Overview

We've improved and modernized the way we fetch, index, and store product data inside the Activation app. We moved from being job and feed-centric, to becoming product-centric. This allows for a smarter, more complete, and more scalable way to review your transformed product data.

A new product grid is now available inside an activation channel that lists all the products (and transformed data coming from the PIM attached to them) that are part of this channel’s syndication feed.

This enhancement empowers e-commerce teams with a dedicated workspace to assess the alignment of their products with channel attributes and streamline necessary actions to improve channel readiness.

This grid is available pre and post-product export, which means that a you can see the data even before they export their catalog for the first time.

Getting Started

How to Access the Products Tab?

• Inside an Activation Channel, you can navigate to the new 'Products' tab.
• The grid of products becomes available post once you've created and saved a catalog mapping in your PIM (if you don't see any products - follow the steps in this article to create mapping for this activation channel).

How does it work?

Once in the product tab, you can take a few actions to govern the product information for the products that are part of that channel. Note: the total count of products inside the channel is listed in the top right section of the grid.

Summarized Product Data View

This is the first view you see when landing on the product tab. From here you see a summarized list of all the products that are part of this channel.

Product Information: High-level details to quickly identify a product record

• Product name
• Product main image
• Product unique identifier (SKU, EAN, UUID)

Catalog: This shows the channel catalog the product belongs to

Error count: If available (not all retailers and marketplaces return errors), we display here the number of errors associated with the product during the last product export

Last update on the PIM: This is the timestamp for the most recent time this product's record was updated in the PIM

Added to the catalog: This is the timestamp for when this product was first added to the channels's product catalog

From here, you can perform a few actions to refine your analysis. Products can be sorted and filtered by various criteria, enhancing visibility and governance.

• From the search bar, you can search for products via essential product information, such as product names, and unique identifiers
• You can filter by product catalogs
• You can sort each of the table columns
  • Product information: in alphabetical order
  • Catalog: in alphabetical order
  • Error counts: least/most
  • Last update on the PIM: most recent/oldest
  • Added to the catalog: most recent/oldest
• You can sync the latest set of products updates coming from the PIM
• You can then click on a product in the grid to have access to the detailed view

Detailed Product Data View

Clicking on a product provides a detailed view of all transformed product data from the PIM, organized around multiple sections.

Product Information

• You can scroll through attributes showing the transformed data coming from the PIM, to meet retailer requirements, displaying only required or filled optional attributes
• You can filter to refine the data based on readiness
  • Required attributes that have not been mapped
  • Required attributes mapped but that still return empty values after transformation (likely due to mapping errors or change in enrichment changes in the PIM)
• For the catalog the product belongs to, we display the full list of attributes part of the requirements expected by the retailer or marketplace
• In the right panel, there are two additional sections
  • one on product readiness, displaying counts or missing required attributes and empty mapped attributes (for quick identification of potential mapping work needed on required attributes)
  • on showing the product's unique identifiers

Errors

Errors play a key role in a product's activation journey. Retailer and marketplace requirements can change, mapping errors can happen, and being able to act when errors occur increases the chance of publishing accurate and complete data consistently. You can quickly identify errors at scale and reduce the time needed for adjustments.

We are now able to list all the errors attached to a product and display them in the detailed view of the product grid. Then you can open the catalog mapping in the PIM to go correct errors in bulk.

You are now provided with the following:

• The source of the error
  • Internal
  • From the retailer or marketplace
• The timestamp for the export when the error happened
• The actionable error message explaining what the error if applicable, how to correct the error

Activation Timeline

To ease the activation journey analysis, we display a few key timestamps highlighting the product lifecycle 

• Added to the catalog: the first time a product was included in the Activation Channel catalogs (fetching from an assortment of products in the PIM)
• First accepted push to the retailer: the first time a product was successfully sent to the retailer
• Last accepted push to the retailer: the last time a product was successfully sent to the retailer
• Last update on the PIM: the most recent time this product's record was updated in the PIM

Lastly, you can directly access catalog mapping and individual product pages in the PIM from the Akeneo Activation app to quickly make mapping or enrichment updates.