How to optimize your Datafeed

  • Updated on Jun 24, 2025
  • Published on Feb 27, 2025
  • 5 minute(s) read
Prev Next

Summary

To set up FactFinder with your product information, the product data must be provided in a uniform structure. A CSV text file provides an appropriate format. Other file formats, like XML and JSON, are supported as well, please contact us for more details.

Fundamental Concepts

File Format and Encoding

  • The product data must be exported in CSV text format with fields separated by a designated character (e.g., semicolon ;)

  • UTF-8 encoding is recommended. If using a different encoding, notify us in advance.

File Compression

  • To reduce transmission bandwidth, files can be compressed in ZIP format.

  • Other supported compression formats: GZip, BZip, GZip+TAR.

  • RAR and other archive formats are not supported for automatic data updates

File Naming and Multi-Shop Support

  • If FactFinder is used simultaneously in multiple shops or in different languages, a separate file must be created for each channel (shop and/or language).

  • The channel name must be included in the filename (e.g., FFF_export_en.csv).

  • Multiple files can be included in the same archive or separate archives.

Data Structure Guidelines

  • Each product (record) must appear in a separate row.

  • No line breaks within a field (e.g., product descriptions).

  • Each row must contain the same number of fields.

  • Field separators: Use tabs or semicolons (;), not | (pipe) or # (hash).

  • Field delimiters: If separators appear in data, enclose values in quotation marks "").

Handling Fields

  • A separator must be included for empty fields (e.g., content1;content2;;content4; has five fields, in which fields three and five are empty.)

  • The first row must contain field names, structured identically to data rows.

  • Maximum fields per row: 128 (consider using multi-attribute fields if exceeding this limit).

Character and Size Limitations

  • Individual field content is not limited in length.

  • Maximum size of the complete data record: 100,000 characters (removable in special cases via custom FactFinder package).

Data Structure Examples

Without Field Delimiters

ProductID;ProductName;Description;Price
000002101;LG T-6000;HD-Ready LCD-TV with cable tuner;699.00
000002102;Samsung P-4000;HD-Ready LCD-TV with cable tuner;499.00

With Field Delimiters

"ProductID";"ProductName";"Description";"Price"
"000002101";"LG T-6000";"HD-Ready LCD-TV with cable tune";"699.00"
"000002102";"Samsung P-4000";"HD-Ready LCD-TV with cable tune";"499.00"

Field Requirements

Mandatory Field

ProductID or Article Number

Description/rules: Must be the first field in the export file.

Developer info: The field should be named as one of the following: Artikelnummer, ArtikelNr, ArticleNumber, ProduktNummer, ProductNumber.

Recommended Fields

Master Article Number

Description/rules: Needed for variant products (e.g., color, size) to prevent duplicate display when searched

Developer info:

  • If no variants exist, populate this field with the ProductID.

  • The field should be named in the same way as “Article Number”, but prefixed with Master: (e.g. MasterArticleNumber)

Product Name

Description/rules: Short, concise product title

Developer info: The field should be named as one of the following: Name, Title, Titel

Developer info: The field should be named as one of the following: Name, Title, Titel

Example: Brand Name; Organic Cotton Sweater

Price

Description/rules:

  • Numeric value;

  • Use a dot . as the decimal separator;

  • Do not use currency symbols

Developer info:

  • The field should be named as one of the following: Price, Preis.

  • Use individual fields for separate prices (Price_EUR; Price_US or Price_Dealer; Price_Final_Customer)

Example: |EUR=32.34|USD=40.32|GBP=23.54|

Optional Fields

Short Description

Description/rules: Concise, keyword-rich text to improve search results.

Developer info: The field should be named as one of the following: ShortDescription, KurzBeschreibung.

Long Description

Description/rules: Detailed marketing text (not recommended for direct search indexing).

Developer info: The field should be named as one of the following: Description, Beschreibung.

Manufacturer

Description/rules: Useful for filtering and ranking by brand.

Developer info: The field should be named as one of the following: Manufacturer, Brand, Hersteller, Marke

Filter Attributes

Description/rules:

  • Defines characteristics such as color, size, or genre.  

