--- schema_version: "1" id: c5c40eb0e1496e6f1ca0bcd27864eda281fdd2466557c261533e894c6cacef72 title: Feeds Overview collection: admin version: current locale: en-us portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/admin/current/en-us/commerce/264-0-0/rt_adv_config_data_feeds_manage_overview.md canonical_url: https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=commerce.rt_adv_config_data_feeds_manage_overview.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 source_site: help.salesforce.com content_type: documentation content_hash: 806c15ff39e1154b455b67b788f05ecd73ebbbce3380cb0c45dd0e81c7d3ecc2 description: Use feeds to efficiently import bulk data, such as products, categories, and stores, into Point of Sale. Feeds streamline the process of updating your Point of Sale platform with the latest information. You can schedule and manually upload feeds, then review logs to ensure data accuracy. Point of Sale supports various feed types and configurations to meet your data import needs. products: - Commerce release: "264" --- # Feeds Overview Use feeds to efficiently import bulk data, such as products, categories, and stores, into Point of Sale. Feeds streamline the process of updating your Point of Sale platform with the latest information. You can schedule and manually upload feeds, then review logs to ensure data accuracy. Point of Sale supports various feed types and configurations to meet your data import needs. ![A diagram shows how data is fed into and exported from the Point of Sale platform.](https://sf-zdocs-cdn-prod.zoominsoftware.com/tdta-commerce-retail-264-0-0-production-enus/17d647fb-8988-49fb-9add-c4f4cc79c9e4/retail/images/rt_adv_config_data_feeds_manage_overview.png) ## Data Imports Data imports allow you to feed data like a product catalog or stores list into the Point of Sale platform. ## Imports Get details about import data feeds. ### Feed Files A feed file contains data like products, categories, or stores. Point of Sale ingests different types of feed files in different configurations. Depending on the feed type, uploading a new file can either replace or upsert the existing data. See [Review Feed File Specifications](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=commerce.rt_adv_config_data_feeds_specs.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Use data feeds to import and update critical product, inventory, pricing, and store data in Point of Sale. Data feeds include detailed specifications and examples, such as ASN, category, notification, and POS register feeds. Note that the POS register feed only updates existing registers and does not create new ones. You can also manage product bundles, inventory, promotions, store associates, and tax rates using data feeds. With data feeds, you can ensure your Point of Sale data is accurate and up-to-date, which leads to improved sales and customer satisfaction.") . #### Product Feed Product feeds are the primary product catalog feed and replaces existing data when uploaded. This contains all necessary details about a product i.e. name, title, price etc. Online inventory of an item is also part of the product feed. This feed can run in two modes and both exhibit different behaviors: - Full Product Feed - This is the primary source of truth for all product information. When a full product feed is loaded, all prior load data is erased and data from this file is loaded and indexed. These feeds are configured to run typically once a day in the morning or at regular intervals of 4-6 hours. If no records are processed, then the previous day's catalog is left intact. - Delta Product Feed - Delta feeds are a subset of Product Feed. Subset both in terms of rows and columns. At a minimum, the delta feed needs to have 1 row and 2 columns: ProductId and any other attribute that needs to be updated for a product. Only the products that are present in this file are affected on this feed run. Deltas are run more frequently throughout the day and intervals can vary from 15 mins to 1 hour. If new products are added via Delta feed and are not present in Full feed, on the next run of full feed these will be erased. Ideally, full feed should have all products. If for any reason new products that are added via Delta feed cannot be added to Full feed then, both feeds Full and Delta need to be scheduled as a Pipeline feed to run sequentially ensuring no products are lost. #### Category Feed Category feed must be run along with Product feed. It cannot be executed separately. Category feeds update merchandising hierarchy and ranking / sort order of products. #### Store Feed Store feed is the master Store catalog providing all details of stores. Once a feed is executed, the previous feed execution is replaced by the contents of this file. This file is usually loaded once a week. #### Store Inventory Feed Store Inventory feeds are necessary when Point of Sale is not the inventory master. This type of feed upserts data when uploaded. At the onset this is a very simple feed with 3 columns. StoreId, ProductID (a.k.a. sku id) and Quantity. There are 2 types of Store Inventory feeds - Full Store Inventory Feed - This is the primary source of truth store inventory. Typically loaded once a day before stores open and all records are loaded in. The previous days data is erased. - Delta Store Inventory Feed - This is an incremental feed where changes to inventory are published to Point of Sale. It can be run in 2 modes. Absolute quantity or increment/decrement. In Absolute quantity mode, Point of Sale will overwrite existing inventory number. In case of increment / decrement, the inventory positions will get updated accordingly. This feed can also be used to update store level pricing and specify serial numbers and prices of clearance items in a given store. Additional details can be found in the [Store Inventory & Pricing Feed](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=commerce.rt_adv_config_data_feeds_specs_store_inv_price.