Catalogue content requirements

In this article, you will find useful recommendations to build and generate an optimal product catalogue regarding the format, encoding and content expected.

To discover the different ways to send your catalogue to Lengow, check out our article on Import Methods.

Your source data may be transmitted to Lengow as a main catalogue, or as an additional source to enrich a main catalogue. The information below applies to both types of source.

1. Encoding and supported formats

Your product catalogue can be in:

CSV (recommended)
For optimal compatibility, choose UTF-8 encoding. Other types of encoding are supported as ASCII and ISO 8859-1
TXT
XML
JSON
GZ

How to save your file in CSV UTF-8 format using a spreadsheet?

On Excel: click on "Save as", and select the "CSV UTF-8" format.

On LibreOffice or OpenOffice: click on "Save as", and select the "Text CSV" format while ticking the "Edit filter settings" box. After saving, you'll be able to choose the "Unicode (UTF-8)" character set in the dialog box.

2. Product catalogue content

2.1 Lengow's advice

Never insert special characters (accents, %, /, or other symbols) in field titles.
Do not insert spaces or commas in field names or product IDs. - and _ may be used instead.
In case of breadcrumb to separate your categories:
- prefer the symbols> or / or | (Example of values: Shoes> Men's Shoes> sneakers)
- Otherwise use one field per category level.

The same product ID cannot be send to all marketplaces as they have different requirements.

Lengow handles this issue to insure orders to be imported with the right and unique identical ID for each product in your back office.

Lengow mapes the ID of a product with the ID you mapped in your catalogue settings.
The related product must be present in the optimised feed as the Lengow API uses the channel product_id to search for the product, and replace it with the field identified as ID in the optimised feed catalogue.

In the example below, the ID is mapped with the SKU. The SKU will be displayed as ID in all clients orders.

Never change your product IDs. Product IDs are used to save customisations made on the platform and are used as an interface to share data with the various marketing channels.
Never change the names of the fields in your product catalogue once they are used in the Lengow platform. Never remove a field that is already being used in the platform. You can however add as many fields as you like.
All field labels in your product catalogue must be unique. Every header must also be unique.

2.2 General structure

Here is a non-exhaustive list of fields that Lengow recommends to have in its Product Catalogue. Some fields are mandatory though at the Lengow mapping step: "id", "title", "price" and "category".

The content and structure are adaptable to your needs.

For each type of field, we indicate its definition, the type of values expected with an example and our recommendations.

Unique_ID

Permanent reference number specific to each product and used to identify it in a unique way over time. A single product must always have the same identifier. The ID must not be reassigned to another product (maximum of 25 characters).

Expected value type: Alphanumeric (without any space or comma)

Example: 1235RES56

Recommendation: Mandatory to integrate a catalogue in Lengow

Category

Category to which the product belongs. You can also refer to “product family” (field with a maximum of 250 characters). This field will be used to organise your products by category. (Washing machine, MP3 player, etc.).

Expected value type: Alphanumeric

Example: High tech > television > television LCD > 100 Hertz

Recommendation: Mandatory to integrate a catalogue in Lengow

Sub_category1

Sub-category to which the product belongs.

Expected value type: Alphanumeric

Example: television LCD

Recommendation: This field is Strongly advised to integrate ones catalogue with the Lengow platform

Sub_category2...

Sub-category to which the product belongs.

Expected value type: Alphanumeric

Example: 100 Hertz

Recommendation: This field is Strongly advised to integrate ones catalogue with the Lengow platform

Title

Product title

Expected value type: Alphanumeric

Example: Samsung 100 Hertz LCD Television

Recommendation: Mandatory to integrate a catalogue in Lengow

Description

Product Description

Expected value type: Alphanumeric

Example: television LCD 100 Hertz Samsung, 47 pouces...

Recommendation: Strongly advised to integrate ones catalogue in Lengow

Standard_price

Corresponds to the price of the product on your site (54.40, 60.30, etc.). Without the € symbol and the delimiter must be a full stop.

