Product catalogue vs product feed

A product catalogue is the merchant's source record of what it sells. A product feed is a structured delivery layer that selects and formats those facts for a specific channel. The catalogue should remain authoritative; the feed should make its data portable without creating a competing copy to maintain.

Why this matters now

This distinction sounds fussy until something changes. If a merchandising team adjusts a price in the catalogue while a separate feed carries yesterday's value, the channel has not merely become untidy: it may now describe an offer the merchant cannot honour. Clear ownership keeps routine edits boring, which is a very good outcome.

What to check first

A practical way to do it

1. Identify where a product is actually created and maintained.
2. Map rather than duplicate its name, description, price, availability and image.
3. Add channel-only data in a documented layer, such as a required seller field.
4. Keep a record of each field's owner and refresh rule.
5. Review the feed whenever the product model or source integration changes.

Common mistakes

• Adding a second catalogue spreadsheet because an export is inconvenient.
• Changing feed titles separately from storefront titles without a reason.
• Assuming a category tree has all the descriptive detail a product row needs.

What this does not mean

A clean product feed makes your catalogue understandable to a receiving platform. It does not guarantee approval, inclusion, ranking, sales or a particular checkout experience. Those decisions and customer-facing flows remain with the platform and the merchant.

The useful habit is simple: correct the source data, then validate the exported feed. Do not patch a one-off file and assume the next shop sync will remember your fix. That is how a tidy launch turns into a slow drift a fortnight later.