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "The Point of Sale store inventory feed is used for the Find-In-Store feature. On the PDP, a user can opt to see if a product is available in a nearby store.") spec. #### Pipeline Feed Pipeline Feed is nothing but a scheduler that allows a merchant to configure the sequence of file imports that are needed. It runs in an all or nothing manner. If even one file fails in PipeLine the entire job is terminated and no updates are made. #### Associate Feed Store Associate feed is loaded daily with Associate store details and credentials. This type of feed upserts data when uploaded. ### Upload A feed import job can be initiated by manually uploading the feed file in the CMS or scheduling it to upload from an SFTP server. To validate successful feed runs or troubleshoot failed ones, you can review the Feed Logs. #### Scheduling Feeds To learn how to schedule feeds, see [Schedule Feed Runs in Point of Sale CMS](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=commerce.rt_adv_config_data_feeds_manage_schedule.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Schedule your data feeds in Point of Sale so that you have the most up-to-date data. Select a runtime that meets your business needs. Get advice on creating the schedule. When no longer needed, delete a schedule."). #### Manually Uploading Feeds To learn how to manually upload feeds, see [Run Feeds Manually](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=commerce.rt_adv_config_data_feeds_manage_manual_run.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Sometimes you need to run a data feed right away. You can manually run data feeds in Point of Sale to update your data immediately, rather than waiting for the next scheduled run. Implement these steps when you need the most current data."). #### Feed Logs The Feed Logs report which feeds have run and whether or not they were successful. When debugging issues related to a feed, the Feed Logs is the first place to start. For more details, see [View Feed Logs in Point of Sale CMS](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=commerce.rt_adv_config_data_feeds_manage_logs.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Quickly identify the success of Point of Sale data feeds by using feed logs. When you review feed logs, you can begin troubleshooting issues. The feed logs page shows the runs for each feed and their status."). ### Special Configurations Get details about special configurations in data feeds for multi-region feeds, the feed pipeline, feed deployment best practices, and offline feeds. #### Multi-Region Feeds For a merchant that has stores deployed across different regions, it is possible they want to use the same file across different regions. Currently when a file is imported in FTP mode, FeedJob will rename the file as .bkp once processing is done. As a result another region will not be able to process the same file. By importing the file as SFTP, FeedServer does not rename the file hence can be used across different regions. To learn more on multi-region feeds and how to set it up, see [Multi-Region Feeds](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=commerce.rt_adv_config_data_feeds_manage_multi_region.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Point of Sale multi-region feeds let merchants with operations in multiple regions run feeds in the master region. Merchants can also configure other regions to perform product searches against the master catalog. By using multi-region feeds, merchants can streamline their operations and ensure that product searches are accurate across all regions. This feature saves time and improves efficiency by centralizing feed management."). #### Feed Pipeline A feed pipeline allows you to schedule two or more feed types to run in a specified order on a set schedule. To learn more on this topic and how to set it up, see [Create a Feed Pipeline](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=commerce.rt_adv_config_data_feeds_manage_pipeline.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Create feed pipelines in Point of Sale to schedule feed types to run in a specified order. Running feed pipelines on a set schedule keeps your data current and accurate. Configure the pipeline, add the feed types, and set the schedule. You can also edit a pipeline as business needs change."). #### Feed Deployment Best Practices The Point of Sale platform supports multiple options to ingest data onto its POS Cloud platform. [Feeds Deployment Best Practices & Strategy](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=commerce.rt_adv_config_data_feeds_manage_best_practice.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Use Point of Sale to ingest data onto the POS Cloud platform with multiple options. Optimize data setup based on different customer scenarios. This ensures a smooth data flow, enabling retailers to gain valuable insights and make informed decisions. With efficient data ingestion, retailers can enhance their operations and improve the customer experience.") provides recommendations on how the setup should be in different customer scenarios. #### Offline Feeds Offline feed files help ensure the proper functioning of the POS app. To enable offline capabilities, the POS app requires at least one online session to download the necessary files. To learn more about the requirements, see [Offline Feed File Extracts](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=commerce.rt_cms_settings_offline_feed_file_extracts.