameLong_DescriptionShort_DescriptionCategory ">"ProdCatURLAffProdCatURLImgthumbURLImgMedURLImgURL

    AffLinkProdAffLinkAddCartProdURLSalePrice 0RegPrice 0MFRP 0SaleStartDt 31 Jan

    1900

    Page 7 of22

  • 8/14/2019 Datafeed Standard Concept (Work in Progress)

    8/22

    SaleEndDt 31Dec2049

    KeywordsReviews "|"

    AffLinkBrandPageImgBrandLogosize 0 size, numeric, with 3 digits after the

    decimal pointwidth 0 product width, numeric, with 3

    digits after the decimal pointheight 0 product height, numeric, with 3

    digits after the decimal pointdepth 0 product depth, numeric, with 3

    digits after the decimal point

    netweight 0 net weight of the product (withoutpackaging), numeric, with 3 digitsafter the decimal point

    grossweight 0 gross weight (with packaging),numeric, with 3 digits after thedecimal point

    UPCA UPC-A, 12 digits unique productbarcode for the US and Canada

    UPCE UPC-E, 6 digit short version of UPC-EEAN13 Bar Code used in Europe and other

    countries, use EAN13 also for ISBN-13 (Bookland)

    ISBN International standard booknumber, 10 digits, was replaced byISBN-13 in 2007

    Page 8 of22

  • 8/14/2019 Datafeed Standard Concept (Work in Progress)

    9/22

    Network Feed Sub-Version

    For data feeds that are provided through networks or third parties are additionalinformation useful, if not required, especially if you want to generate a feed file thatcontains data across multiple advertisers and even multiple affiliate networks.

    Those additional columns could be made part of the standard definition andrequired to pre-populate with dummy values for feeds that are provided byadvertisers directly or by the in-house affiliate or shopping cart software that theadvertiser uses.

    The existence of two versions has the advantage that individual advertisers do nothave to worry about this information, which might cause some confusion andpotential errors. The information about which version of the feed was generatedcould be specified in the proposed definitions file (see next chapter) that theaffiliate does not have to guess, if the feed is a standard feed or an extendednetwork/3rd party feed with extended columns used.

    Name Required

    Type

    MaxLength

    DefaultValue

    Description and Notes

    AdvertiserID Yes Numeric ID that identifies an advertiserwithin a network or third party serviceprovider database

    ProductID Yes Numeric ID that represents a productand has to be unique within the set ofrecords for each single Merchant ID

    value. The SKU or product ID providedby the advertiser can be used, if it isnumeric. In the case that it is notnumeric, the network generatesautomatically a unique ID in numericformat that represents the advertisersSKU. The same product ID must beused for the same advertiser SKU for allfuture product feeds as well. It is notsufficient if the network or third partprovider simply generates new productIDs every time the feed is generated or

    to reuse a product ID that was used fora different SKU in the past for a newSKU.

    UniqueProductID

    Yes A Unique Identifier that represents acombination of Advertiser ID andProduct ID and thus a primary key thatcan be used by the affiliate. TheUniqueProductID represents a specificproduct for a specific advertiser and

    Page 9 of22

  • 8/14/2019 Datafeed Standard Concept (Work in Progress)

    10/22

    has to be unique within the entireproduct catalog of a network or 3rd

    party feed provider.

    Page 10 of22

  • 8/14/2019 Datafeed Standard Concept (Work in Progress)

    11/22

    Definition File Proposal

    Unlike XML, a delimited file does not support any special definition or similarheadings that could be added to the feed-file. The structure is predefined andcannot change from the first to the last record (a fact that one network in particularignores, which can cause problems and possible pre-processing of the feed files,before they can actually imported into a database via bulk insert operations).

    If definitions cannot be added to the file itself, the specification of a second file thathas to accompany a feed-file, which follows the data-feed standard specification,needs to be created. This is actually not such a bad idea, because such definitionfile could not only be used to provide specifications for the feed file regardingcustom columns and their formats, but other information about the feed file thatcould be useful for the affiliate. Information like the date when the content withinthe feed was updated the last time, the number of new, deleted and changedrecords, the expected date and time when a new feed will be ready to pick-up andthe general update frequency of the feed.

    Also part of the definition file could be the info, if the feed file represents only apartial feed and not the entire feed for an advertiser. Advertisers with large amountsof products, such as hundreds of thousand or one million and more productsfrequently offer this option to affiliates. They provide multiple feed files (usuallybased on main product category or product type) instead of one gigantic file thatcontains everything. Processing of one large file can be challenging and breaking Itdown into multiple parts can make sense from a technical point of view, but it alsoreduces the workload for affiliates who are actually only interested in products ofone or more specific product categories and not in everything the merchant has tooffer.

