Product Feed Integration Guide

What Is a Product Feed?

A product feed is a structured digital file that contains your current product assortment — a list of every product you carry, with the identifiers that allow Icecat’s systems to recognise and match each one. Think of it as a live catalogue you share with Icecat automatically, so that instead of manually requesting data sheet by data sheet, the entire matching and enrichment process happens at scale in the background.

Supported formats: CSV and XLS/XLSX are supported by default. XML and JSON are not supported natively, however, as part of an Additional SLA agreement, Icecat can build custom conversion scripts that transform your XML or JSON feed into a supported format automatically, with no changes required on your side after setup.

Who Owns and Manages the Feed?

A product feed resides with you, our partner. Depending on your organisation, responsibility typically sits with one of the following teams:

Organisation Type	Typical Feed Owner	Notes
Retailer	E-commerce or IT team	Team managing product catalogue or website data exports
Distributor	Product data or IT team	Usually generated from ERP or warehouse management system
Marketplace	Catalogue or platform operations team	Usually generated from ERP or warehouse management system
Content syndication partner	Content or data partnerships team	Handles product data flows between platforms

What the Feed Must Contain

For Icecat to uniquely identify and match each product, the following fields are required or recommended. Accuracy of mandatory fields directly determines the match rate and how quickly your products are enriched

Field	What It Is	Why It Matters	Required?
Brand Name	The product manufacturer (e.g. Samsung, HP, Bosch)	Tells Icecat which brand catalogue to search in; narrows matching space significantly	Mandatory
Original Product Name	A short string defining the exact product model and configuration as used in your system (e.g. “iPhone 15 Pro 256GB Black Titanium”)	Used to validate the match and disambiguate variants (colour, capacity, spec). Critical for products with many configurations	Mandatory
MPN (SKU / VPN / Part number)	Manufacturer Part Number — the unique code assigned by the brand. Also known as SKU, VPN, or part number depending on the industry	Primary matching key. Clean, untruncated MPNs are the single biggest driver of match accuracy	Mandatory
GTIN (EAN / UPC)	Global Trade Item Number — barcode identifier (EAN-13 for Europe, UPC for North America)	Secondary matching key; increases confidence especially when MPNs are ambiguous. Include where available	Recommended
Category	Product category as used in your catalogue (e.g. Laptop, Monitor, Cordless drill)	Speeds up validation and improves categorisation accuracy	Recommended
Price	Current selling price in your system	Not used for matching or enrichment; useful contextual data	Optional
Stock	Current availability or quantity on hand	Not used for matching or enrichment; useful contextual data	Optional

Example: What a Feed Looks Like

Below is a representative sample of well-known products as they would appear in a correctly structured feed file

Brand	Original Product Name	MPN	GTIN (EAN)	Category
Apple	iPhone 15 Pro 256GB Black Titanium	MTVC3ZD/A	0194253722908	Smartphone
Samsung	Galaxy S24 Ultra 512GB Titanium Black	SM-S928BZKPEUB	8806095236070	Smartphone
HP	EliteBook 840 G11 14” Intel Core Ultra 7 16GB 512GB SSD	9C7V9EA#ABH	0196786834211	Laptop
Sony	WH-1000XM5 Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones Black	WH1000XM5/B	4548736132504	Headphones
Bosch	GSR 12V-15 Professional Cordless Drill Driver	06019F6000	4059952521428	Cordless drill
LG	OLED65C44LA 65” 4K OLED evo Smart TV 2024	OLED65C44LA.AEU	8806087641361	Television
Lenovo	ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12 14” Intel Core Ultra 7 32GB 1TB	21KC004GMH	0197532088187	Laptop
Philips	Series 9000 Prestige Dry Electric Shaver SP9872/14	SP9872/14	8720689002613	Electric shaver
Canon	EOS R6 Mark II Mirrorless Camera Body	5666C003	4549292205589	Digital camera
Cisco	Catalyst 9300 48-Port PoE+ Network Switch	C9300-48P-E	0882658668166	Network switch
Dyson	V15 Detect Absolute Cordless Vacuum Cleaner	394461-01	5025155068991	Vacuum cleaner
Nespresso	Vertuo Pop+ Coffee Machine Coconut White	XN910140	7630489854745	Coffee machine
Logitech	MX Master 3S Performance Wireless Mouse Graphite	910-006559	5099206103511	Computer mouse
Tefal	Oleoclean Pro Inox & Design Deep Fat Fryer 3.5L	FR8040	3045387400026	Deep fryer

How Icecat Receives and Updates the Feed

There are two connection methods. Choose the one that fits your technical setup.

Option A — Your FTP/SFTP You host the feed on your own server. Icecat connects using the address and credentials you provide and retrieves the file automatically. The file name must never change. You provide: Server address, username, password, folder path (if applicable), delimiter.

Option B — Icecat SFTP Icecat provides dedicated SFTP storage. You upload the feed there using a fixed file name. Icecat picks it up internally. Useful if you cannot expose your own server externally. You provide: Approximate file size and a contact email for SFTP notifications.