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Offline feed files help the Point of Sale (POS) app function properly, where at least one online session is needed to download the required files."). ### Field Mappings The raw columns or attributes inside the feed file are transformed and mapped onto fields that the Point of Sale backend understands. To learn more about field mappings, see [Map Data Feed Fields](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=commerce.rt_adv_config_data_feeds_maps_field_maps.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Set Field Mappings in Point of Sale to transform data from external sources into the format that Point of Sale uses. Field mappings use transformations and regular expressions. When you import data feeds, the field mappings ensure that your data is accurate and consistent. This consistency helps to streamline your retail operations."). ## Data Exports Data exports enable you to export data from the Point of Sale platform, such as TLog or quiz data. An export file is generated and transmitted via SFTP. Each feed file contains the data, and you can refer to [Configure and Manage Export Jobs](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=commerce.rt_adv_config_data_feeds_manage_export_jobs.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Use export jobs to extract data from Point of Sale by using Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP). Configure and schedule these jobs in CMS to automate data extraction, and monitor their progress in the Export Logs for timely, efficient data retrieval.") for more details. The data from the Point of Sale backend can be transformed and mapped into the desired format using [Field Mappings](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=commerce.rt_adv_config_data_feeds_manage_overview.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "The raw columns or attributes inside the feed file are transformed and mapped onto fields that the Point of Sale backend understands."). ## Frequently Asked Questions Get answers to frequently asked questions regarding data feeds, feed types, and specifications. Learn about feed operations, scheduling, and file format requirements. Review troubleshooting tips, data handling capabilities, and information on inventory, store data, pricing, and regional support. ### **Feed Types and Specifications** What are the different types of feeds? The available feeds are listed under[Review Feed File Specifications](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=commerce.rt_adv_config_data_feeds_specs.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Use data feeds to import and update critical product, inventory, pricing, and store data in Point of Sale. Data feeds include detailed specifications and examples, such as ASN, category, notification, and POS register feeds. Note that the POS register feed only updates existing registers and does not create new ones. You can also manage product bundles, inventory, promotions, store associates, and tax rates using data feeds. With data feeds, you can ensure your Point of Sale data is accurate and up-to-date, which leads to improved sales and customer satisfaction."). What are your feed specs? Specs for the data feeds along with examples are provided in [Review Feed File Specifications](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=commerce.rt_adv_config_data_feeds_specs.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Use data feeds to import and update critical product, inventory, pricing, and store data in Point of Sale. Data feeds include detailed specifications and examples, such as ASN, category, notification, and POS register feeds. Note that the POS register feed only updates existing registers and does not create new ones. You can also manage product bundles, inventory, promotions, store associates, and tax rates using data feeds. With data feeds, you can ensure your Point of Sale data is accurate and up-to-date, which leads to improved sales and customer satisfaction."). Can product feed be sent as XML? No, we do not support XML files. ### **Feed Operation and Scheduling** How do feeds work? Brands load files on File Transfer Protocol (FTP), schedule the frequency of import in Point of Sale's CMS and from there we ingest files. Different feeds have different recommended frequencies that are specified in [Feeds Deployment Best Practices & Strategy](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=commerce.rt_adv_config_data_feeds_manage_best_practice.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Use Point of Sale to ingest data onto the POS Cloud platform with multiple options. Optimize data setup based on different customer scenarios. This ensures a smooth data flow, enabling retailers to gain valuable insights and make informed decisions. With efficient data ingestion, retailers can enhance their operations and improve the customer experience."). What about scheduling and import frequency? All Feeds can be scheduled via CMS based on business needs. Point of Sale recommendation is to run full product and inventory files once a month or once a quarter (based on frequency of change) and send Delta files once a day. How do Product, Store, and Store Inventory files work together? Product Feed is product catalog data. Store feed is store catalog data. StoreInventory binds the two. An entry is needed in this file for an item to be linked to a store. Having zero inventory is fine, but an entry is needed to associate a product with the store. When feeds are running, what is the application status? Can it be used by associates? Specifically, for an international deployment from Australia, Europe, and the US using a single multi-country feed. How should feeds be scheduled? When feeds are in flight and being loaded, the system continues to work as normal as we first load all data in our system. It indexes everything in one go after all files are processed. Can you