This guide provides specific instructions and requirements for connecting to and managing Octopia-powered channels, such as Cdiscount, through Akeneo Activation.
The Role of Octopia
Octopia is the marketplace technology that powers Cdiscount and its network of partner marketplaces. A key requirement of this network is that a product must first be live on Cdiscount before it can be published to any other Octopia-powered marketplace, such as Worten, Empik, or Rakuten.
Marketplace-specific Requirements and Exceptions
Octopia & Cdiscount
When doing business with Octopia, a product must be live on Cdiscount before it can be published on another marketplace part of the Octopia network. If a product is not part of the Cdiscount catalog, then it will not be possible to send that product to other Octopia-powered marketplaces like Worten, Empik or Rakuten
Setup
On Octopia
Cdiscount operates as an Octopia-based marketplace. To integrate your Cdiscount account with Activation, follow these steps to retrieve your Seller ID from the Octopia API portal:
- Access the Octopia API portal: Go to the Octopia API portal homepage.
- API Credentials: Click on API Credentials Management and select Get Access.
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Choose feed aggregator option:
- Select I am using a feed aggregator, followed by My aggregator only requests my Seller ID.
- you can also select "I know my agregator's clientId and input AKENEO
- Select Akeneo (for Activation): From the drop-down list, choose Akeneo.
- Grant access: Provide Akeneo Activation access to your seller account.
- Retrieve Seller ID: Enter your Octopia seller zone credentials, receive your Seller ID, and save it for later use.

Now back on Activation
To finalize the connection between Activation and Cdiscount:
- In Activation, navigate to the Channels tab.
- Click Connect on any Octopia channel tile.
- Name your channel and enter the Seller ID you previously saved.
- Click Save. A "Connected to Octopia" status in your channel settings confirms a successful connection.

Catalog Creation and requirement management
Catalogs are required for creating or updating product information on Octopia Powered Channels like Cdiscount, CDON or Rakuten. The category list is available in French, English and Spanish. Catalogs only need to be mapped once, in any of the three locales below, and then Octopia will handle the delivery and the translation of the product information to different supported locales.
Ex: CDON operates in Sweden. To send product information to CDON, the catalog mapping will have to be done in French/English/Spanish, and then Octopia will take care of sending it in Swedish to CDON.
Supported Languages
Octopia only supports the following languages for product submissions:
- French
- English
- Spanish
If you submit product information in any other language, it will not be processed by Octopia.
Automatic Translation for Marketplaces
When you submit product details in one of the supported languages, Octopia will automatically translate the product sheet into the required language of the target marketplace.
Example
- If you submit a product with product information in English and want to sell it on CDON Sweden, Octopia will translate the product description into Swedish so that it displays correctly on the marketplace.
This ensures your products are properly localized for buyers, even if you only provide details in French, English, or Spanish.
Product Information Mapping
Content
Required for all products:
- Brand: Specify the product's brand.
- Description: Provide a product description. Note that HTML is not supported, and the description is limited to 2,000 characters.
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Main Image URL: Ensure that the image adheres to the following:
- Resolution: Between 500x500 px and 3,000x3,000 px.
- Format: JPG, JPEG, PNG, GIF.
- Maximum file size: 5 MB.
- URL must start with 'https://'.
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Title: The product's title displayed on the detail page. Ideally formatted as:
[Product type] - [Brand] - [Description keywords] - [Model (for technical products)] - [Gender, if applicable]
. Maximum length: 132 characters. Titles must be unique, or they will be rejected by Cdiscount.
Optional for all products:
- Additional Images: You may provide up to five additional image URLs. Follow the same requirements as the main image.
Category-specific:
- Marketing Description: A long product description supporting limited HTML tags (bold, strong, br). Maximum length: 5,000 characters.
- ISBN: Required for books.
- Labels and Certifications: Certifications such as organic, fair trade, or NF environment.
Cdiscount product update
You can only modify product information if you were the original creator of that product on Cdiscount.
Order Management
This section details key considerations for managing Octopia orders within Activation.
Fulfillment and Shipping
- Shipping Address: In most cases, all items within an order share the same shipping address. While the Octopia API can support different addresses per item, no channel currently uses this feature.
- Partial Shipments: Partial shipment is NOT available for Cdiscount
- Mixed Fulfillment: For multi-line orders, it is possible (though rare, <1% of non-Cdiscount orders) to have items fulfilled by both the seller and the marketplace. This cannot currently happen on Cdiscount orders.
Buyer and Tax Information
- Recipient Information: The buyer name, email, and phone number displayed in the Activation UI are the recipient's details, which are sourced from the shipping information section of the order. There can be a difference in the buyer details and the recipient details.
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VAT Calculation: The calculation method depends on the seller's registration country.
- For French-registered sellers on Cdiscount.com, the order data provides the VAT rate, but the seller is responsible for calculating the final amount. Consequently, Activation will not display a tax amount for these orders.
- For sellers registered outside of France, the VAT amount will be provided directly in the order data.