Synchronizing Products to Microsoft Merchant Center – SHOPLINE Help Center

This guide will instruct you on how to upload your product information to Microsoft using feeds, so that you can display and promote your products in the Microsoft Merchant Center.

Microsoft Merchant Center Overview

Microsoft Merchant Center is an online advertising platform designed to help merchants manage and optimize their online advertising efforts. It allows you to create and manage your advertising data sources, including product collections, inventory information, and pricing, for display and promotion within the Microsoft advertising network.

In addition to managing product data, Microsoft Merchant Center empowers merchants with advertising management and optimization tools. You can set up advertising campaigns, define budgets, and configure geographic targeting to precisely control where and how your ads appear. Merchant Center also provides insightful data on ad performance and conversion rates, allowing you to measure the effectiveness of your campaigns and make data-driven adjustments.

Before using Microsoft Merchant Center, you’ll need to:

What is a Microsoft Feed?

A Microsoft Merchant Center feed is a data file containing essential product information like product names, prices, descriptions, and images. This file is created in a specific format and structure for use by the Microsoft platform.

By creating and submitting a feed, you bridge the gap between your product information and Microsoft Merchant Center. This connection allows your products to be displayed and promoted across various Microsoft sales channels, including Bing Shopping and the Microsoft Store.

Merchant Center feeds provide a centralized platform for managing your product information. You can easily add, update, and delete products, streamlining the entire product management process. Additionally, the feed's automated data synchronization ensures your product information stays up-to-date, improving operational efficiency.

Microsoft Feed Creation Process

In your SHOPLINE admin panel, go to Channels > Microsoft. Then, click Sync now in the Product sync section.
Click Start Sync.
Click Copy Link for later use.
Log in to your Microsoft Advertising account and go to the Merchant Center section.
Click on your Store Name to enter your store. If you have not created a store, click Create and complete store creation based on your store information.
In the left navigation menu, click Feeds > Create feed.
Fill in the feed information according to your advertising needs.
Select the Automatically download file from URL option for the Input Method field. Then, paste the link you copied in Step 3 into the Source URL field.
Click the Create feed button. The feed should be successfully created.

Microsoft Feed Field Rules

This table summarizes the mapping between SHOPLINE product fields and Microsoft Feed fields, along with the processing logic for each field.

SHOPLINE Field	Microsoft Feed Field	Value Sync Logic
SKU ID	id	Fixed to the product SKU ID (i.e., the original SHOPLINE SKU ID)
Product name	title	Fixed to the content of product name
Product description	description	Fixed to the content of product description
Product link	link	Fixed to the content of product link (i.e., the product landing page link)
Product image link	image_link	Fixed to the product main image (i.e., prioritize the cover image of the corresponding product; if no cover image is set, use the SPU cover image)
Additional product image link	additional_image_link	Fixed to the product images (i.e., extract all SPU images except the product cover image)
Inventory	availability	If inventory tracking is enabled and out-of-stock sales is disabled for the product, and the product inventory is <=0, then set to out of Stock; otherwise, set to in Stock.
Original price	price	Fixed to the original price (i.e., if the original price exists and is not 0, use the original price; otherwise, use the sale price).
Sale price	sale_price	Fixed to the sale price (i.e., if the promotional price exists, use the promotional price; if the promotional price does not exist, continue to check -> if the sale price exists and is not 0, use the sale price; otherwise, use the original price).
Google product category	google_product_category	Fixed to the product type (i.e., based on the default language, get the product type field code value, and then concatenate the complete category information according to the Google category table, separated by " > ", for example Apparel & Accessories > Apparel)
Brand	brand	If the product brand field value exists, use the brand field value; otherwise, it’s left empty.
Condition	condition	Fixed text: new
Color	Color	Fixed to the product color
Material	Material	Fixed to the product material
Pattern	Pattern	Fixed to the product pattern
Sizes	Sizes	Fixed to the product size
Item group ID	item_group_id	Fixed to the product SPU ID (i.e., the original SHOPLINE SPU ID)

Microsoft Feed Filter Rules

This table summarizes the Microsoft Feed filter rules and their explanations.

Rule	Description
Product is deleted from main site	Products in draft or deleted status are not displayed in the system.
Product is "delisted"	Products in delisted or archived status are marked as filtered.
Abnormal product type	Products that are not of a normal type.
Risk control frozen product	Products are in a frozen state.
Product title is empty	Product title is empty.
Product description is empty	Product description is empty.
Product brand is empty	Product brand is empty.
Product price is empty	Product price is empty.
Product main image link is empty	Product main image link is empty.
Hidden product	Product is set to hidden status.
Product's "sales channel" does not include "Microsoft"	Product's "sales channel" does not include Microsoft.
Product's "sales channel" does not include "Online Store"	Product's "sales channel" does not include Online Store.
Product's "sales channel" includes "Online Store" but the product is not yet online at the current time	Product is not yet scheduled for listing.

Product Sync Status Explanation

This table explains the different product statuses displayed in SHOPLINE's Microsoft Product Sync feature. The status is determined by aggregating the status of all SKUs within the corresponding product SPU. Here's a breakdown of the specific rules:

Sync Status	Explanation
All SKUs have the same status	The overall status is displayed as the same status shared by all SKUs under the SPU. For example, if all SKUs (a, b, and c) under the SPU are in Synced status, then the overall status will be displayed as Synced.
SKUs have different statuses, and there is at least one SKU in "Sync Failed" status	The overall status is displayed as Partial failure. For example, if SKU a is successful, SKU b fails, and SKU c is in progress, then the overall status will be displayed as Partial failure.
SKUs have different statuses, and there is no SKU in "Sync Failed" status	The overall status is displayed as Processing. For example, if SKU a is successful, SKU b is in progress, and SKU c is awaiting processing, then the overall status will be displayed as Processing.