If you have a big product portfolio that you want to sell on the Marketplace, catalog integration could be the most time-consuming part of the onboarding process. But even if you are selling less than 100 SKUs, creating your products properly from the start is very important.
Most marketplaces have a screening system for content. Product information which you push to the marketplace catalog is often checked manually by a member of the Marketplace team. At some point, if you are fully compliant with the Marketplace requirements, they might flag you as a trusted seller and allow you to create or edit products without supervision. To earn this, you need to strictly follow the Marketplace content policies and guidelines.
There are 2 main situations which you can face at the start of your catalog integration:
- The products which you want to sell are already in the Marketplace catalog. This usually happens either when the marketplace is mature and has a large catalog, or if you sell popular items from A-brands. In this case you can move directly to the next stage – offer creation and updates. It is also possible that the products exist in the catalog, but the quality of content is not high. If you believe you can improve it, that’s usually possible but will probably require a manual product-by-product approach. It is a good idea to consult with your Marketplace account manager how to deal with this.
- The products are not in the Marketplace catalog and need to be created. This is usually the case if the Marketplace is relatively new and has a smaller catalog, or if you are the brand owner.
Most marketplaces offer several options for catalog integration. In the table below you will find the most common ones, and see which option might be most suitable for you. The methods are arranged by complexity, starting with the easiest. Keep in mind that not all marketplaces support all of those methods – the selection should be made based on the platform capabilities and your internal resources.
| Integration type | Recommended if | Prerequisites | PROs | CONs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. One-by-one product creation | 1. You have a small catalog (under 100 SKUs) 2. Your products are in various categories 3. You have no structured product information database | 1. None | 1. Easy to use 2. No prerequisites 3. Low chance of errors | 1. Very time-consuming |
| 2. File import – platform template | 1. You have a small or medium-sized catalog (up to 1000 SKUs) 2. Your products are in a small number of categories 3. Your product information is not very well organized | 1. Spreadsheets (Excel, Google Docs) 2. Data manipulation skills (XLS, CSV) | 1. Easy to use 2. Few prerequisites 3. Relatively low chance of errors 4. Relatively good listing speed | 1. Requires multiple templates 2. Can be time-consuming depending on your data quality |
| 3. File import – seller template | 1. You have a medium-sized or large catalog (500+ SKUs) 2. You have products in many categories 3. You have a well structured product information database (e.g. a PIM system) | 1. Product information database | 1. Very good listing speed 2. Avoids multiple templates 3. Easy to maintain | 1. Relatively difficult to set up 2. Requires a significant initial effort 3. Prone to errors |
| 4. Feed import | 1. You have a medium-sized or large catalog (500+ SKUs) 2. You have products in many categories 3. You have a well structured product information database (e.g. a PIM system) 4. You can generate a XML / CSV feed | 1. Product information database 2. Feed generation capacity | 1. Very good listing speed 2. Avoids multiple templates 3. Easy to maintain 4. Provides automation | 1. Relatively difficult to set up 2. Requires a significant initial effort 3. Prone to errors |
| 5. Integrator | 1. You have a medium-sized or large catalog (500+ SKUs) 2. You don’t have a structured product information database, but you want to have one, or 3. You are already using an integrator | 1. Subscription with a supported integrator | 1. Serves as a product database 2. Good listing speed 3. Reusable content to sell on many marketplaces 4. Relatively low chance of errors | 1. Relatively difficult to set up 2. Requires investment 3. Develops a dependency on the integrator for multiple processes |
| 6. Custom API | 1. You have a very large catalog (5000+ SKUs) and you add new products all the time 2. You have a software development team 3. You have a product information database (e.g. a PIM system) 4. Your technology stack does now allow other integration options, or they are very resource-consuming | 1. Software development team 2. Product information database | 1. Can fully automate the listing process 2. Can utilize AI 3. Can provide very high listing speed | 1. Very difficult to develop and maintain 2. Requires investment |
If you need help navigating the different integration methods, reach out to Marketplace Agents using our contact form.