  • Use multi-attribute fields in the following format: |Attribute1=Value|Attribute2=Value|

  • | must appear between attributes as well as at the beginning and end of the field content

  • Attributes have multiple values (e.g. colors or sizes), must be stored multiple times in the field (they can be strung together by using the # sign or written completely one after the other)

  • To specify a unit separate the attribute name and the unit with double tilde ~~. There can be only one unit per attribute name.

Developer info:

  • The field should be named as one of the following: Attribute, MultiAttribute

  • A multi-attribute field is treated as a "text field". For later use in your filter display in the store, you can assign an individual data type such as text, integer or decimal number to each individual attribute. Depending on the data type, different display formats can be selected for the filter.

Examples: |Capacity=50|Speed=7200|, |Color=Red#Yellow#Blue| or |Color=Red|Color=Yellow|Color=Blue|

Search Attributes

Description/rules: Additional keywords or technical terms to refine search results.

Developer info: The search attributes should be separated by a single consistent character

Category

Description/rules:

  • Used for filtering and navigation

  • Use a slash / for category levels.

  • Use a pipe | to separate multiple paths.

Developer info: The field should be named as one of the following: Category, Kategorie.

Example: Bicycle/Lighting|Accessories/Bicycle Lamps A product is assigned to the paths "bicycle/lighting" and "accessories/bicycle lamps"

Sales Rank

Description/rules: A numeric ranking used to prioritize products in search results.

Availability

Description/rules: Indicates whether the product is in stock, influencing its ranking in search results

Margin

Description/rules: Represents the product margin

Developer info: Can be passed in real numerical values or specified in clustered form

Examples: 42% or 0-5%=a

ISBN, EAN, GTIN

Description/rules: Standardized product identifiers

Developer info:

  • The field should be named as one of the following: GTIN, EAN, ISBN

  • Supported formats: ISSN-8, ISBN-10, ISMN-10, ISSN-13, ISMN-13, and ISBN-13

Deeplink

Description/rules: A URL that directs the user to the product detail page

Developer info: The field should be named as one of the following: Deeplink, ProductURL, ProduktURL

Examples: www.exampleshop.de/picture/article/123

ImageURL

Description/rules:

  • The link to the product image

  • Preview image for the search result, not the high-resolution image that is displayed on the product detail page

  • In case there is no image available at the moment, a dummy URL with the same name or the link to an image that shows "no image for this item yet" should be used here

Developer info:

Do not leave this field blank

The field should be named as one of the following: ImageURL, ImgURL, BildURL , BildLink, PictureURL, PicURL

Examples: www.exampleshop.de/picture/brand/bild.jpg

Accessory

Description/rules: An indicator for accessory products (typically a True/False or 0/1 value)

Developer info: The field should be named as one of the following: Accessory, Zubehor

Promotion/Sale

Description/rules: Indicates whether the product is part of a promotion or sale

Developer info: The field should be named as one of the following: Sale, Aktion

Brand URL

Description/rules: Directs users to a brand store page

Developer info: The field should be named as BrandURL

Brand Image

Description/rules: Displayed in brand filters and search suggestions

Developer info: The field should be named as one of the following: BrandImage

Examples: www.exampleshop.de/picture/brand/bild.jpg

Stock

Description/rules: Used to rank products lower if stock is limited

Developer info: The field should be named as one of the following: Quantity, StockQuantity, Stock, StockStatus

Rating

Description/rules:

  • Display user ratings (e.g., 1-5 stars)

  • Use this data field only in conjunction with RatingCount

Developer info: The field should be named as one of the following: RatingScore, Rating

Rating Count

Description/rules: Integer value indicating the number of ratings (see Rating).

Developer info: The field should be named as RatingCount

Saison/ Event

Description/rules: Devalue items that are not currently in season or that do not belong to a particular event so that they are displayed far down in the search

Developer info: The field should be named as one of the following: Saison, Event

Return rate

Description/rules: Used to devalue the items with a high return rate

Developer info: The field should be named as one of the following: ReturnData, RetourCount, Retour

Related articles