Expected value type: Numeric

Example: 799.90

Recommendation: Mandatory to integrate a catalogue in Lengow

barred_price

If the price has been reduced (promotion, clearance sale, etc.), indicate in this field the old price of the product including tax in Euros. Without the € symbol and the delimiter must be a full stop.

Expected value type: Numeric

Example: 900.99

Recommendation: This field is Strongly advised to integrate ones catalogue with the Lengow platform

Sale_price

Price of the product during the sale period. Without the € symbol and the delimiter must be a full stop.

Expected value type: Numeric

Example: 699.90

Recommendation: This field is Strongly advised to integrate ones catalogue with the Lengow platform

Product_URL

Corresponds to the URL of the product page on your site

Expected value type: Url

Example: http://mysite.com/product.html

Recommendation: This field is Mandatory for all channels except Marketplaces.

URL_image

Corresponds to the URL of the product image on your site. All types of format are accepted by Lengow, however some channels have restrictions and don't accept all formats. It could block the launch of your products.
As Lengow doesn't download the images, the provided URLs must be publicly accessible in order to be displayed on the channel's website.

Expected value type: Url

Example: http://mysite.com/product_image.jpg

Recommendation: Mandatory to integrate ones catalogue in Lengow.

EAN

This field is made up of 13 figures and corresponds to the bar code commonly used for consumer goods in Europe. It identifies the product in a unique manner and enables better indexation of your product in our product categories. European article number.

Expected value type: Numeric

Example: 1234567891011

Recommendation: This field is Mandatory for all Marketplaces channels.

Parent_ID

A common identifier for all the variations of a product (learn more about this).

Expected value type: Alphanumeric

Example: 1235RES56

Recommendation: This field is Mandatory to manage the products Variation in the Lengow platform

Size / Color / Material ...

These are declination values that characterize the product

Corresponds to the size of the product (S, XL, XXL 37, 38, 41, 42, ...), or its color (red, white, blue, ...) etc ...

Favor a field by type of declination to avoid mixing the characteristics displayed.

Expected value type: Alphanumeric / Text

Recommendation: This field is Strongly advised to integrate ones catalogue with the Lengow platform and Mandatory to display your products in Marketplaces.

Product_Type

Define the product type ("child" product, therefore declined, or "parent" product, or "simple" product)

Expected value type: Text

Recommendation: This field is Strongly recommended to display on marketplaces, including Amazon .

Brand

Corresponds to the brand of the product or the name of the product manufacturer.

Expected value type: Alphanumeric

Example: SAMSUNG

Recommendation: Mandatory to integrate ones catalogue in Lengow

Delivery_costs

Corresponds to the product's delivery costs. The price, including tax in Euros, for all charges related to the order must be entered in this field: shipping, processing and order preparation fees, etc. Without the € symbol and the delimiter must be a full stop in the description.

Expected value type: Numeric

Example: 5.00

Recommendation: This field is Strongly advised to integrate ones catalogue with the Lengow platform

Delivery_time

Maximum delivery time. Numeric value which will be interpreted by default as a number of days. If the unit is not day(s), please specify (accepted units: hour(s); day(s); week(s); month(s)). For delivery times covering a range, separate the minimum and maximum by a dash. Indicate the unit only if this is not day(s).

Expected value type: Numeric

Example: 12

Recommendation: This field is Strongly advised to integrate ones catalogue with the Lengow platform

Quantity_in_Stock

Corresponds to the number of products currently in stock

Expected value type: Numeric

Example: 23

Recommendation: This field is Strongly advised to integrate ones catalogue with the Lengow platform is mandatory to display on most of the marketplaces.

Availability

Product availability Numeric value which will be interpreted by default as a number of days. 0 = in stock. If the unit is not day(s), please specify (accepted units: hour(s); day(s); week(s); month(s)). Where availability covers a range, separate the minimum and maximum values by a dash. Indicate the unit only if this is not day(s).

