Create a Product Catalog Schema

This content is only for clients with Product Data and Customer Data options in the DATASETS menu in the top navigation bar. If no menu options appear when you click DATASETS, then this content doesn't apply to your account. Instead, see the alternate version of this documentation.

The first step of uploading a new product catalog to the platform is creating a product catalog schema. A schema is the organization or structure of the data in the product catalog and must be present in the platform before you send a full catalog file. It can consist of two or three lines of sample data and does not need to be a full product catalog file.

Follow these steps to create a product catalog scheme.

  1. Click DATASETS in the top navigation bar and then click Product Data.
  2. Click CREATE DATASET.

    Callout of the CREATE DATASET button on the Product Datasets list page

  3. Click Product Catalog in the Create Dataset Schema wizard, and then click NEXT.

    The Create Dataset Schema wizard, with 'Product Catalog' selected in step 1 and a callout of the NEXT button

  4. Name the product catalog and then click NEXT.

    The name must begin with a letter and can contain only letters, numbers, and underscores.

    The Create Dataset Schema wizard, with a name entered into the appropriate field in step 2 and a callout of the NEXT button

  5. Drag and drop the file into the upload area, and then wait for Monetate to validate the data.

    The file must be in the CSV or TSV format. All the attributes required by Monetate's product catalog specification must appear in the file header, with the attribute name matching the exact spelling and case. Each product must include all the required attributes. Optional attributes that you don't want to include can remain blank. See the product catalog specification for more information.

    • If no errors are detected, then click NEXT.

      Step 3 of the Create Dataset Schema wizard, showing a file validation success message and a callout of the NEXT button

    • If the file is missing information, an error message appears stating what data is missing. Revise the file, click RE-UPLOAD, and then drag and drop the revised file into the upload area.

      Step 3 of the Create Dataset Schema wizard, showing a file validation error message and a callout of the RE-UPLOAD button

  6. Confirm that any custom attribute that you included in the file appears in the table and that the data type selected is correct, and then click CONFIRM AND CREATE.

    Step 4 of the Create Dataset Schema wizard, with a callout of the custom attributes on the left side of the the table, a callout of the data type selector for each attribute, and a callout of the 'CONFIRM AND CREATE' button

Once the product schema and catalog upload to the platform, the new product catalog's details page loads. The PENDING status appears at the top-right of the file updates table until the platform finishes processing the product catalog.

Callout of the PENDING status on the 'Update History' tab of a product catalog dataset's details page

Once processing is complete, the status shows how much time as elapsed since the product catalog was updated both at the top-right of the table and in the UPLOAD DATE column of that table. The number of rows in the processed file also now appears in the table.

The 'Update History' tab of a product catalog dataset's details page, with a callout of the 'LAST UPDATED' message at the top

When you need to modify the product catalog, you can upload full or partial updates using one of these three methods:

Related Articles

How would you rate this article?
Thank you for your feedback!