We know from first-hand experience that looking after your Amazon product listings can be time-consuming. Especially if you have hundreds of listings to manage, or your products are particularly complex (with multiple SKUs created against one ASIN, for instance).
But ensuring you allocate resource to product listing maintenance is a must. Whether you’re updating product information, meeting new entry requirements or adding variations, regular maintenance ensures that your listings gain the conversions you need.
At times it can feel like a full-time job simply doing updates. But there’s an easier way to do it and we’re going to explain how in detail…
Downloading the Amazon product feed
By downloading your Amazon product feed, you can make changes to your listings quickly without having to manually edit each one individually. For Amazon sellers with a large catalogue of products, this is the most efficient way to make updates.
This file is an Excel sheet which contains all the data within your listings, so you can easily edit it and upload it back to Amazon again.
Here are some of the reasons why you may need to edit multiple listings:
- To add missing information
If Amazon flags that required information is missing, you’ll need to provide this in order to prevent your listing becoming suppressed.
- To change the title or description
Has something changed with your product collection? Or perhaps something in the description needs clarifying in order to improve the overall customer experience?
- To meet updated requirements
Every so often, Amazon may change its requirements for product details or how certain data need to be entered. When you have lots of products that no longer meet these requirements, downloading your product feed is the fastest way of fixing the issue.
- To add attributes in bulk
Adding certain attributes can help customers choose products that are right for them, and can help to prevent returns or complaints. For instance, defining Fit for clothing can steer customers in the right direction when it comes to buying decisions, and this may end up being reflected in better reviews.
OTHER HANDY USES FOR SHEET
In addition to downloading the Amazon product feed as a way to bulk edit information on your listings, you can also download the file for these reasons:
- To check discrepancies – if you are aware of an error on one or some of your product listings, this file is an easy way of checking other listings for the same issue.
- To serve as a backup – the Excel sheet contains data on all of your products, giving you a backup of everything in one easily accessible place.
Step 1: Download the Amazon Category Listings Report
In order to get started, you will need to download the Amazon Category Listings Report. However, it’s important to note that this isn’t a standard report within Amazon and you will need to request it from Seller Central.
HOW TO REQUEST THE FILE
- Click on ‘Help’ in the top right-hand corner of your dashboard
- Scroll down to the bottom and click ‘My issue is not listed’
- A text box will appear for you to describe your issue
- Type in “Please activate the Category Listings Report”
- Click ‘Continue’
- In the next section, you will need to confirm your issue…
- Click ‘My issue is not listed’
- Then click ‘Product or listing related’
- Then in the short description box, type in “Please activate the Category Listings Report”
- Select your chosen contact method (email/phone/chat) then press the ‘Send’ button
HOW TO ACCESS THE REPORT
After submitting your request, you will get a response in a few hours to let you know that it’s been activated. Once the file has been activated, you will need access it in your account with the following steps:
- Click on the hamburger icon in the top left hand corner
- From the drop down menu, select ‘Reports’
- From the next drop down menu, select ‘Inventory reports’
- Underneath the section titled ‘Request an Inventory Report’, there’s an option to select report type
- Select ‘Category Listings Report’ from the drop-down menu
- On the next page, click on the yellow ‘Request report’ button
- You will now be able to see the report listed on this page
- Click on the ‘Download’ button to the right of the table
- Once downloaded, you will be able to open the Excel file
Step 2: Make the necessary changes
Once you have downloaded and opened the Excel file, you will need to know how to navigate the file.
What usually happens when the file is exported is a lot of the fields will be hidden. So you won’t be able to see all of the data you need straight away.
HOW TO UNHIDE THE DATA
- Click on the top left-hand corner of the Excel sheet
- Right click on one of the columns then select ‘Unhide’
- This will unhide all of the fields
HOW TO MAKE CHANGES
Looking at this sheet, you will notice that every bit of data on your product listings is included here. This includes everything from recommended browse nodes and prices to your product description and bullet points, making it easy for you to edit anything you need.
Now, let’s just use an example of an edit so I can explain how to create an update to your listing information…
Example: Seller needs to add new information to bullet points
Let’s say you want to include some warranty details about your products and this needs to be added to multiple SKUs.
You would do this by editing the data in the bullet points column of one product listing, then copying and pasting it into the corresponding cells of other related products.
If you had hundreds of products requiring the same warranty information update, that would mean being able to update a huge proportion of your catalogue in a matter of minutes, rather than each one manually.
Step 3: Upload a Flat File back to Amazon
The beauty of the Amazon product feed is that it also acts as a flat file, ready to be uploaded back to Amazon, giving you and quick and easy way to update your listings.
So once you have completed the necessary changes to the Excel sheet, it’s time to upload. Here’s how:
- Make sure you save your file so your changes are not lost
- Go to Seller Central
- Click on the hamburger icon in the top-left corner
- From the drop-down, go to ‘Catalogue’
- Then from the next drop-down, go to ‘Add Products via Upload’
- Click on ‘Browse files’ and select your file
- Press the ‘Submit’ button
In most cases, Amazon listing updates will appear in just a few minutes. But do bear in mind that updates can take a few hours, and sometimes even as long as 24 hours. If after a day, your listing has not updated then it will require further investigation.
For more advice on product listings not updating on Amazon, see our recent blog post.
Pressed for resource? No time to keep your products updated? To find out more about full service Amazon account management, get in touch with Seller Presto today. We have years of experience in helping time-strapped sellers increase their sales. Chat to our team today…