alby uses existing data within your product catalog to feed its FAQs.
Information such as the product’s name, price, URL, and description are necessary for alby to provide the most accurate information about your products.
The product description is a detailed and comprehensive text that is crucial for the functionality of alby's AI features. This description should be as robust and thorough as possible, encompassing all relevant details, benefits, and specific attributes of the variant-level product.
For more information, see product catalog.
Adding a product catalog
Adding the product description to your catalog may vary depending on how long you’ve been with Bluecore.
Partners with an existing product feed
If you’re already a Bluecore partner and use a product feed, no action is required on your end. The Bluecore Website Integration will pick up the product description from your site’s product detail pages (PDPs.)
Partners without an existing product feed
If you’re a new alby customer, or don’t already have a product feed set up through Bluecore, you’ll need to set up a managed feed.
With a managed feed, your engineering team sets up a scheduled file drop to a Bluecore-owned or client-owned and externally hosted SFTP folder. The Bluecore FDE team sets up recurring jobs to grab the data, providing clean and transform services if needed, then the updated information is processed by Bluecore.
The following information is needed in a product feed:
|
Column Definitions |
Description |
Kind |
Required |
Type |
Details/Format |
|
id |
The unique identifier for the product, typically the Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) or Universal Product Code (UPC) for SKU-level setup or the parent product ID for products setup. This must be an ID that is consistent across the website, in-store, and feeds. |
Standard |
Yes |
String |
128 character maximum. IDs are case sensitive. Sending multiple IDs with different cases will create new products. |
|
name |
The name of the product. |
Standard |
String |
Names should only contain letters, numbers, dashes, hyphens, spaces, and semicolons. |
|
|
category |
The category of the product. |
Standard |
String |
||
|
price |
The price of the product. |
Standard |
Float |
Prices are stored and processed as floats. If decimals are not provided, Bluecore automatically adds them. Price must be in the Namespace's currency. Recommend to submit price with the Bluecore Website Integration if the price updates frequently. |
|
|
image |
The URL for the product's primary image. |
Standard |
Yes |
String |
This image will be used in campaigns by default. |
|
url |
The URL for the product page where the customer can purchase the product. |
Standard |
Yes |
String |
|
|
out_of_stock |
Indicates if the product is out of stock. |
Standard |
Boolean |
True indicates the product is out of stock. False indicates the product is in stock. Recommend using the Bluecore Website integration as the source of truth. |
|
|
is_bluecore_parent |
Indicates whether the product record is a parent or variant product record. |
Standard |
Boolean |
True indicates this product is the parent. False indicates this product is not the parent. Required if using the product variant catalog. |
|
|
bluecore_parent_id |
Indicates the product's parent id, if is_bluecore_parent is false. |
Standard |
String |
Required if using the product variant catalog. Required if is_bluecore_parent is false. |
|
|
state |
The product's state. |
Standard |
Enum |
State can be one of the following: Active Archived Inactive |
|
|
created |
The date the product was created within Bluecore. |
Reserved |
Date-time |
Used to determine new arrivals. |
|
|
updated |
The date the product was last updated within Bluecore. |
Reserved |
Date-time |
||
|
description |
The product's description. |
Standard |
Yes |
String |
Required if using alby. |
To begin the process of setting up a managed feed, contact your CSM.