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      Creating a Product Data Feed Using Plytix’s Google Shopping Template

      Learn how to configure a Product Data Specification XML Feed with Plytix’s Google Shopping Channel

      Through Plytix’s Google Shopping channel, you can set up a Google Merchant Center (GMC) feed to send data from Plytix to Google Shopping. In this article, you will learn how to create your primary product data for GMC.

       

      Creating your Google Shopping Channel

      Channel Overview

      Process Log

      Products

      Mapping

      Settings

      Processing your Channel

       

      *Skip to any section in this article by clicking on the links above

       

      💡 This guide explains how to set up a Google Shopping channel for a primary product data feed. If you are interested in creating a supplemental or different XML feed for Google Merchant Center, click here.

      Creating your Google Shopping Channel

       

      1. To access Plytix’s Google Shopping channel, click on the Channels tab. Add a name to your channel. Then, under “Channel Type,” select the Google Shopping Channel.
      2. Fill in your store details information: your store title, store link, and a description. You can also change these details later under the “Settings” tab. 

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      3. Click “Add channel”

      Channel Overview

       

      After adding your Google Shopping channel, you will get to your channel detail page. 

      Note: You can learn more about creating and managing channels here. 

      In your Google Shopping channel, 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.

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      After your channel has been processed, this tab will automatically change to become your “Process Log”.

      In this tab you can find:

      • The date and time your channel started and finished processing
      • The status of each processing
      • The number of products that were processed
      • The result — whether your channel was successfully processed or failed

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      Products

      This is where you can add your preferred Product List for your channel. You can learn more about creating and managing Product Lists here. 

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      ⚠️ Make sure to process your channel again whenever you change your product list to ensure your feed is updated with these changes. 

      Mapping

      Go to “Mapping” to match your Plytix attributes to the Google Shopping fields. In the “Mapping” tab, you will find two sections:

      Required fields: 

      These are the fields that are required for a main Google Merchant Center feed.

      Following Plytix’s template, you can directly map the required fields with existing attributes in your PIM, or create computed attributes that will only apply to your channel.

      ℹ️ You will need to map all required fields to be able to process your channel. 

      gmc-mapping

       

      ℹ️ Plytix’s Google Shopping Channel is a template for a GMC product data feed, so the required fields follow the specifications outlined by Google Merchant Center. Different Google Shopping feed types will have different requirements. To learn more about the distinct Google product attributes, click here. 

      Optional fields:

      Beyond the required fields, you can also map optional fields with existing attributes or create computed attributes for your channel. Those are fields that are not required for you to be able to process your channel.  

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      Settings

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

      • Store Details: Here you can modify your store Title, Link, and Description (which you entered during the Channel creation). 

      ⚠️ Remember to always process your channel again whenever you update your store details.

      • 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.

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      • Connections: If you have a FTP or Dropbox account, you can send a copy of your GMC file. To do so, click “+ Create a connection,” to establish an FTP/SFTP or Dropbox connection.  
      • Scheduling: You can choose to set up a periodic processing for your feed if you wish to have your channel processed automatically at a specific set time. 

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      Processing your channel

      To process your feed, you will follow the same steps you would for another channel type (click here to learn more about processing a channel in Plytix).

      To process your GMC feed:

      1. Add a product list (we recommend using a completeness attribute to manage which products are ready to be sent to your Google Shopping account!)
      2. While Plytix’s Google Shopping channel already includes a list of required fields for a product data specification feed, additional fields may be required depending on what kind of products you are managing and what country you are selling them to. We recommend checking the Google documentation for specifications on which attributes are required for your product type and according to each country.
      3. After you have mapped your attributes, click “Process now” or set up scheduled processing in the Settings tab. 

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      4. Once your channel has been processed, you will have access to your feed URL under your channel name. Copy your feed URL and paste it into your GMC account.

      GMC Channel (1)

      ℹ️ No matter how many times you process your channel, your feed URL remains the same. 

       

       

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