View Full Version : General Feed Problems
In the interest of improving the datafeed I've put together a list of general problems I've found that are common across all merchants and products. If you have any other general feed problems that you've come across add them to this thread. Hopefully this way all merchants can avoid some of the more common mistakes when putting together their feeds.
Product Names
Problem:
Inconsistent formatting looks bad:
UPPER CASE PRODUCT NAMES
lower case product names
Solution:
Camel Case Product Names
Merchant Names
Problem:
Promo text in merchants names looks bad:
Shirtcity.co.uk - design your shirt
Getting Personal - personalised gifts
Brightminds - family learning for fun
Solution:
Get rid of the promo text!
Product Descriptions
Problem:
Pre formatted text is difficult to work with:
html tags <li>
html entities & & etc.
excess white space
Solution:
Provide clean, unformated text for product descriptions.
Would agree with all of the above, HTML in feeds is particularly problematic. I'm sure it could be stripped when taken from the merchant and imported into the Shop Window database. Same goes for double spaces/whitepace.
Hi Guys,
This is excellent - Im currently writing up specs for datafeeds so this is very useful...thanks!
Amo
chartfieldconsultants
30-05-07, 18:13
This is my bugbear:
Categorisation
Problem
Sloppy categorisation of products in feeds, for example John Lewis 'Bathrooms & Accessories' category contain everything from babies' cots to carving knives, most of Screwfix's bathroom suites are under 'DIY', while the new merchant Home Temptations simply classifies everything, from chairs to cheese sets, as 'home accessories'.
Solution
Better discipline by merchants? Merchants not leaving this admittedly dull task to the work experience kid? AW slapping offending merchants sharply on the nose with a rolled-up newspaper?
And my pet hate - delivery charges! The Shop Window spec has fields for the delivery charges but they're severely under used. I like to see delivery charge, price of item (without delivery) and all inclusive price.
And my pet hate - delivery charges! The Shop Window spec has fields for the delivery charges but they're severely under used. I like to see delivery charge, price of item (without delivery) and all inclusive price.
And on that note don't put "with free delivery" on every single one of your product names. (Art Republic). It looks tacky on a page full of your products and isn't necessary if you use the delivery price field.
Yes, and I think a flag would be better to illustrate if free delivery is available. I'll be raising this at the shopwindow lunch today.
I've just found a few products (970114, 969910) from Appliance-direct.co.uk that have product names like this:
Bosch SGS53C12 Dishwasher
This is a totally pointless and incorrect use of the non-breaking space character ( ) exactly where a breaking space is required. Putting nbsp in the name like that means the text won't wrap in a small container which looks bad. I don't know why anyone would do this.
Hi All,
Thanks for the notifications of the various problematic feeds from merchants.
Adrian will be contacting all merchants and addressing the issues that you highlight within this thread from Monday, so he will keep you posted with his progress.
Chartfield - definately agree with you on the sloppy categorisation and grouping of products from various categories within the merchant feed. This is something that requires education on a merchants part, which we are working towards constantly. It is a bit of a slow burn, but as we resolve more of the other issues of ShopWindow (such as speed) we can dedicate more time to this project.
Please keep updating this thread with your problems and concerns with merchant feeds, and Adrian and Myself will do our very best to rectify them for you.
Thanks
Amo
Hey Guys,
I will be looking into all the 'Merchant Specific' issues you have raised in this thread. It may take some time for us to get responses from each of these merchants but i will reply when i hear back from them.
Kind Regards,
Adrian :)
Integration & Technical Support
Hiya People,
I have been advised that the following merchant specific issues have been looked into and have been sorted - please can you let me know if this is not the case?
John Lewis ('Bathrooms & Accessories' category contains other items)
Screwfix (Bathroom suites under 'DIY')
Appliance Direct (incorrect product names)
I have not forgotten about the other issues but am yet to receive any response from them.
Adrian :)
Integration & Technical Support