# Product Catalog Best Practices

An accurate, up-to-date, and visible product catalog helps your brand maximize sales, build strong partnerships, and avoid costly errors like duplicates or outdated data that could lead to lost opportunities. To support this, your goal should be to create and maintain an excellent product catalog. This article covers the key do’s and don’ts to keep your catalog accurate, current, and visible to partners, helping you prevent mistakes that could impact your business.

#### Product catalog do's

Below is a list of best practices you should follow to create high-quality product catalogs, with guidance tailored to key fields and functional areas. These recommendations will help ensure your catalog data is accurate, complete, and optimized for visibility and performance on the Product Marketplace.

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<summary>Complete all critical fields accurately</summary>

To appear and perform well on the Product Marketplace, your catalog must include accurate and complete data in these key fields:

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**Warning:** Avoid placeholders like “TBD” or “N/A”, inconsistent formatting, and empty critical fields.
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| Field                    | Requirement          | Best Practice                                                                                                                | Benefit                                                                                                  |
| ------------------------ | -------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Product Name             | Mandatory            | Use clear, specific names so your products can easily be found when searching (e.g., “Men’s Running Shoes – Blue, Size 10”). | Helps customers find exactly what they want quickly, improving search accuracy and increasing sales.     |
| Product URL              | Mandatory            | This must be valid and lead to a live product page.                                                                          | Ensures customers land on the correct page, reducing bounce rates and improving user experience.         |
| Image URL                | Mandatory            | Use high-resolution images hosted on reliable servers.                                                                       | High-quality images increase trust and appeal, boosting click-through and conversion rates.              |
| Price (Original/Current) | Mandatory            | Include both if applicable, especially for discounted items.                                                                 | Clearly shows value and discounts, encouraging purchases and transparency.                               |
| GTIN / MPN / EAN / ASIN  | Strongly recommended | Provide valid, unique identifiers for deduplication and compatibility.                                                       | Improves product matching across platforms and prevents listing duplicates, enhancing data quality.      |
| Manufacturer             | Strongly recommended | Include the full brand/manufacturer name for better search and filtering.                                                    | Helps customers find branded products easily and supports brand-specific marketing and filtering.        |
| Category                 | Strongly recommended | Use consistent and clear product categorization, so your products can be shown in the correct category.                      | Ensures products appear in relevant searches and categories, increasing visibility and relevance.        |
| Description              | Recommended          | Provide meaningful, concise product descriptions.                                                                            | Gives customers essential info to make informed decisions, reducing returns and increasing satisfaction. |

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<summary>Handle variants and avoid duplicates</summary>

* List each product variant (size, color, etc.) as a separate line with its own unique ID, image, and price.
* Use a shared Parent ID for related variants where applicable.
* Review health reports regularly to identify and fix duplicate entries, as only the first instance will be displayed.

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<summary>Maintain manufacturer and brand data quality</summary>

* Use consistent naming conventions (e.g., always “Nike,” never “Nike Inc.”).
* Complete manufacturer fields to enhance search accuracy and data deduplication.

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<summary>Keep catalogs updated regularly</summary>

* Update your catalog with fresh data to reflect current prices, stock, and product info.
* Catalogs not updated in the last 12 months risk closure after 30 days unless an exception is granted.

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<summary>Fix errors and monitor catalog health</summary>

* Address all reported errors, warnings, and duplicate entries promptly to ensure your catalogs remain accurate and fully functional. Learn more about [File Formats for Product Catalogs](https://help.impact.com/brand/what-would-you-like-to-learn-about/platform-features/product-catalogs/file-formats-for-product-catalogs).

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<summary>Map custom fields properly</summary>

* For custom catalogs, ensure all fields map correctly to the standard catalog format to avoid missing product info for partners.

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#### Product catalog don'ts

Below is a list of common mistakes to avoid when creating product catalogs, highlighting key fields and functional areas where errors frequently occur. Ignoring these guidelines can lead to inaccurate, incomplete, and poorly optimized catalog data, negatively impacting visibility and performance on the Product Marketplace.

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<summary>Don’t leave critical fields blank or use placeholders</summary>

* Missing or placeholder values block product visibility and reduce partner engagement.

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<summary>Don’t let catalogs remain in an error state</summary>

* Catalogs with unresolved errors for over 30 days will be closed but can be reopened after fixes.

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<summary>Don’t ignore outdated catalogs</summary>

* Catalogs not updated in the last 12 months will be closed after 30 days unless updated or otherwise instructed.

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<summary>Don’t allow duplicate entries to persist</summary>

* Duplicates clutter the marketplace and reduce visibility; only the first duplicate is shown.

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<summary>Don’t skip mapping for custom fields</summary>

* Unmapped custom fields limit product data visibility for your partners.

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<summary>Don’t leave optional but valuable fields empty</summary>

* Fields like product description and category help partners find your products and improve the overall experience.

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#### Additional resources

Below are additional resources to help you with specific aspects of managing your product catalog. Each article complements different parts of this best practices guide to resolve issues, optimize your catalog, and maintain data quality.

* **File Formats for Product Catalogs** - Understand acceptable file formats and preparing your catalog files correctly. Useful before starting catalog submission.
* **Add Product Catalogs as a Brand** - Step-by-step instructions for new users to submit catalogs under their brand. Helps get started on the right foot.
* **Troubleshoot Product Catalog Errors & Warnings** - Diagnosing and fixing common errors, warnings, and duplicates. Essential for keeping your catalog healthy and visible.
* **Manage Uploaded Product Catalogs** - How to update, maintain, and organize your catalogs after upload. Related to keeping data fresh and accurate.
* **Create & Manage Product Catalog Rules** - Customizing catalog processing rules to handle variants, avoid duplicates, and optimize data display.
* **Configure Product Catalog Search & Filters** - Enhancing product discoverability by setting up effective search and filtering options based on catalog data.
