Vendor: digital shelf monitoring

About this article

This article describes digital shelf monitoring on Amazon Vendor.

Table of contents

Introduction

Setup 

Overview

Main image heatmap

Monitoring process

CSV reports

Recommended actions

FAQs

Introduction

Amazon Vendor may delay updating or entirely fail to update your product content, even if you have already exported your content via ChannelEngine. This issue may arise for a variety of reasons, both technical, e.g.: large catalog updates that require processing time, and administrative, e.g.: pending reviews by the channel.

When you map your product’s attributes in Content mappings, ChannelEngine can regularly check if the sent value - the desired state - matches the value on the channel - the observed state. This process of monitoring your content on the channel is called digital shelf monitoring.

Find digital shelf monitoring at Listed products, Digital shelf monitoring in your Amazon Vendor plugin on ChannelEngine.

Setup

Contact your ChannelEngine customer support manager or the Support team to enable digital shelf monitoring on Amazon Vendor.

Overview

In the Listed products step, click on the Digital shelf monitoring tab.

The overview contains a list of all the products that you have sent to the given channel, with the status of your product’s most important attributes on Amazon Vendor:

• Brand
• Bullet point 1-9
• Category
• Child ASIN
• Parent ASIN
• Main image
• Title

Each line item contains the following details:

• Product - one product-attribute pair is listed per line item, containing details that are already stored on ChannelEngine in Products, Products.
  • Image - the main image that you store on ChannelEngine.
  • Details - the Name of your product, according to the ChannelEngine Name field. Below the product name, easily copy the Merchant product number, GTIN, or Channel product number to cross-reference your product content across platforms.
• Attribute - the name of the monitored attribute on the channel.
• Desired state - your attribute’s mapped value and its date of export.
  • Exported value - the value that was last exported to the channel.
  • Exported dates
    • Last changed at (desired) - the date when the currently exported value changed from the previously exported value. If the exported value is the first-time value sent to the channel, then Last changed at (exported) is the date of the first product export to the channel.
    • Last validated at (desired) - the date when ChannelEngine checked if the currently exported value changed from the previously exported value.
• Channel state
  • Value - the value that is currently published on the channel.
  • Observed dates
    • Last changed at (channel) - the date when the currently live value changed from the previously live value. If the currently live value is the first-time value on the channel, then there is no Last changed at (observed) date.
    • Last validated at (channel) - the date when ChannelEngine checked if the currently live value changed from the live value at the previous check.
• Match status - statuses are Match or No match. If there is not a 100% match, then the status is No match.
  • View details - only appears if Main image has the status No match. Check out the section Main image heatmap below.

Search and filters

Search

At the top of the Digital shelf monitoring tab, you can search for specific products via free text. Search by:

• GTIN
• Merchant product number
• Channel product number
• Product name or title

Filters

Filter the line items by:

• Status - choose one or both match statuses: Match or No match.
• Attributes - choose one or more available content attributes to focus on.

Click Clear filters to remove any applied search terms or filters and reset the list.

Main image heatmap

Digital shelf monitoring compares the percentage match of pixels between the exported and listed images. 

Image mismatches often happen because the channel processes images, which may reduce image quality. To accommodate the expected quality loss, ChannelEngine marks the image as No match when there is less than an 80% match between the exported image and the listed image.

If Main image match status is No match, then the View details button appears, which opens a heatmap.

To view the heatmap:

1. Click View details. A heatmap of the image appears in a pop-up.
2. Inspect the color-coded differences between the listed and exported images. Check out the Legend section below.
3. Compare the heatmap with the thumbnails in the overview.
4. Decide whether to replace the image in the listing or keep the image as it is.

In most cases, images with the status No match are highly reprocessed by the channel, and no action is required. 

Legend

Each color in the heatmap indicates how closely the images match:

• Red - less than 10% of pixel match.
• Yellow - medium similarity per pixel.
• Green - high similarity per pixel.
• Blue - exact pixel match.
   

Monitoring process

Every hour, ChannelEngine monitors the observed state and updates the last changed and last validated dates accordingly. For an idea of what updates to expect, check out the following examples:

Example: you export a first-time value to the channel

1. The value was exported on Jan 15, 2026.
2. The channel has a turnaround time of two working days to publish content.

Digital shelf monitoring runs on Jan 21, 2026.

• Exported value (desired) is updated to the value you mapped in Content mappings.
• Last changed at (desired) is Jan 15, 2026.
• Last validated at (desired) is Jan 21, 2026.

Then, ChannelEngine updates the Channel state. ChannelEngine

• Value (channel) is updated based on scraping or a request made to the channel.
• Last changed at (channel) is Jan 21, 2026.
• Last validated at (channel) is Jan 21, 2026.

Example: you update the same value a week later

1. The new value is exported on Jan 22, 2026.
2. Digital shelf monitoring runs on Jan 27, 2026.
3. The channel has a turnaround time of two working days to publish content.

Digital shelf monitoring runs on Jan 31, 2026.

• Exported value (desired) is updated to the new value that you mapped.
• Last changed at (desired) is Jan 22, 2026.
• Last validated at (desired) is Jan 31, 2026.

Then, ChannelEngine updates the Channel state. ChannelEngine

• Value (channel) is updated based on scraping or a request made to the channel.
• Last changed at (channel) is Jan 31, 2026.
• Last validated at (channel) is Jan 31, 2026.

CSV reports

Based on your search and filters, you can export the list as a CSV file:

1. Click Export selection.
2. In the pop-up, in the Export current selection as field, select a file option. Choose either CSV or CSV (for Excel).
3. Choose a semi-colon or a comma as your Delimiter.
4. Click Download.

Recommended actions

Digital shelf monitoring gives you full visibility on when you last exported your content and when ChannelEngine last checked if your desired content matches the channel’s content for the same product. Use this information to make an informed decision on taking corrective action.

When the Match status is No match:

• And there is a large delay between:
  • Last changed at (desired)
  • Last changed at (observed)

Then, consider how closely the two values match. Did the channel revise your content for clarity and conciseness, and are your main points present? If you know the channel has a policy of editing content, take no action.

However, if the description is incorrect or is still empty after waiting through the channel’s grace period, check the channel’s back-end platform or contact the channel’s Support team directly.

FAQs

What happens if I update my content, but the product export fails?

Digital shelf monitoring continues validating content on the channel when the content export from ChannelEngine fails. All Last changed at and Last validated at dates (desired and observed) remain unchanged until after the next successful product content export. Check Listed products, Validation and feedback to review and correct validation errors on your content.