    With a standard that takes care of this problem, new possibilities will be introduced

    to advertisers with medium and smaller product catalogs, to split their feed intosegments as well, without creating the issues that usually come with it, if theaffiliate is unaware of that split.

    Format should be delimited, but with the content vertical instead of horizontally.This means that every property will be a separate record in the definition file,identified by a unique property ID that is assigned to each property foridentification. The benefit of this vertical specification is the ability to extend the listof parameters in the future (or custom), without the need to change existing toolsthat rely on it. Remember, you cannot simply add a new column to a delimited feed,without telling the recipient of the feed that he can change his parser to reflect theaddition of new columns to the file.

    This is not necessary here, because the structure does not change; only a new row(record) might be added with a new unique property ID. The processor applicationshould not be caused to fail, if it does not support those new properties, but simplyignores them.Parameter Property

    KeyType Max

    Length

    DefaultValue

    Feed Type 0001 Nu 1 1 1 = Standard, 2 = Network

    Page 11 of22

  • 8/14/2019 Datafeed Standard Concept (Work in Progress)

    12/22

    mFeed Name 0002Created By 0010Copyright 0011ContactName

    0012

    ContactEmail

    0013

    ContactPhone

    0014

    Contact IM 0015ContactOther

    0016

    Help URL 0017UsuageRights

    0018

    Description 0019

    Date Format 0030UoM ofWeight

    0040

    UoM of Size 0041 unit of measure that is used for all sizefigures

    UoM ofDimension

    0042 unit of measure that is used for alldimensional figures

    Currency 0050 Currency symbol of the currency thatany standard money type columns arein*

    DecimalPoint

    Character

    0060 digital point 1 character, "." or ",",default "," if missing

    ThousandSeparatorChar

    0061 Thousand separator, 1 character, ".","," or " " (space, for NONE), default ".",if missing

    Current FeedIndex

    0070

    Number ofFeeds

    0071

    Current FeedKey

    0072

    Current FeedDescription

    0073

    UpdateFrequency

    0080

    Date FeedLast Updated

    0081

    Date NextFeedGenerated

    0082

    Num New 0090

    Page 12 of22

  • 8/14/2019 Datafeed Standard Concept (Work in Progress)

    13/22

    RecordsNum DeletedRecords

    0091

    NumChangedRecords

    0092

    Number ofCustomColumns

    0100

    Column_Count

    0110

    ColumnName_X

    0120

    ColumnType_X

    0130

    Column MaxLength_X

    0140

    ColumnDefaultValue_X

    0150

    Note 1: A single feed should only contain values in one primary currency. Ifmultiple currencies are needed, two options are available. Option one is to create aseparate feed for products of each currency. Option two is to specify customcolumns with amounts in alternative currencies where needed.

    Note 2: The properties must be created in the specifications file ordered ascending

    by Property key

    Note 3: Properties 0110, 0120, 0130 and 0140 occur as many times in the definitionfiles as specified for the property 0100. The order of the values for property 0120defines the order of appearance of the custom columns in the primary feed. Thevalues of 0130, 0140 and 0150 needs to be sorted that their order matches theorder of values for property 0110, e.g. the 2nd record for property key 0130 definesthe column type for the column that was specified in the 2nd record for property key0120 etc.Property Key 0110 only serves as verification and to aid the developers who createthe extract on the advertisers/networks or 3rd party feed providers end.

    Page 13 of22

  • 8/14/2019 Datafeed Standard Concept (Work in Progress)

    14/22

    .

    Page 14 of22

  • 8/14/2019 Datafeed Standard Concept (Work in Progress)

    15/22

    Additional Resources

    I also recommend having a look at my detailed article titled MerchantProduct Datafeeds/Data Feeds for Affiliates 101, which has its origin in myABestWeb.com post from January 17, 2006, but was twice refined andextended since then.http://forum.abestweb.com/showthread.php?t=68478http://www.cumbrowski.com/CarstenC/articles/20060826_Datafeeds_for_Affilates.asp

    Resources to Product Data Feeds for Affiliateshttp://www.cumbrowski.com/CarstenC/affiliatemarketing_datafeeds.asp

