Feeds

Feeds provide a simple way of exporting your catalog data in formats that different channels understand.

Connect your feed URL to these platforms and they'll pull your latest product data automatically.

Creating a feed

Navigate to Feeds from the side menu and click + New feed.

Naming your feed

Give your feed a descriptive name that identifies its purpose. "Google Shopping - Sweden - Swedish" is clearer than "Feed 1" when managing multiple feeds for different markets.

Basic settings

Configure the core settings for your feed:

Catalog filters

Use filters to control which items appear in the feed. Only items matching your filters get included.

Common filter patterns:

• "Status is Published" to exclude draft products
• "Stock is greater than 0" to exclude out-of-stock items
• "Collection is Summer 2024" for seasonal campaigns
• "Brand is Nike" for brand-specific feeds

Filters work the same as catalog filters. Test your filters in the catalog view first to see what matches.

Templates

Templates provide pre-configured field mappings for popular platforms. Select a template and Emfas sets up the required fields automatically.

When you select a template, Emfas adds the platform's required and optional fields. Required fields are locked and must be mapped. Optional fields can be removed if you don't need them.

Emfas will also try to map up all the attributes automatically. This will save you a lot of time mapping stuff up, but do double check the generated mappings as the AI can make mistakes.

Select None to build a custom feed without a template.

Special fields

Templates include special fields that Emfas handles automatically:

For availability, select a number field that contains stock quantities. Emfas outputs "in_stock" when the value is greater than zero, "out_of_stock" otherwise.

For links, select a URL or text field containing product handles or URLs, and optionally add a prefix like https://yourstore.com/products/.

Mapping attributes

Map your catalog attributes to feed fields. Each mapping connects an Emfas attribute to an external field name that the platform expects.

Adding mappings

Click Add attribute to create a new mapping. Select an attribute from your catalog, then set the external name (the field name in the feed output).

If you selected a template, required fields are pre-added and locked. You can still choose which attribute provides the data.

Mapping options

For each mapping, you can use:

• Attribute - Values from a catalog attribute
• Constant - A fixed value for all items (useful for fields like "condition" where all products share the same value)
• System field - Built-in values like the entity ID

When mapping metaobject references, you can drill into the metaobject's fields to use specific values.

External names

The external name determines how the field appears in the feed output. Templates set these automatically based on platform requirements (like g:title for Google Shopping).

For custom feeds without templates, you control the external names. Each external name must be unique within the feed.

Preview

Click Preview to see sample feed output before creating or saving. The preview shows actual data from your catalog rendered in the feed format.

Use preview to verify:

• Correct attribute mappings
• Expected data appearing in the right fields
• Proper formatting of values

Activating feeds

After creating a feed, toggle the Active switch to start generation. Emfas generates the feed and provides a URL you can use to connect to external platforms.

Active feeds regenerate automatically every 3 hours to reflect catalog changes. The Last run timestamp shows when the feed was last updated.

Copy the feed URL and paste it into your advertising platform's product feed configuration.

Validation

After generation, Emfas shows validation information:

• Total entities included in the feed
• Entities skipped due to missing required fields
• Field-by-field breakdown of missing values

Use this information to identify products that need additional data before appearing in the feed.

Managing feeds

Editing

Open a feed to modify its attribute mappings, filters, or special field configuration.

For standalone feeds, basic settings (country, format, entity type, language) cannot be changed after creation. To change these, create a new feed.

For child feeds, inherited settings like template and entity type are read-only and always match the parent. Overridable settings can be modified or cleared to return to inheriting from the parent.

Click Save after making changes. If the feed is active, it regenerates with your updates.

Duplicating

From the feed list, click the menu icon and select Duplicate to create a standalone copy. The duplicate starts with the same settings as the original but is completely independent.

Creating child feeds

From the feed list, click the menu icon and select Create Child Feed to create a linked child feed. Child feeds inherit settings from their parent and automatically update when the parent changes.

This is useful when you need multiple variations of the same feed for different markets or languages. Instead of maintaining separate feeds with duplicated settings, child feeds stay in sync with the parent while allowing specific overrides.

See Feed inheritance for details on which settings are inherited.

Deleting

Delete feeds you no longer need from the feed list menu. This removes the feed configuration and deactivates the feed URL.

When you delete a parent feed, any child feeds become standalone feeds. Their inherited settings are copied so they continue working independently.

Feed inheritance

Child feeds inherit settings from a parent feed. This reduces duplication when managing multiple similar feeds for different markets or languages.

How inheritance works

When you create a child feed, it links to a parent feed. The child automatically receives settings from the parent unless you explicitly override them.

Overriding inherited settings

For overridable settings, child feeds show whether each value is inherited or overridden:

• Inherited - The setting displays the parent's value. Changes to the parent automatically apply to the child.
• Overridden - The setting has its own value. Changes to the parent do not affect this setting.

To override a setting, set a new value on the child feed. To return to inheriting from the parent, clear the override.

Field mapping inheritance

Field mappings merge between parent and child. The child inherits all mappings from the parent, then adds or overrides specific mappings:

• Parent mappings appear in the child's mapping list marked as inherited
• Add a mapping with the same external name to override the parent's mapping
• Add new mappings to extend the parent's configuration
• Only the child's own mappings can be edited or deleted

Creating a child feed

1. Navigate to Feeds from the side menu
2. Click the menu icon on an existing feed
3. Select Create Child Feed
4. Configure the child-specific settings (language, country, filters)
5. Add any field mapping overrides needed
6. Click Create

The child feed appears in the feed list with an indicator showing its parent.

Limitations

• Child feeds can only have one level of inheritance (no grandchildren)
• A feed cannot become a child of one of its own children
• Parent and child feeds must belong to the same organization

Common use cases

Multiple markets

Create a parent feed with your main configuration, then create child feeds for each market. Override only the country and language settings on each child while inheriting the template, field mappings, and other shared settings.

This approach keeps all market feeds in sync. When you update field mappings on the parent, all market feeds update automatically.

Brand-specific campaigns

Filter feeds by brand to create separate product sets for brand-focused advertising campaigns.

Seasonal collections

Use collection or category filters to create feeds containing only seasonal products. Update or create new feeds as seasons change.

Testing new products

Create a filtered feed for new arrivals or specific product categories to test advertising performance before adding to your main feed.

Best practices

Use templates when available - Templates handle platform-specific requirements and reduce configuration errors.

Start with required fields - Map all required fields before adding optional ones. Feeds with missing required data won't work properly on advertising platforms.

Preview before activating - Always preview to catch mapping issues before your feed goes live.

Monitor validation - Check validation reports after generation to identify products missing data.

Use child feeds for market variations - When creating feeds for multiple markets or languages, use child feeds instead of duplicating. This keeps shared settings in sync and reduces maintenance.

Filter to saleable products - Use filters to exclude out-of-stock, draft, or discontinued products from your feeds.