Product Exports

Now that you are back in the Akeneo Activation App after finishing your data selection, mapping, and transformation in your PIM, you can get ready to export, via the activation channels you created, one or multiple product catalogs to the retailers or marketplace you are working with.

Catalog exports are the result of the data transformation done in your PIM (from all the sources chosen in the PIM) while complying with the retailer or marketplace requirements for a particular family of products.

At this point, two options are available to you. You can launch a product export in “dry-run” to gauge what your data would look like on the retailer or marketplace side, or a regular product export where your product data would make its way to the retailer (if you are working with an automated activation channel).

“Dry-run” Product Exports

This option is particularly helpful when you want to check your mapping and transformation before finalizing the export. Launching a product export in a “dry-run” will not have any impact on the retailer's side. It is simply catalog mapping verification functionality. Here are a few steps to understand how to work with a product catalog export in the “dry run”.

• Click on the “dry-run” button in the top right corner of the screen
  • The dry-run export will start
    • A toast notification at the bottom part of the screen will let you know that the export in “Dry-run” mode has started
  • A spinning wheel icon and a "job in progress call out will display in the top right part of the screen while the export is ongoing

• Once the Dry-run export is finished, you can check the result of the export by heading to the reports tab
  • The dry-run exports will have a “dry-run” tag next to them
  • You can view the timestamps of the exports to help with historical analysis
  • You can view the number of products that were part of that export directly from the reports tab
    • Products coming from the PIM
    • Product part of the export
  • Click the “Download Files” button to download a file with all the product data coming from your PIM for the particular family of products that you are working with. This file will contain all the attributes mapped in the PIM as well as the data resulting from the transformation.
    • The file will be named “[catalog name] product export”
  • You will be able to see how many products
    • were fetched from your PIM
    • were sent for integration with the retailer or marketplace 
  • Should there be any errors contained in your “dry-run” product export report, you will be able to view the errors directly from the reports tab inside the “dry-run” export report

Dry-run exports for activation channels working in an automated way

If the activation channel you connected to works in a fully automated way (e.g.: Amazon Vendor US via APIs), the dry-run export will not be sent to the retailer or marketplace. It is designed to help you correct any potential mapping errors in your catalog with no data actually making its way to the retailer or marketplace side.

Real Product Export 

The second option to export your product catalog data to the retailer is via regular product export. This functionality will vary depending if you are working with an automated or semi-automated activation channel. It will either send your product catalog data directly to the retailer or marketplace, else, it will generate a retailer or marketplace's template that can be used to send your product data directly to the retailer or marketplace.

Automated activation channel

• These are the activation channels connected directly with APIs or SFTPs
• The product export will send your product data to the retailer
• You will be able to see how many products
  • were fetched from your PIM
  • were sent for integration with the retailer or marketplace
• Some retailers or marketplaces will display how many products were accepted
• Some retailers or marketplaces will send a report back with the status of your products

Semi-Automated activation channel

• These are the activation channels that can be connected with SFTP's or Flat files (XSLX, CSV)
• The product export will generate the retailer or marketplace template with your product data
• You will be able to see how many products
  • were fetched from your PIM
  • were sent in the flat file

This functionality is the core of the Akeneo Activation app, it allows you to syndicate your product data on as many activation channels as you are connected to. Here are a few steps to understand how to work with a product catalog export.

• Click on the “Launch Product Export” button in the top right corner of the screen
  • The product export will start:
    • A toast notification at the bottom part of the screen will let you know that the export has started
    • A spinning wheel icon and a "job in progress call out will display in the top right part of the screen while the export is ongoing
• Once the product export is complete, you can check the result of the export by heading to the dashboard tab (or the report tab for the full history)
  • You can view the timestamps of the exports to help with historical analysis
  • You can view the number of products that were part of that export directly from the reports tab
  • Click the “Download Files” button to download different files with all the product data coming from your PIM for the particular family of product that you are working with. This file will contain all the attributes mapped in the PIM as well as the data resulting from the transformation.
    • The file will be named “[catalog name] product export”
  • Should there be any errors contained in your product export report, you will be able to view the errors directly from the dashboard/reports tab

By default, the Dashboard tab of the Akeneo Activation app will display the latest product export, whether the export was a “dry-run” export or a “real product export”.

To learn more about product export reports, you can refer to the article on product export reports