What format does a product feed use?

Most commonly CSV/TSV, XML or JSON files, or a direct API connection. The right format depends on the channel: Google Shopping accepts XML and text feeds, while many marketplaces prefer flat files or their own API.

What fields does a product feed need?

At minimum a unique ID, title, description, price, availability, brand, a product identifier such as a GTIN/EAN, an image URL and a category. Each marketplace adds its own required attributes on top of these basics.

How often should a product feed update?

Stock and price should update as frequently as possible — ideally in real time via API, or at least several times a day. Stale feeds cause overselling and listings that show the wrong price.

Do I need a separate feed for each marketplace?

Effectively yes. Every channel defines its own required fields and category taxonomy, so a single source catalogue has to be transformed into a correctly mapped feed for each destination.

Glossary

Product Feed

Product Data Feed · Catalogue Feed · Inventory Feed

A product feed is a structured file — usually CSV, XML, or JSON, or an API payload — that lists all of your products and their attributes (title, description, price, GTIN, stock, images, category) in the exact format a marketplace or sales channel expects. It is how your catalogue is transmitted, kept in sync, and turned into live listings.

Last updated: June 2026

Key facts

A feed is structured data, not a web page: each product is a row or record with named fields the channel can read automatically.
Common formats are CSV/TSV, XML and JSON, plus direct API uploads — each marketplace defines its own required fields and naming.
Required attributes typically include a unique ID, title, description, price, availability, brand, GTIN/EAN, image URL and a category.
Feeds are usually refreshed on a schedule (e.g. hourly or daily) so price and stock stay current across every channel.

What a product feed contains

At its core a product feed is a table. Each row (or record) represents one sellable product or variant, and each column is an attribute the receiving channel understands — a unique product ID, the title, a longer description, the price and currency, stock availability, the brand, a GTIN or EAN, one or more image URLs, and a category value. Marketplaces and shopping channels read this file automatically to build, update, or remove listings without anyone editing them by hand.

The exact fields differ by channel. Google Shopping expects attributes such as id, title, description, link, image_link, price, availability, gtin and google_product_category. Amazon and Kaufland use their own flat-file or API schemas with category-specific fields. Allegro, bol.com and eMAG each define their own required and optional attributes. A feed that satisfies one channel will usually need remapping before another channel will accept it.

How feeds are delivered and kept in sync

A feed can be delivered as a hosted file the channel fetches on a schedule (a URL it polls), as a file you upload, or — most reliably — through a direct API connection that pushes changes as they happen. Scheduled feeds are simple but introduce lag; API connections allow near real-time updates to price and inventory, which matters when you are avoiding overselling across many marketplaces at once.

Because the same product is usually sold on several channels, the practical job is taking one source catalogue (from Shopify or WooCommerce, for example) and generating a separate, correctly formatted feed for each destination. Tools that automate this map your source fields to each marketplace's schema, transform values where needed, and re-send the feed whenever stock or price changes so every channel reflects the same truth.

Example

A Shopify store selling a coffee grinder generates a Google Shopping feed row with id "CG-200", title "Burr Coffee Grinder 200W", price "49.90 EUR", availability "in stock", gtin "5012345678900" and a google_product_category value. The same product is pushed to Kaufland through an API feed using Kaufland's own category and attribute names — same product, two differently structured feeds.

Why it matters for marketplace sellers

Your feed is what every marketplace actually reads — listings only go live if the feed is correctly structured and complete, so feed quality directly controls whether you can sell.
One source catalogue must become many channel-specific feeds; getting the mapping right for each marketplace is the bulk of multichannel setup work.
Scheduled or real-time feed updates keep price and stock accurate across channels, which is the main defence against overselling and price drift.
Missing or malformed required fields (no GTIN, no category, wrong price format) are the most common reason a marketplace rejects products at import.