roll back feeds? No, currently we do not have a rollback feature. To restore, we will load the full product feed from the merchant. ### File Format Requirements What format should the file be saved in? All feed files should be saved in a UTF-8 format. ### Troubleshooting Feed Issues Why did my feeds fail? - Check that the file type is correct (CSV, TSV, Pipe Delimited). - Check that the field mappings are set. - Check that the headers match the field mappings. - If the file does not include headers, then define the field mappings. - Check the required data for the feed. - Are quotes missing? Are there special characters causing issues? - Was it saved in a UTF-8 format? Store Inventory feed failed with data truncation, are the fields too long? Please ensure that the country code is a two-digit ISO code and not three-digit. What about alerting/monitoring in case files are not loaded? These can be found in CMS. ### **Data Handling and Capabilities** How much data can you handle? We have indexed catalogs of over 1 million SKU's per region. We have processed over 8 million store inventory entries. How much time does it take to load and index? A million SKU file takes approximately 20 minutes to load and index. During the day, if we need to change pricing or add some products, how can that be done? You can send Product Delta files at a higher frequency during the day. Product Delta is a true subset (e.g., rows and columns) and we will update only the data that is present in file. If you send a Product Delta every hour, prices will get updated. Another alternative is API's which we will cover in a separate section. What is the default logic for pricing? Store-level is the default pricing we look for. If null, we fall back to the list price. Product and Catalog Information How do we load product and catalog information into Point of Sale? Product Feed is the primary source for product and catalog information. Delta Product Feeds can be used to augment and enrich this data with additional columns from different systems. My product information is in a PIM system, pricing data is in a Merch system, and images are in a local system. How do I send all this data to Point of Sale? You can use our Feed Pipeline to load Primary product data as Product Feed and other files as Product Delta files along with setting up a PipeLine Job. This will ensure all data is imported, staged, loaded, and indexed together. If one file fails, the whole operation rolls back without any disruption. Prerequisites for this feature are: (1) Same ProductId column and values in all files; (2) No spaces in column names. See [Create a Feed Pipeline](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=commerce.rt_adv_config_data_feeds_manage_pipeline.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Create feed pipelines in Point of Sale to schedule feed types to run in a specified order. Running feed pipelines on a set schedule keeps your data current and accurate. Configure the pipeline, add the feed types, and set the schedule. You can also edit a pipeline as business needs change."). How do you handle prices, MSRP, markdowns, and store-level pricing? We support three prices: ListPrice, SalePrice, and SalePrice. ListPrice maps to MSRP, SalePrice maps to MarkDowns, and StorePrice is the price of item at a Store Level. List and Sale Price are imported via Product and Delta Product Feeds. Store Price is imported via Store Inventory feed Do you support store-level list pricing and sale pricing? How does store-level list price work in conjunction with the product feed provided list price? Our data model supports list and sale price at the product level. Additionally, it supports list, sale, and store price at a store level. List Price on POS App: If StoreLevel List price is present and the store setting of hasStoreLevelPricing is enabled then the store level listPrice (store level MSRP) is displayed on the cart. Sale Price on POS App: This is the basis of all cart calculations. There is no difference in the mode of the cart, i.e., Online / InStore.If store-level pricing is available in the store inventory and pricing feed then there are two possibilities: - a. If StoreSetting of "store price overrides sales price" is enabled then store price is sent as the sales price. - b. If the above setting is disabled, then the lower of the sale or store price is sent as the sales price. What about images? Are you hosting images? We does not store product catalog images. These are hosted by merchant CDN or eCom system. In Product Feed we need links to these images. How do you support product grouping/styles? ProductID / SKUID / UPC are the most granular level metadata of product we support. A style that has five colors, four sizes maps to 20 productId's, and 1 variantId. ProductId is mapped to id in FieldMapping and variantID is mapped to item\_group\_id. What is the product hierarchy SKU, productid, groupid, upc, external id? UPC is the lowest level of product identifier. Each UPC is tied to a productId. Multiple productId's are linked to a itemGrouId / VariantID / StyleId. In retail, the typical hierarchy is Retail > Master/Style/SKU. How is it in Retail Cloud? The corresponding hierarchy is as follows: VariantID / SubVariantId / ProductID. What about merchandise categories? Merchandise categories are part of product feed under ProductCategory column. Multiple values can be sent that are separated by "|" character. What about custom product attributes, can we show them? Can we search/filter them? Brands can send in different attributes about a product. Point of Sale has standard fields for most of the commonly used attributes in Retail. For others, CustomFields are available to map these values via Field Mappings. Once FieldMappings is done and data ingested, brands can define search and filter rules on these values. Point of Sale also supports a lightweight data transformer. See [Transformations & Regular Expressions](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=commerce.rt_adv_config_data_feeds_maps_regx.