Expected value type: Numeric

Example: 0

Recommendation: This field is Advised to integrate ones catalogue to the Lengow platform

MPN

Manufacturer product number

Expected value type: Alphanumeric

Example: PRD567HT

Recommendation: This field is Strongly advised to integrate ones catalogue with the Lengow platform

2.3 CSV or TXT format

Accepted delimiters are :

vertical bar/pipe (|)
comma
semi-colon
tab

Make sure your file does not contain empty lines.

2.4 XML format

Text values must not contain:

> : replace this with >
< : replace this with <
& : replace this with &

It is important to give the name of the node that identifies the product.
For example in the image opposite, the name of the node is: <product>

All attributes must be filled in on the first product, if not, they will not be visible in lengow as the indexer is based on the first product.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<product>
    <product_id>1235RES56</product_id>
    <title>TV LCD 100 Hertz Samsung</title>
    <description>TV LCD 100 Hertz Samsuns, 47-inch screen...</description>
    <price_including_tax>790.99</price_including_tax>
    <pricenorebate>990.99</pricenorebate>
    <sale_price>690.99</sale_price>
    <category>High Tech &gt; TV &gt TV LCD</category>
    <sub_category1>High Tech</sub_category1>
    <sub_category2>TV</sub_category2>
    <sub_category3>TV LCD</sub_category3>
    <product_URL>http://mysite.com/productsXXXX.html</product_URL>
    <image_URL>http://www.mysite.com/Photos/Products/XXXXX.jpg</image_URL>
    <EAN>1234567890123</EAN>
    <MPN>PRD567HT</MPN>
    <brand>SAMSUNG</brand>
    <delivery_costs>5.00</delivery_costs>
    <delivery_time>12</delivery_time>
    <delivery_description>Same day delivery for London</delivery_description>
    <quantity_in_stock>23</quantity_in_stock>
    <Availability>0</Availability>
    <Warranty>3</Warranty>
    <size>47</size>
    <colour>Black</colour>
    <material/>
    <gender/>
    <weight>20.55</weight>
    <condition>new</condition>
    <sales>1</sales>
    <promo_texte/>
    <promo_percentage>30</promo_percentage>
    <start_date_promo>26-06-2016 08-00-00</start_date_promo>
    <end_date_promo>04-08-2016 16-00-00</end_date_promo>
    <ecotax>0</ecotax>
    <currency>EUR</currency>
</product>

2.5 JSON format

Here is an example of a Product Catalogue in JSON format.

[
 {
 "categorie": "High Tech > Télévision > Télévision LCD",
 "delai_de_livraison": 7,
 "description": "Télévision LCD 100 Hertz Samsung,47 pouces...",
 "devise": "EUR",
 "dimensions": {
 "hauteur": 65.0,
 "largeur": 120.0,
 "profondeur": 2.5
 },
 "ecotaxe": 0,
 "frais_de_livraison": 0,
 "garantie": 3,
 "id": 2,
 "marque": "Samsung",
 "prix": 399.0,
 "titre": "Télévision LCD 100 Hertz Samsung",
 "url_image": "http://monsite.com/photos/produit_2.jpg",
 "url_produit": "http://monsite.com/télévision/produit2"
 },
 {
 "categorie": "High Tech > Télévision > Télévision LCD",
 "delai_de_livraison": 7,
 "description": "Télévision LCD 200 Hertz Samsung, 50 pouces",
 "devise": "EUR",
 "dimensions": {
 "Hauteur": 70.0,
 "largeur": 125.0,
 "profondeur": 2.5
 },
 "ecotaxe": 0,
 "frais_de_livraison": 0,
 "garantie": 3,
 "id": 3,
 "marque": "Samsung",
 "prix": 499.0,
 "titre": "Télévision LCD 200 Hertz Samsung",
 "url_image": "http://monsite.com/photos/produit_3.jpg",
 "url_produit": "http://monsite.com/télévision/produit3"
 }
]

Updated October 10, 2024 12:31

1. Encoding and supported formats

How to save your file in CSV UTF-8 format using a spreadsheet?

2. Product catalogue content

2.1 Lengow's advice

2.2 General structure

2.3 CSV or TXT format

2.4 XML format

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