Channels
      Back to home
      1. Help Center
      2. Sharing your data
      3. Channels

      Creating a feed with Plytix’s feed management tool templates

      Learn how to use Plytix’s templates to generate feeds that match your preferred Feed Management Tool, including Feedonomics, Channable, Channel Engine, and more.

      Feed Management Tools (FMTs) are platforms that process your product information and turn it into the right format for each marketplace you’re selling to, so you don’t have to do it manually. Unlike a Product Information Management (PIM) system, FMTs don’t ensure data accuracy and consistency as a central source of truth, especially for recurring updates and team collaboration. Instead, they’re a resource to help you automate the distribution of that centralized product data in platform-specific formats, especially when working with different marketplaces. This is why you can optimize this process by combining your Plytix PIM account with a Feed Management Tool. As you manage your product data in Plytix, you can automate the process of sending product data in platform-specific formats using one of our 10 pre-made FMT templates that match your Plytix attributes with your FMT’s fields. In this article you will learn how to use these templates to send data to your Feed Management Tool.


      Creating a Feed Management Tool Channel

      Managing your Channel

      Processing your Channel

      Uploading your File into your Feed Management Tool


      Creating a Feed Management Tool Channel


      To access a specific Feed Management Tool template, head over to your “Channels” tab in Plytix and click “Add Channel.” Name your channel, then select a template for the Feed Management Tool you use.


      These are all the Feed Management Tool templates available in Plytix:

      • Feedonomics
      • Channable
      • Channel Engine
      • Datafeed Watch
      • Products Up
      • Shopping Feed
      • Lengow
      • Channel Pilot Pro
      • GoData Feed
      • BeezUp

      Managing your Channel


      Once you've created a new channel for the template of the FMT you chose, you will find the following tabs:


      Process Log

      Before you process your channel for the first time, this tab will be the Instructions tab, where you can find general information about your channel and the step-by-step to process it. 

      ℹ️ Processing your channel generates the downloadable feed that you can then import into your selected Feed Management Tool. 

      Once you’ve processed your channel for the first time, this tab will become your Process Log where you can find a record of your previous processes and download past files you generated in the channel.

      process-log


      Products


      This is where you can add the list of products you would like to include in your file. Learn more about creating and managing Product Lists here. 

      products-tab


      Mapping

      In this tab you will find three columns:

      • Plytix attributes: This is where you can select the Plytix attributes you would like to match with the fields from the Feed Management Tool you’re using.
      • Feed Management Tool fields: A list of the most common fields for the tool you selected. 

      ℹ️ The list of fields will vary according to the Feed Management Tool you chose when adding the channel. 

      • Formatting: Some attribute types allow for formatting options, so you can match the requirements of your marketplace without changing the attribute in Plytix. You can format date attributes and assets, or create a new formula operation to transform your attribute values.

      Depending on your product type and the Feed Management Tool you’re using, you may need to include additional fields that aren’t included in this list. 


      To include additional fields in your file, click “+ Add attributes.” If you already have a list of fields you’d like to include, you can upload a CSV template. 


      mapping-tab

      Settings


      In the “Settings” tab, you can manage the following information:

      • File: You can customize how your file will be named when you download it. You can also choose to add a timestamp to the file name for reference.
      • Connections: If you have a FTP or Dropbox account, you can send a copy of your feed's file. To do so, click “+ Create a connection.”
      • Webhooks: Automate notifications in third-party apps with information about your processed channel. Learn how to get started with Plytix Webhooks here.
      • Scheduling: Set up a periodic processing for your feed if you wish to have your channel processed automatically at a specific time and frequency. 
      settings-tab

      Processing your channel


      To process your channel and generate the file you will then upload into your Feed Management Tool, click “Process now.”

      To learn more about processing preview options, check out this article with more details about it. 

      After you’ve processed your channel, a feed URL will be automatically generated. Click on it to download it.

      channel-dashboard

      Uploading your Feed into your Feed Management Tool 

      After you’ve generated your feed URL in Plytix with the pre-populated fields from your PIM matched to the requirements of your tool, you can upload that file into your preferred Feed Management Tool. Below you will find general instructions for how to upload your Plytix feed into most of the Feed Management Tools included in our template options. 

