This release brings a combination of data-transparency improvements, operational-efficiency gains, and foundational platform enhancements. We continue to evolve Icecat into a more structured, partner-aligned, and integration-ready ecosystem, while also investing in usability and long-term scalability. The updates in this release aim to improve both day-to-day workflows and strategic capabilities across product data, taxonomy, and infrastructure. For additional details, please refer to the previous Icecat Release Notes.
We continued expanding distributor pricing integration, making this data available in product meta XML and visible on Icecat.biz, while fully respecting distributor consent and improving commercial transparency for partners.
Distributor prices are now exported only when explicit permission is provided by the distributor. This ensures compliance with data-sharing agreements and maintains trust with our partners.
We extended the <Distributor> tag in product meta XML with the following attributes:
These attributes provide a clear and structured representation of distributor pricing, enabling Channel partner systems to integrate pricing into their workflows.
In addition to XML export, distributor pricing is now displayed directly on Icecat.biz on the product page in the “Distributors” tab, making this data accessible to users browsing product pages.
This significantly improves channel partner decision-making.
It is important to highlight that distributor pricing data is updated once per day and intended for reference and indicative use, not real-time decision-making. Users must take this update frequency into account when relying on the data.
For use cases requiring real-time or near real-time distributor pricing, Icecat provides a dedicated service that delivers up-to-date information on demand.
We started building a new product relations framework that introduces structured relation types and prepares the system for consistent processing, export, and future ranking improvements.
A key milestone of this sprint was the design of a rule-based typification architecture. This architecture enables the system to automatically assign relation types based on predefined, deterministic rules.
To operationalize typification, we introduced support for category-based relation rules stored at the database level. These rules define how products should be related depending on their taxonomy classification.
Another critical outcome of this sprint is preparing the system to attach relation types directly to each related product during export.
In parallel, we initiated the design of a scalable scoring and ranking architecture for related products.
These developments are a critical step toward building a robust, scalable, and intelligent product relations ecosystem, aligned with both partners’ needs and the internal platform’s evolution.
We enhanced reviews export in XML and JSON by exposing the accessibility status of review sources, providing partners with better visibility and control over review data usage.
Icecat expert reviews have been aggregated over many years from a wide range of external sources. Due to the dynamic nature of the web, some of these sources become unavailable over time. To address this, Icecat continuously monitors the accessibility of review sources.
Previously, if a review source URL was no longer accessible, it was excluded entirely from XML and JSON exports. While this ensured only valid links were delivered, it also introduced a lack of transparency, because Icecat partners had no visibility into missing or inaccessible sources.
With this update, we shifted from implicit filtering to explicit status communication. Instead of removing inaccessible review URLs, we now include them in the export along with their current status.
This allows partners to understand the full set of collected reviews, including historical ones, make informed decisions on whether to display or filter inaccessible sources, and maintain better data traceability and auditability.
We introduced a new attribute in the <URL> tag:
We added a new key in the Reviews section:
This improvement establishes a more transparent and partner-friendly data contract. Instead of hiding unavailable sources, we now explicitly communicate their status, enabling our partners to handle review data according to their own business logic. Overall, this change aligns with our broader goal of providing complete, trustworthy, and actionable product content, while giving partners greater control over how they consume and present Icecat data.
We introduced a dedicated SEO section in JSON output, aligned with XML, enabling partners to access structured SEO data consistently across formats.
The product JSON now includes a new SEO section, containing the following keys:
This structure mirrors the existing XML implementation, providing a unified data model across both output formats.
An important addition is the optional TaxonomyName attribute. When present, it indicates that:
This enables partners to identify when SEO content is tailored specially for them
With this update, users can now:
This is particularly valuable for platforms relying primarily on JSON, as they now have full parity in SEO data availability.
We improved usability on Icecat.biz by clarifying key workflows and adding guidance for compliance-related data, reducing friction and improving user understanding.
We enhanced the Import/Export workflow by making it more explicit that the file “Skipped products from your total feed” is available for download directly on the Import/Export page.
