How To: Use Amazon XML Mapping
Amazon categorizes products differently than eBay. Products are first divided into top level categories, which are broad like Toys or Apparel. Then, they are further separated into sub-categories, which are called item types.
There is a second classification system called product types. These types are used to distinguish the specific details that a buyer would want about a particular product. For example, if someone were purchasing a t-shirt, they would want to know if it is has a V-neck and whether it has long or short sleeves. Remember, the more information they have about a product, the more likely they are to purchase it. Since many buyers also search by these attributes, it aids in the search results.
Product details are filled in through Amazon XML mapping. Some product details are required depending on the types of products you sell. You can find out which details are required from the Inventory File Template, which you can learn about in 3.2.3 Setting Amazon Product Details.
The process is as follows for each Product type:
1. Make a list of the fields you need to supply for each product type.
· Setting Amazon Product Details shows you how
2. Create all the custom fields for supplying the information.
3. Map the custom fields you created to the Product Type in XML mapping.
Create a Custom User Field for a Product Detail:
To begin, you should know how to create a Custom User Field.
First you will need to create a custom field to hold the exemption. For this example, we will use the Minimum Manufacturer Age Recommended, which is required for listing Toys & Games to Amazon.
1. Go to Settings > Custom Fields
2. Click Add Custom User Field.
· Name: mfgminimum
· Label: Minimum Manufacturer Age Recommended
· Type: Integer
· Make sure Displayed is turned ON (radio button turns blue).
· This allows you to fill out the age when listing.
3. Next, click Save Settings.
Mapping your Product Details:
Once you have created all your custom fields, you must indicate which product detail they belong to. For this example, we will continue our example for listing Toys & Games.
1. Now, go to Channels>Amazon
2. Click Amazon Main XML Mapping.
3. Select the Product Type for the Type of XML to edit. In this case, we selected Toys.
4. Map each of the fields in your list by selecting the custom field you created for it from the drop down menu.
· In this case we are going to map the Minimum Manufacturer Age Recommended, which is a required field in this category.
· The other required field is a unit of measure. The valid inputs are months or years for this specific example. So, we have selected years for our integer value to correspond to.
· You may also map to fields that already exist in the system, such as brand or mpn.
5. Repeat this process for mapping all of your product types.
Using the XML mapping when creating a listing:
Now, you will need to input a value in the fields you mapped. Custom Fields are found at the bottom of the product details page.
1. Fill out the General and Amazon sections for the listing.
2. Click on Custom Fields on the left to navigate to your list of custom fields.
3. Enter the desired value.
· In this example, we are listing a toy with a minimum recommended age of 12 years.
Using the XML mapping when creating a bulk listing:
You will want to include all of your mapped fields as headers in your bulk files when adding new products to Amazon.
To find the appropriate column header for a custom field:
1. Go to Settings>Custom Fields.
2. Click on Custom User Fields to expand the view.
3. Locate the field you are looking for.
· The Label is listed at top.
· The field name is listed just below it.
· The type is listed at the bottom.
4. Copy the field name for the header.
5. Add it to your bulk upload file.
Another example fields, which are being used for certain categories on Amazon when offering calculated shipping based on the shipping weight of the products are the DisplayWeight and DisplayeWeight@UnitOfMeasure. They are displayed in the particular Category XML Mappings and typically, DisplayWeight can either be mapped to the general weight field or create a new custom field and input the value in and map it and also specify the unit of measure and see the example screenshot below:
