How to create an XML feed file (in Oct8ne format)

How to create an XML feed file (in Oct8ne format)

To perform bulk product uploads to populate the Oct8ne catalog, we use feed files to supply our servers with your product data. These files have a specific format and naming convention, which we will review below.

XML

A file with the '.xml' extension consists of an Extensible Markup Language (XML) file, which is a plain text file that uses a series of custom tags to describe both the structure and other characteristics of the document.

Info
The XML file consists of a series of opening and closing tags that delimit the product information.

More information:

The tags we use to import the data are the same as the standard Google Merchant format. (<item>). 

To begin, we will define the header within the XML file:

  1. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
  2.    <rss xmlns:g="http://base.google.com/ns/1.0" version="2.0">
  3.         <channel>
  4.              <title>You Store</title>
  5.              <description>Import demo</description>
  6.              <link>http://YourWebsite.com</link>
  7.                      --ALL ITEMS GOES HERE --
  8.         </channel>
  9.   </rss>

Next, we'll add the product blocks '<item>' within the '<channel>' tag.
Within the '<item>' tag, we'll add the tags corresponding to the product's basic data. You must add one '<item>' tag block for each product you want to import. 

  1. <item>
  2.      <g:id>IdProduct1</g:id>
  3.      <title> <![CDATA[ Title Product 1 ]]> </title>
  4.      <description> <![CDATA[ Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. ]]></description>
  5.      <link><![CDATA[ https://Yourwebsite.com/product1.html ]]></link>
  6.      <g:image_link><![CDATA[ https://Yourwebsite.com/imgproduct11.jpg ]]></g:image_link>
  7.      <g:additional_image_link><![CDATA[ https://Yourwebsite.com/imgproduct12.jpg ]]></g:additional_image_link>
  8.      <g:product_type><![CDATA[ Category &gt; SubCategory ; OtherCategory ]]></g:product_type>
  9.      <g:price>255.00 EUR</g:price>
  10. </item>

LABELS

<g:id>
• MANDATORY
• Use a unique value for each product. Use the product's SKU code whenever possible.
• Keep the same ID when uploading your data.

<title>
• MANDATORY
• Product Name
• Title your product accurately.
• Do not include promotional text (such as "Free Shipping"), do not write in all capital letters, and do not use foreign characters.
• For variations, it is recommended that you include a distinguishing feature, such as color or size.

<description>
• MANDATORY
• Describe your product accurately. You can use the same description as on your website.
• Do not include promotional text (such as "Free Shipping"), do not write in all capital letters, and do not use foreign characters.
• Include only product information. Do not include links to your store, sales information, or data about your competitors, other products, or accessories.
• Do not use HTML tags.

<link>
• MANDATORY
• Product landing page
• Use your verified domain name.
• The URL must begin with http or https.
• Use a URL encoded according to RFC 2396 or RFC 1738. For example, the comma should be written as "%2C".

<g:image_link>
• MANDATORY
• URL of the main product image
• This must link to the main product image.
• The URL must begin with http or https.
• Use a URL encoded according to RFC 2396 or RFC 1738. For example, the comma should be written as "%2C".
• Use an accepted format: JPEG (.jpg/.jpeg), PNG (.png), GIF (.gif), BMP (.bmp)

<g:additional_image_link>
• OPTIONAL
• URL of an additional product image
• You can add as many as you like. See example. 

<g:price>
• MANDATORY
• Product Price
• Please submit the product price and currency; these must be accurate and match the price shown on the landing page.

<g:sale_price>
• OPTIONAL
• Product offer price
• Meet the requirements of the ‘price’ attribute described above.
• If the <sales_price> tag is present on the item, it will override the price in the oct8ne catalog. That is, it takes precedence over the <price> tag.

<g:product_type>
• OPTIONAL
• Category assigned to your product
• Include the full category. For example, include Home > Women > Dresses > Maxi Dresses.
• Separate different subcategories with the greater-than symbol (>). 


Warning
The link tag is very important, as it's the tag that enables product tracking. This value tells us which product the customer is viewing, and we can display it in the Oct8ne viewer. For this to work, the link tag must be identical to the canonical URL of each product page.


* If the page does not have the rel=’canonical’ tag, the link tag must be IDENTICAL to the page URL.
Warning
If the file contains more tags than those described above, these will not be imported into the Oct8ne catalog. They will be ignored by our system. 
Warning
An example file is attached. It is recommended to use a text editor such as Notepad++ or similar to create or edit this type of file.


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