Previously, this functionality was not sufficiently visible, leading users to overlook important product catalog-matching feedback.
With the update, the file’s availability is now clearly communicated, and users can easily access and analyze skipped products.
We also introduced an explanatory text block in the “Contact Details” tab on the product page.
This improvement clarifies that the provided contact information is essential for compliance with GPSR (General Product Safety Regulation), and users responsible for regulatory compliance can rely on Icecat as a key data source.
Additionally, a direct link to the relevant manual is now included, and users are guided toward proper usage and interpretation of this data.
This enhancement delivers incremental but high-impact improvements that reduce friction, increase transparency, and support users in both day-to-day operations and regulatory responsibilities.
We delivered a bulk management interface for taxonomy mappings, significantly improving efficiency and scalability in aligning partner taxonomies with Icecat standards.
Channel partners often provide their own specification taxonomies, which need to be mapped to the Icecat taxonomy to ensure consistent delivery of product content.
The process flow is as follows:
This ensures that:
We introduced a dedicated user interface for bulk management of taxonomy feature mappings, allowing the taxonomy team to:
Previously, this process was handled manually, creating bottlenecks.
This improvement delivers several tangible benefits:
We enhanced Brand Cloud productivity by standardizing keyboard navigation and improving batch selection, enabling faster, more precise product management.
We introduced a fully standardized keyboard navigation model for the Specs block, enabling users to perform data entry and editing operations without relying on a mouse.
The following controls are now supported:
This improvement ensures:
We also upgraded the batch selection functionality in Brand Cloud search by adding support for selection by Product ID.
This addresses a common operational challenge when product codes may overlap across different brands.
With this enhancement, users can input a list of specific Product IDs, and the system selects only the relevant products within the user’s scope.
This results in:
These improvements significantly enhance the day-to-day usability of Icecat Brand Cloud.
We strengthened the translation process by introducing automatic cleanup of problematic characters, ensuring higher data quality across downstream systems.
The translation process for taxonomy elements remains structured and efficient, and the translation workflow supports scalable localization across multiple languages and markets.
During translations, it may occur that values include soft hyphen characters (invisible formatting symbols). While these characters are not visually apparent, they can introduce inconsistencies when processed by downstream platforms, leading to:
To mitigate this risk, we introduced an automatic data-cleaning step during the upload process:
This improvement ensures clean and consistent taxonomy data across all integrations, reduces the risk of downstream processing errors, and requires no additional effort from translation managers.
With this enhancement, we not only maintain an efficient translation workflow but also strengthen the data integrity and reliability of translated content. This is another step toward ensuring that Icecat data remains robust, consistent, and integration-ready across all platforms.
We continued investing in platform stability, security, and future scalability through infrastructure optimizations and enhanced access control mechanisms.
We evaluated new technologies to further improve how our system handles traffic and communication between services. As part of this effort, we tested Envoy Proxy as a potential future component of our architecture.
This exploration aims to improve system performance and scalability, enhance reliability under high load, and prepare our platform for future growth.
Several updates were delivered to reinforce our infrastructure security:
These changes contribute to a more robust and compliant environment, protecting both our systems and partner data.
We introduced two-factor authentication (2FA) for additional services, increasing the level of protection for user accounts. This reduces the risk of unauthorized access and aligns with modern security best practices.
We also delivered several enhancements to improve system consistency and reliability:
While these updates may not always be directly visible, they form the foundation for a stable, secure, and high-performing platform that our users can rely on.
This release strengthens Icecat’s value proposition by improving data clarity (reviews, SEO, pricing) and enabling more efficient operations (taxonomy management, Brand Cloud UX, translations). At the same time, we are laying the groundwork for advanced capabilities like typified product relations and scalable ranking, supported by ongoing infrastructure and security improvements.
We encourage you to explore the new capabilities, especially the enhanced data exports and usability improvements. If you rely on XML or JSON integrations, review the updated structures to take full advantage of the added transparency. For real-time needs or advanced use cases, please reach out to our team to learn more about available services.
Read further: Icecat, e-commerce, ecommerce, Icecat, product content, release notes