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Point of Sale data mapping uses transformations and regular expressions so you can get values in the correct formats. Use transformations such as applying arithmetic operations, formatting text, and converting date and time values. Regular expressions use patterns to find and replace strings to refine your data mapping."). Do you support rich text/HTML? We have limited support for HTML tags as this is bound by Apple's web view limitations. Do you support pricing at the Variant Group ID level, and the price will be inherited by all Product IDs in the variant group? No, merchants need to provide the entire product metadata including pricing at the Product ID/SKU level. How do you remove the Sale Price of a product in the Product Catalogue? To remove the sale price of a product, run a delta file selecting 'update products' and set the sale price value to 0. ### **Inventory and Store Data** How is inventory handled? Please refer to the following two questions. What is online inventory? Online Inventory is the availability of an item in ecomm system. This is passed in Product Feed as a single value for an item and can be updated via Product Delta Feeds after initial value is provided in Product Feed. What is store inventory? Store inventory is the inventory position of an item in a given store. This can be sent via full load at the start of the day. Point of Sale can also be master of Record of Inventory leveraging its inventory management module. See [Inventory Management Overview](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=commerce.rt_pos_inventory_mgmt.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Point of Sale inventory management provides a lightweight inventory management system that will allow customers to manage inventory across stores, online, and digital warehouses."). What about store data? Store feed is a separate feed where brands can provide all metadata about a store. Can we see products only in a given store? Yes, under search filters there is an option to show only in-store items for the current store of an associate. Can we see inventory positions in other stores? Yes, on PDP a link can be configured to see availability of an item in nearby stores. Can we see a detailed inventory breakdown in the current store? Yes, we have a concept of inventory panel that can show a detailed breakdown of available inventory in a given store. See [Inventory Lookup on PDP via SPIs](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=commerce.rt_pos_inventory_lookup_inventory_spis.htm&language=en_US). What about Corporate? How do they see this data? Corporate users can see all inventory data on our CMS tool under the Inventory section. What about Associates data from our system? How is that loaded? Associate data can be provided using the [Store Associate Feed](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=commerce.rt_adv_config_data_feeds_specs_store_ass.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "The store associate feed drives the functionality that creates store associates for all stores. If an associate exists in Point of Sale, all of the data is updated with content from the file."). ### Pricing and Regional Support Do you support country-level pricing? Country/region-specific pricing should be handled if the merchant has multiple /different CMS instances for each country. Otherwise the order of pricing (top to bottom) is list price > sale price > store price. There is no regional pricing outside of each region having its own environment. We will first look for store-level pricing, then fall back to sales price (if store level is null), then to list price (if both others are null). The list price is for the merchant's region/country. We are going to launch in multiple regions and have the same catalog across regions. How can we send a single file? We do support multi-region feeds. See [Multi-Region Feeds](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=commerce.rt_adv_config_data_feeds_manage_multi_region.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Point of Sale multi-region feeds let merchants with operations in multiple regions run feeds in the master region. Merchants can also configure other regions to perform product searches against the master catalog. By using multi-region feeds, merchants can streamline their operations and ensure that product searches are accurate across all regions. This feature saves time and improves efficiency by centralizing feed management."). ### **Special Product Handling** What about products with $0 pricing? By default, Point of Sale will not import products with a $0 list price or sale price. To import these products from Product Feed, disable the server setting to block zero-dollar products. What about pre-sale items or specials to be visible after a certain time? Product Feed does support the ability to add availability time windows for a product. Once this is passed in feed, search configuration can be built on these columns to show / hide products based on selected criteria. ### **API and Integration** Do you have APIs for product data? Yes, we have APIs for product data which brands can use to create and update products Can you pull product data via API? No, we do not use APIs to import data. Import is only via Feed files. What's the best method for supporting multiple API calls (e.g., 50-60k)? If the merchant is utilizing a Distributed Order Management (DOM) system, we recommend going the feed path/SFTP route. The merchant can provide one-time files to refresh/seed the data from the DOM.