Update frequency — required information: Icecat can retrieve the feed at any frequency — daily by default, or multiple times per day for highly active feeds. To ensure our system syncs correctly with yours, please provide the exact time(s) your feed is regenerated or updated on your side (e.g. “every day at 02:00 CET” or “every 6 hours from 06:00”). This allows Icecat to schedule retrieval immediately after your update, so we always work from the most current version of your assortment. The file name must remain unchanged between updates.

What Happens When Your Feed Is Connected

Providing a feed is not just a technical step — it sets a chain of processes in motion that directly determines how quickly and completely your products are enriched.

1. Automatic product matching. Every product with a clean MPN and Original Product Name is matched against the Icecat global catalogue automatically. Unmatched products are flagged and routed to the mapping team for manual resolution.

2. Multiple teams are activated. Once a feed is live, it activates more than just the production team. The mapping team resolves unmatched products. The content improvement team analyses quality gaps and prioritises enrichment across the full assortment. This breadth of activation cannot be achieved through individual email requests.

3. Icecat aggregates feeds across all partners — confidentially. When the same product appears in multiple partner feeds, Icecat understands real market demand. This aggregated signal is never shared between partners or competitors. It is accessible only to authorised brand users within their own brand scope, and to the Icecat production team internally. Your assortment data remains entirely private.

4. Brands receive demand signals and invest in richer content. Brand users gain visibility into exactly which products their retail partners are actively selling. This is a powerful commercial signal: brands don’t just create missing data sheets, they also invest in richer content, localised messaging, and enhanced product stories, especially for products with high cross-feed resonance. On top, in some cases, the production team proactively contacts brand representatives to request additional information on high-demand products. The more feeds a product appears in, the stronger the signal and the greater the brand’s motivation to invest.

5. Production enriches at scale. Editors work across thousands of matched products simultaneously, identifying gaps and writing data sheets efficiently. Feed-based production carries higher editorial priority and wider mass production possibilities, rather than ad-hoc email requests and delivers enriched content faster and more consistently.

6. You receive enriched content and gain coverage visibility. As data sheets are completed, enriched content flows through your Icecat integration automatically. Progress is measured as coverage percentage across your feed — a far more meaningful KPI than individual product counts.

Email Requests vs Feed — Why It Makes a Difference

Processing individual product requests by email is possible, but it is significantly less efficient. Every email request requires manual coordination at every step — and crucially, it provides no visibility to product manufacturers about which products their partners are actively selling and need content for.

Dimension	Email request (old model)	Feed-based (new model)
Intake	Manual list received by email, compiled into reporting	Feed ingested automatically, no manual handling
Production priority	Lower; dependent on available team capacity	Higher; always in the editorial queue
Brand visibility	None — manufacturer has no signal that you need content for this product	Brand sees real demand; motivated to invest in richer content, localisation, and local messaging
Teams involved	Production team only	Production, mapping, content improvement, and brand teams all activated
Manufacturer awareness	Manufacturer does not know the partner needs this product	Manufacturer sees partner demand; more likely to prioritise data sheet creation and enrichment
Progress measurement	Individual product count; no catalogue-level view	Coverage % across full assortment; clear and meaningful KPI

Integration Steps

Setup is typically completed within a few business days once all information is shared.

1. Account Manger shares the feed and all connection details with the Project Manager. Include the exact time(s) your feed is regenerated so Icecat can configure retrieval timing to sync immediately after your update. Project Manager validates that mandatory fields are present and columns are clearly structured.

2. Project Manager creates the connection and configures the update schedule. Both AM and partner are notified once the connection is active and automatic updates begin.

3. If using Icecat SFTP: Project Manager shares credentials. Partner uploads the feed using a fixed file name. Project Manager activates the connection after a successful test and confirms to both Account Manager and partner that live updates are running.

Key Takeaways

A summary of everything in this document — rules only.

Topic	Key rule
Supported formats	CSV and XLS/XLSX by default. XML/JSON supported via Additional SLA (custom conversion scripts built by Icecat).
Mandatory fields	Brand Name, Original Product Name, MPN (SKU/VPN/Part number). These three fields directly determine match rate.
Recommended fields	GTIN (EAN/UPC) and Category. Improve match confidence and categorisation accuracy.
File name rule	Never change the file name between updates. The system connects to a single fixed path.
Update schedule	Provide the exact time(s) your feed is regenerated (e.g. “daily at 02:00 CET”). Icecat configures retrieval to sync immediately after your update.
Data confidentiality	Your assortment data is never shared with other partners or competitors. Accessible only to brand users within their own brand scope and to the Icecat production team.
Brand impact	Brands gain visibility on products their partners actively sell. High cross-feed resonance triggers richer content, local messaging, and proactive brand outreach for missing data.
Production priority	Feed-based work always carries higher editorial priority than ad-hoc email requests. Coverage % is the production KPI, not individual product count.
First contact	Share feed details with your Account Manager