    Page 15 of22

    http://forum.abestweb.com/showthread.php?t=68478http://www.cumbrowski.com/CarstenC/articles/20060826_Datafeeds_for_Affilates.asphttp://www.cumbrowski.com/CarstenC/articles/20060826_Datafeeds_for_Affilates.asphttp://www.cumbrowski.com/CarstenC/affiliatemarketing_datafeeds.asphttp://forum.abestweb.com/showthread.php?t=68478http://www.cumbrowski.com/CarstenC/articles/20060826_Datafeeds_for_Affilates.asphttp://www.cumbrowski.com/CarstenC/articles/20060826_Datafeeds_for_Affilates.asphttp://www.cumbrowski.com/CarstenC/affiliatemarketing_datafeeds.asp
  • 8/14/2019 Datafeed Standard Concept (Work in Progress)

    16/22

    Page 16 of22

  • 8/14/2019 Datafeed Standard Concept (Work in Progress)

    17/22

    Appendix Previous Proposals

    Previous Data Feed Standard Proposals from throughout the years. Items suggestedby those proposals made its way into the current proposal directly or in refinedformat.

    Data Feed Standard Proposed by AddHandler@ABestWeb

    http://forum.abestweb.com/showpost.php?p=488058&postcount=72October 5th, 2005

    1. The Feeds Should Be In CSV or Pipe Delimited Text File2. The Columns Should All Be In The Same Order3. The Datafeed should be available OUTSIDE of Any Networks..

    Column Headers

    Item#MFGR Model#

    Brand or Manufacturer..NameDescriptionShort DescriptionCategorySubcategoryGroup - "If Applicable"ThumbUrlImageUrlBuyLinkKeywordsReviews - "If Applicable"Retail Price

    Sale PriceBrand Page Link(Affiliate link to the BRAND Page on the merchants site)Brand Logo (Image Url for the products Brand Logo)Misc Content

    Updated http://forum.abestweb.com/showpost.php?p=493277&postcount=114

    October 18th, 2005If The "GROUP" is not applicable for a merchant - they can simply leave it blank.. the samewith any of the other Fields... (Short Description - Reviews ect..)

    I also don't think it would add that much to the size of the files..Most of the data is in the feeds already - BUT MOST need Categories and Subcategoriesadded.. I have a feed with over 5000 products in a Category with no subcategories to breakthose 5000 products into several different targeted subcategory pages... so what I end up

    with is a single category with 5000 products -- everything from Mens Clothing.. Nobreakdown as to PANTS, SHIRTS, HATS, GLOVES... ect..

    1. The Feeds Should Be In TAB Delimited Text File2.The Fields Should All Be In The Same Order3. All Field Names Should Be Consistent with this format4. All Fields are required - if they are NOT Applicable to a MerchantPlease include them to make all feeds consistent with this format even if they are EMPTY...

    Page 17 of22

    http://forum.abestweb.com/showpost.php?p=488058&postcount=72http://forum.abestweb.com/showpost.php?p=493277&postcount=114http://forum.abestweb.com/showpost.php?p=488058&postcount=72http://forum.abestweb.com/showpost.php?p=493277&postcount=114
  • 8/14/2019 Datafeed Standard Concept (Work in Progress)

    18/22

    Column Headers

    Required FieldsItem# = SKU = PRODUCT ID .. ect.. ect...MFGR Model#Brand or Manufacturer..

    Name = NAME OF PRODUCT (ie - The Super Squirter Watergun)Description = DETAILED Description Of ProductShort Description = Short Version If ApplicableCategorySubcategoryGroup - "If Applicable"ThumbUrlImageUrlBuyLinkRetail PriceSale Price

    Optional FieldsKeywordsReviews - "If Applicable"Brand Page Link (Affiliate link to the BRAND Page on the merchants site)Brand Logo (Image Url for the products Brand Logo)Misc Content

    And About ThisSubcategoryGroup - "If Applicable"These two can mean the same thing -- are you looking for Product Type? Like LunchBox vs. DVD or Sweatshirt vs T-shirt? In either case probably only one of these fields

    is necessary

    Example

    CATEGORY + SUBCATEGORY + GROUPMens Clothing + Hats + BALLCAPSMens Clothing + Hats + SKI HATS

    OR if GROUP is NOT Applicable

    CATEGORY + SUBCATEGORY + GROUPMens Clothing + Hats + Leave It Empty if Not Applicable

    Mens Clothing + Hats +

    Page 18 of22

  • 8/14/2019 Datafeed Standard Concept (Work in Progress)

    19/22

    Data Feed Standard as proposed by Fred from web-procreate.com

    http://www.web-procreate.com/datafeed_standard.htmhttp://forum.abestweb.com/showpost.php?p=526512&postcount=171January 24th, 2006

    Email: [email protected]

    Datafeed Standard

    ObjectivesThe Datafeed Standard is an attempt to solidify the diverse formats andconfigurations found in data feed files. The standard will benefit Merchants,Affiliates, and affiliate networks.The format and delivery should function for "script" enabled affiliates.The foregoing standard is not meant as an all-inclusive document, rather abasic framework representing minimum goals for the formatting of datafeedfiles.