      Channable

      1. Go to Channable’s setup page and select “Setup import.”
      2. Choose “CSV” as the import option, then paste the URL generated by Plytix after processing your channel.
      3. Map the fields from Plytix to Channable’s fields (most will auto-map).
      4. Click Save & Import, and wait until the status says “Finished”.

      ℹ️ Sometimes Channable will warn you that some fields are missing in the mapping. For example, if you’re missing a field called "title": Find the row that contains the "title" field, disable custom and select the field "title" from the drop down menu below "Internal Channable Field".

      5. All your items have now been loaded into Channable; you can find them under “Items.”

       

      For more information, access Channable’s Help Center.

      ChannelEngine

      1. Head to the “Product feeds” page in ChannelEngine, then click “Add product feed.”
      2. Paste your Plytix feed URL, select the correct CSV delimiter, and name your feed.
      3. Configure additional settings like parent product generation and feed status.
      4. You will then need to fill the following fields for the feed import:

      Name - the name of the product feed. If you plan to use multiple feeds, make sure to distinguish them by using different names. E.g.: Amazon product feed, Product feed refurbished items, Product translations feed - DE, etc.

      Additional - marks a feed as additional. Additional feeds are meant to update attributes of existing products (e.g.: stock, content, etc.).

      Use comma separator in numbers - by default, ChannelEngine's servers are set to the international locale. This means that for numbers (e.g.: prices, dimensions, etc.), ChannelEngine expects a period as the decimal separator (e.g.: EUR 9.95). If your feed uses numbers with a comma as the decimal separator (e.g.: EUR 9,95), make sure to enable this setting to prevent prices from being 100 times higher.

      Generate parent products - if this setting is enabled, ChannelEngine automatically generates parent products for the products grouped by the parent SKU – without a parent product available in the feed. The setting only applies to a leading feed.

      Product feed status - by default, product feeds are set to Inactive. If this setting is enabled, the feed status changes to Active, prompting ChannelEngine to initiate the import of the product feed. To pause the import and deactivate the product feed, disable this setting.

      5. After setting the feed options, you will be able to map your product feed attributes with the Channel Engine system ones. 

      For more information, access ChannelEngine’s Help Center.

      Lengow

      1. In the "Catalogues" tab, click “Add a new catalogue” and select “A direct link” as the import method.
      2. Paste your Plytix feed URL, then proceed to map the attributes.

      For more information, access Lengow’s Help Center.

      ProductsUp

      1. Go to Data Sources from the main menu and select “Add data source.”
      2. Search for “Feed URL” and select “Add.” Give it a custom and click “Continue.”
      3. In “Source URL,” add your Plytix feed URL. As an option, you can edit the name of the data source under “Description.”
      4. Click “Save.” Under “Content Options” you can access the CSV Settings, where you can edit or replace header rows and define the encoding, delimiter, enclosure, and the number of headers used in your CSV file. By default, Productsup detects the encoding, delimiters, and enclosures in CSV files automatically and considers the first row in your file to be the header.

      For more information, access ProductsUp’s Help Center.

      GoDataFeed

      1. Go to GoDataFeed > Products > Import Source > select HTTP
      2. Enter the HTTP Address: this is the URL of your HTTP file location. It usually begins with http:// or https://
      3. Under “File Format,” select CSV as the format for the Plytix URL you are importing.
      4. Click "Save" to import your products.

      For more information, access GoDataFeed’s Help Center. 

      Data Feed Watch

      1. Navigate to “Shops.” Click on “Add Shop” button
      2. Select CSV file
      3. Enter your file's address, this will be the Plytix Channel URL generated after processing the channel for the first time
      4. Next, schedule your update frequency in the Updates Schedule.
      5. Click the next tab to proceed.
      6. Set up your Internal Fields rules. 
      7. Click “Finish”

      For more information, access Data Feed Watch’s Help Center.

      Beez Up

      1. In the main menu, Go on the tab "Importation"
      2. Choose the “CSV” file format for your product feed
      3. Provide the Plytix URL generated by your channel after being processed
      4. Set the text qualifier as “Double quotes” and check the options “CSV contain Column Names” and “Should Not Use CSV Column Names”
      5. Click on "Start importation" and wait until it loads. You will be automatically redirected to Importation > Mapping (or Mega-Mapping) once it finishes.
      6. Fill out the Mapping.
      7. When the mapping is done, click on "Validate and Import"
      8. Click on "Set as Automatic Import"

      For more information, access Beez Up’s Help Center.


      What’s Next?