Data feeds

High quality, up-to-date product catalogues, also known as data feeds, which list your site’s products are one of the most useful tools that you can provide for your publishers.  

A comprehensive, frequently updated data feed will make your programme more attractive to publishers. Data feeds are most relevant for retailers who sell multiple products, as well as those in the travel sector. 

Every network has its own data feed specifications. However, as best practice you should aim to provide as much useful information as possible in your data feed, the particulars of which will depend on the sector of your business. Fields such as Stock Keep Unit numbers (SKUs), barcodes, reviews and large and small images can all help your publishers to make the most of your data feed.  

Your data feed is one of the most important resources that you can make available to your publishers. 

It’s vital that your data feed is always accurate and up-to-date. You should be considering the following best practices in order to optimise your data feed: 

• Include a Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) or Manufacturer Part Number (MPN) field for every product. This unique identifier will allow all of your products to be listed in price comparison websites, as well as other listings.
• Include full delivery cost information rather than just the standard delivery cost.
• Include a “best sellers” field. This is useful for identifying and focusing on best-selling products. This field should be an integer and list the top products starting from 1 and be based on the last 2 weeks’ sales volume or similar. It’s important that products not included in the best sellers are left blank and not set to 0.
• Add a promotional details field. For example, “spend X and get Y free”, “buy one, get one free” etc.
• Ensure categorisation is consistent: please refrain from using categories such as “Christmas gifts”. It’s always best to categorise according to product type, rather than occasion.