    HistoryMany affiliates have expressed concern over the lack of a standard format fordata feed files originating from merchants and affiliate networks. Data feedfiles have diverse configurations, most notably differing field names (columnheaders), different arrangement/order of field names, and different types ofdelimiters. Some data feed files do not have any header information (fieldnames). This lack of commonality has lead to many affiliates deciding tohave relationships only with merchants/networks who provide data feed fileswith a consistent and similar format. Simply put, many affiliates will notpublish products from merchants whose datafeed format is either incomplete,inconsistent, or differs so much from other merchants so as to be too difficultto integrate into the affiliate's process.

    The Datafeed standard presented represents input from affiliate publishers,merchants, and web development specialists. Additional information can befound in the "datafeed" section ofabestweb.com

    Benefits for the MerchantA standardized format will mean more affiliates will use the feed. Utilizingthe standard will attract higher quality affiliates with more experience andmotivation. The standardized feed can be more easily integrated into theaffiliate's publishing mechanism, meaning the product information publishedwill be more accurate, and complete. An easy to use, standardized formatwill also allow affiliates to update the feeds in a more timely fashion, ensuringless stale or incorrect product and pricing information will be published andexposed to the buying public.

    Affiliate Managers can utilize the datafeed standard in a cut and pastefashion when "encouraging" their IT departments to produce a standardformat available for their affiliate sales channel.With fresher datafeed generated product content, and a larger number ofqualified affiliates, Merchants will convert more visitors to booked sales.

    Benefits for AffiliatesThe standardized format will mean faster site development and maintenance,by utilizing templates already developed for other merchants and feeds.Because field names will be standardized, the same scripts used to generate

    Page 19 of22

    http://www.web-procreate.com/datafeed_standard.htmhttp://forum.abestweb.com/showpost.php?p=526512&postcount=171http://forum.abestweb.com/forumdisplay.php?f=193http://forum.abestweb.com/http://www.web-procreate.com/datafeed_standard.htmhttp://forum.abestweb.com/showpost.php?p=526512&postcount=171http://forum.abestweb.com/forumdisplay.php?f=193http://forum.abestweb.com/
  • 8/14/2019 Datafeed Standard Concept (Work in Progress)

    20/22

    product pages for one merchant can be used more easily for othermerchants. The same reasoning applies to templates used by WebMergeenabled affiliates.

    Page 20 of22

  • 8/14/2019 Datafeed Standard Concept (Work in Progress)

    21/22

    Specifications

    DelimiterTab delimited text file.

    File TypeText file, should be available as a minimum in the following formats (In order ofpreference):1. gzip2. Plain Text3. Zip (Windows)

    Delivery Method (suggested)File Transfer Protocal. FTP should be used in order to facilitate the automateddownload of updated (fresh) files containing new/revised product information.(Note: Many script-enabled affiliates will not utilize a datafeed if the process ofdownloading cannot be automated).

    Field Names (Column Headers)Notes:1. Do not concatenate fields.2. Do not remove fields (Columns). All fields should remain, even if a field is notused.3. No Spaces in Field Names (example: "Product_Name," not "Product Name")4. Keep fields in the order presented below.

    Changing any of the above items will "break" the affiliate's import code, and will notallow their process to continue.Required Field Names

    Item_Number (examples: SKU, PRODUCT_ID)

    Model_Number Brand orManufacturer

    Product_Name

    Description (Detailed Description Of Product)

    Short_Description (Short Version without markups, if available)

    Category (Topmost Category(broadest))

    Subcategory (Secondary Category)

    Group (Third Level Category, if available, but preferred)

    ThumbUrl (Thumbnail or "smaller image" if available)

    ImageUrl

    BuyLink

    Retail_Price

    Sale_PriceOptional Field Names

    Keywords (comma separated text values)

    Reviews (If Available)

    Brand Page Link (Affiliate link to the BRAND Page on the merchants site)

    Brand Logo (Image Url for the products Brand Logo)

    Page 21 of22

  • 8/14/2019 Datafeed Standard Concept (Work in Progress)

    22/22

    Misc Content

    Additional Fields (examples: deeper sub-categories (groups), ProductAvailability, Expiration)

    A maximum 75x75 pixel size is recommended

    Page 22 of22