There are a few actions that you can take from the Akeneo Activation app that will help you streamline your operations and save time when sending your product catalog to retailers and marketplaces. Below is an exhaustive list of all the functionalities available to manage your activation workflows in the Akeneo Activation App.

Activate/deactivate a product data flow

By default, when creating a new activation channel (fully automated or semi-automated), the product data flow between your PIM and the retailer or marketplace will be set to inactive, this means that the “route” between the Akeneo Activation app and the retailer or marketplace will not be open e even if the credentials to connect to the retailer or marketplace are valid.

You can change the status from inactive to active via the dropdown in the main header of the Akeneo Activation app. 

Once the activation channel is active, you will be able to:

• Synchronize the retailer or marketplace requirements with your PIM via the Akeneo Activation app
• Send your product catalog(s) to the retailer or marketplace
  • in an automated way
    • via single exports
    • via scheduled exports
• Receive reports on your catalog exports if the retailer or marketplace you are working with provides reporting

Switching the activation channel status back to inactive will stop all connections between the Akeneo Activation App and the retailer or marketplace. The activation channel status switch acts as the main control of the gateway to the retailer or marketplace.

Schedule product exports

To save time during your activation workflow, you can automate your product catalog exports. When enabled, this functionality will send your product catalogs, at a frequency that you choose, to the retailer or marketplace you are working with.

By default, when creating an activation channel, this setting will be turned off. You can choose and control to frequency of the exports by:

• Time of the day 
  • Hours
  • Minutes
• Day of the week
  • Day
    • Hours
    • Minutes

Switching the toggle on/off will automatically save the action.

Schedule requirements synchronizations

In order to make sure you always have the latest set of requirements coming from the retailer or marketplace you can automate the requirement synchronization process in the settings tab.

By default, this setting will be turned off. You can choose and control to frequency of the synchronization by:

• Time of the day 
  • Hours
  • Minutes
• Day of the week
  • Day
    • Hours
    • Minutes

Switching the toggle on/off will automatically save the action.

This offers a great level of flexibility. However, should you automate this process as part of your workflow, you will need to make sure that you synchronize the requirements before making some changes to your catalog mapping in the PIM. This way you will know that will be able to map your product data according to the latest set of requirements from the retailer or marketplace.

Working with Delta Export

You can now choose to only export products for which the product data has been updated (between catalog exports) to the retailer or marketplace you are working with.

This functionality is fully automated and can be enabled/disabled in the settings tab of the Akeneo Activation app. It is available by default for all retailers and marketplaces. You will be able to keep a record of all the delta exports, so you will be able to quickly identify when an update was made, and to which products.

By default, it will be disabled.

If enabled, in the next product export report, your catalog export file will contain and highlight only the products that have been modified and therefore, sent to the retailer or marketplace.

Manage other retailer channel setting

Update retailer credentials

After you connect to an activation channel requiring credentials, these credentials could become outdated or the connection between the retailer or marketplace might fail. If the platform detects that your connection to the retailer is no longer valid, a warning will be displayed inside the activation channel, asking you to update your credentials to reconnect to the retailer or marketplace successfully. 

For this, you will need to go to the settings tab and click:

• Configure your credentials

If you know that your credentials have changed, to update them, you can simply go to the settings tab and click:

• Edit my identifiers

Delete a channel from Akeneo Activation

In the settings tab, you can delete an activation channel. You might need to do that to adjust your activation channel quotas or if you no longer work with a specific retailer. However, this action is irreversible and should be only done if necessary per your workflow or business strategy. 

To delete a channel

1. Click the “delete” button in the Administration section or the settings.
2. Confirm the deletion by typing the name of the activation channel in the deletion modal
3. Your activation channel has now been deleted along with all the catalogs and data that were associated with it

Amazon specific functionalities

Amazon display/sent comparison matrix

If you are working with Amazon, you might be familiar with the fact that the product information that you send might not necessarily display. Per their Algorithm, Amazon might decide to overwrite the product data sent by the brand. 

In order to help with this analysis, every time you export your product catalog to Amazon, in the reports, you will have access to a comparison matrix file. This will highlight the difference between what was sent to Amazon and what Amazon displays on their product pages.

A+ Content

While working with Amazon, you are able to bring back the A+ content from Amazon into the PIM as a reference entity. This functionality happens in two folds.

• You can first enable the retrieval of your A+ content in your PIM. This will be done every time you receive data back from Amazon after an export when the report gets generated
• You can second enable to push of your A+ content from your PIM to Amazon. This will be done every time you send data to Amazon during a product export

Amazon Standard Identification Number (ASIN)

While working with Amazon (Vendor or Seller), you can bring back the Amazon ASIN identifier into your PIM. You can select which PIM attribute you would want to push the ASINs coming from Amazon to. 

This functionality will be available by default and disabled. You can enable it by switching the toggle to “on”. 

In your PIM, you will have to create the attribute you want to be associated with the ASIN before enabling this functionality and make sure to add the correct attribute code in the text area below. Once enabled, every time we receive data back from Amazon, ASINs will be pulled into your PIM.