Online and Local Products via Content API

[caleoroco]

Hi,

I'm wondering if it is possible to have a single primary feed (via api) with products for both online and local ads

We have product data for 65,000 products which we are successfully sending via API.  Out of those 65,000 we have around 18,000 which are available in stores also.   

Do we have to create a feed or can this combined somehow into the main API connection?

TIA

[Shopping API Forum Advisor]

Hello,

 

James here, from the Content API Team. Thank you for reaching out to us.

 

Since you’re using Content API feed, technically you’re already using only 1 primary feed, as there would be only one Content API feed per merchant account. However, in the merchant center interface, the online and local products are just separated so that it’s much easier for you to manage the destination programs on where you’re going to advertise your products.

 

I said this because some destination programs are not applicable for online or local products. As an example,  if you set the channel of your products to `Online`, you can only advertise those products to online destination programs such as Shopping ads, free listings etc. While, if you set the channel of your products to `Local`, then you can only advertise those products to local destination programs such as Local inventory ads and free local product listings.

 

Let me know if you have any further questions.

 

Regards,

James Howell Abarsoza Content API for Shopping Team

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[caleoroco]

Thanks for the reply, however, I am still unsure what we need to do.  These are the common cases

Product A: Available online only

Product B: Available online and in store

Product C: Available in store only

So my question is this.  Can we submit all of these products via API and then only send a local inventory feed separately or do we have to create a separate local products feed as well.

I ask because we've tried setting the content api to have both online and local products, however, all the local products then become disapproved because they don't connect from the inventory feed to the main content api feed.    I'm sure we are missing something obvious here.

[Shopping API Forum Advisor]

Hello,

 

Thank you for your response. 

 

I believe that it’s best if you submit all of your products via API, and create separate API calls to local inventory service in order to create and update instances for your local product which contains fields that can have different values for your different physical store locations. That said, there’s no need to create a separate local product feed because once you upload your products in a local channel via API, there would be a separate product feed solely for local products that will be automatically created in your merchant account.

 

Regarding your local products becoming disapproved, have you tried to reach out to the merchant center support team in order for your local products to be reviewed and determine exactly the cause why those local products are being flagged with disapproval? If not, I would recommend that you reach out to their merchant center support team through this link as they are the one who’s conducting product data quality reviews.

[caleoroco]

Thank you, 

So we send all products via content api, setting the channel to online.  We then send local inventory via api/feed and this will automatically create the local products feed?

Is there anything else we need to set to make sure that they connect properly?

[Shopping API Forum Advisor]

Hello,

 

I am Maia from the Content API team as well.

 

You can either upload your products to online or local channels via the Content API. If you want to advertise your products in local programs, then you have to upload your products using the Content API by setting the channel field to local before submitting.

 

Upon submission of those local products, a new feed will appear in the Merchant Center titled Content API with a subheading of Local Products.

 

Now, if you want to include an instance of the Local Inventory Resource, such as different physical store locations of your local products, then you can use the Local Inventory Service.

 

If you have further questions or clarifications, please let us know.

 

Best Regards,

Angel Maia Diaz

Content API for Shopping Team

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