Overview

Now that your activation channel is set up to connect with a retailer or marketplace, you can easily create product catalogs within the Akeneo Activation app. Each catalog is designed for a single family of products and tailored to the requirements of the selected activation channel. Once a catalog is created, you can efficiently map your product data directly from your PIM to ensure it meets the specific requirements of the retailer or marketplace.

This article will guide you through creating and managing catalogs within the Akeneo Activation App. Catalogs are crucial for organizing and managing your product data in line with the requirements of different retailers or marketplaces. 

Create and manage your product catalogs

Creating a New Catalog

In the Akeneo Activation app, upon creating your activation channel, you will be taken to the catalogs tab.

To start creating a new catalog, follow these steps:

• Go to the "Catalogs" tab within the Akeneo Activation App.
• Click the "Create Catalog" button.
• You can name your catalog
• Search for the targeted families relevant to a specific retailer or marketplace.
• Select the targeted family you want to include in your catalog.
• Save the newly created catalog.

Editing a Product Catalog

Editing a catalog is where you configure, map, and transform your product data to meet the specific requirements of the retailer or marketplace. Follow these steps:

• Go to the "Catalogs" tab.
• Find the catalog you want to edit.
• Click on the catalog's name or an "Edit" option, if available.
• You will be taken to your PIM and within the catalog mapping screen you can: select,  configure, map, and transform your product data according to the retailer or marketplace requirements. You can review this article related to mapping your product data.
• Save your changes when you're done.

Removing a Catalog

If you no longer need a catalog, you can remove it:

• Go to the "Catalogs" tab.
• Locate the catalog you wish to remove.
• Click on the trash icon next to the catalog's name.
• Confirm the removal action.

Renaming a Catalog

If you need to rename a catalog, you can do so in:

• Going to the "Catalogs" tab.
• Locate the catalog you wish to rename.
• Click on the “…” icon next to the trash icon.
• Update the catalog name in the modal and confirm
• The new catalog name will also be updated in your PIM's catalog data mapping functionality.

Viewing All Catalogs

To view all your catalogs within the Activation App, follow these steps:

• Access the "Catalogs" tab.
• All your created catalogs will be listed here.
• If you have multiple catalogs, you can navigate through the list to access the one you need.
• If you want to create a new catalog after having at least one catalog listed, look for the "Create Catalog" call to action, typically located in the top right part of the catalog tab.

Congratulations! You now know how to create, manage, and customize catalogs in the Akeneo Activation App. Should you need any further assistance, please consult our Help Center or contact our support team for additional guidance.

Catalog duplication and import

When creating a new catalog, you now have the option to copy the mapping that was done in a previously created catalog. This way the attributes shared between the two catalogs will automatically be mapped in the new one.

• Simply select “copy initial mapping from an existing catalog” on the catalog creation modal, and select the catalog source to copy.

You also can import the mappings and product selections from a catalog that exists on a channel similar to the one you are working in. 

ex: importing your catalog “Sandals” from Amazon Seller USA 1 to your newly created channel Amazon Seller USA 2.

• Simply select the catalog channel source and then the catalog to import

Common Catalog

To optimize your channel onboarding strategy, we've created a common catalog that will live perpetually in the activation channel after its creation. This catalog will contain the common attributes of all your activation channel's families. You can map this catalog once and all new catalogs you create subsequently for this channel will inherit the mapping of the attributes present in this catalog (this process is done automatically). By default, this catalog is present in any activation channel. 

Here are some specificities regarding this catalog

• You can update its mapping (the sources, transform the data), which will then update the mapping of all the catalogs that feed from the common catalog.
• You can not delete the common catalog.
• You can not rename the common catalog.

The next step is to get ready to activate your product on a channel is to select map and transform your product data, you can find about it in this article