ChannelEngine: offer mappings

About this article

This article describes the offer mapping process on ChannelEngine.

Introduction

Mapping offers

Wildcard search

Product search and filters

Export offer mappings

Introduction

While categorization, content mappings and carrier mappings can be optional on certain channels, offer mappings are almost always required. On most channels, the Price or Price before (re)price rules is the only offer attribute required – and it is already mapped with your default price attribute –, but this varies per channel.

For more information on the difference between offers and content, check out the What's the difference between content and offers? article.

Mapping offers

One of the most important options on the Offer mappings tab, available regardless of the channel, is the Price. By default it is mapped to your Price attribute on ChannelEngine, but it is possible to use a custom price field too. Note that the price attribute mapped is subject to price rules and repricing if enabled and/or applicable.

In the example above, mappings for the Fulfillment override, the Price before (re)price rules, the Shipping time, and the Condition are visible. Officially, third party sellers are not allowed to submit shipping costs, but any value mapped to this field is added to the final exported price.

Other possible offer attributes

• Catalog price/MSRP - often used to indicate a 'from' price on a channel.
• Shipping time
• Shipping costs
• Type of fulfillment - indicates if you are shipping the item yourself, or using an external fulfillment service such as LVB, FBA, FBC, or ZFS.
• Condition - states the condition of the product, be it new, used, refurbished, etc.
• Search terms/bullet points - available only on Amazon.

Wildcard search

The wildcard search feature in the attribute mapping allows you to quickly find the attribute you are looking for. This feature works for both custom attributes and default ChannelEngine attributes. 

To use the wildcard search feature, go to a page with a dropdown related to attributes, such as the Mappings or Advanced rules pages. Click a dropdown menu and enter the wildcard character (%), preceded and/or followed by the characters from the attribute you seek. The (%) character replaces zero or more characters of any kind. E.g.: to search for all attributes that have the letters 'e' and 't', such as Height and Length, enter 'e%t' in the search bar.

Product search and filters

At the top of the Offer mappings tab, you can switch between the table or the list view. Both views include a search that allows you to find all products based on the attributes that contain your search term. Use the available filters to include or exclude certain products. You can filter by name, GTIN, Merchant product number, or Vendor product number, and status (task, export, and channel). The type filter allows you to filter products based on their relationships with other products. You can also filter by products that contain empty or unmapped attribute values.

In the list view, you can preview the offer mappings for a specific product. To do this, select the product from the Select product to preview dropdown. You can update the offer mappings accordingly, as needed.

Export offer mappings

To check if your product offers are mapped correctly or if any products still need attention, you can export your current content mappings via email. On the Offer mappings tab, click Export categorization, Yes. ChannelEngine sends a CSV file with the current offer mappings to your login email address. To download the CSV file, click download link in the email. The offer attributes contained in the file vary depending on the marketplace.