If you’re just starting out your e-tailing business, it can be overwhelming as you figure out how to best maximize the internet to grow your company. There is a dizzying array of choices for merchants to consider as they expand online but it’s important to do your research and learn as much as you can. In these difficult economic times, saving money is key and only with due diligence and attention to detail is that possible.
There is however, one component of any e-commerce venture that is perhaps more indispensable than any other: data feeds.
A product data feed is a file that contains information about your products such as product names, prices, descriptions, image url and several other attributes. Data feeds can contain anywhere from a handful of products, to tens of thousands of products. The feed is usually saved as a text file or a csv (comma separated value) file and uploaded to the engines.
Most shopping carts support the ability to export your products to a file but managing data feeds can become a hassle as almost each comparison engine requires a different format.
Data feed services consolidate your product information and distribute it through whatever online channels you seek, whether that’s comparison search engines or product search engines. These services also help keep your product data current and up-to-date, making it easier to manage, track sales and traffic.
Finding the right data feed service is critical to your e-commerce success. SingleFeed and MerchantAdvantage are both known for doing a great job distributing data feeds to the top comparison engines and even have resourceful blogs.
