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How to generate a product catalog with Catalog Generator

Follow these steps to turn your product feed into a ready-to-publish catalog

Overview

To create a product catalog in Flipsnack, click Create, then Product catalog. Pick a product feed, choose which products go in, pick a template, check the details and click Generate. Flipsnack lays every product out on your catalog template, with its name, image, price and buttons, and updates it when you sync the feed.

A finished catalog generated in Flipsnack from a product feed, with four products and a Request a quote button on each page

💡 Benefits of generating catalogs from a feed
  • Minutes, not weeks: one run turns a feed of hundreds of products into a catalog.
  • Prices stay right: sync the feed and the catalog takes the new prices, descriptions and images.
  • One look for every catalog: each catalog is built on your own branded template.
  • Ready to sell: products can carry shopping buttons, links and videos.

Retailers use it for large product ranges, B2B sales teams and wholesalers for catalogs with current prices, and franchises for a catalog per region from one feed.

Requirements

  • Plan: Product catalog is on the Enterprise plan: contact sales
  • Add-on (optional): Selected products is a separate paid add-on on top of the Enterprise plan. Without it, you build catalogs from all the products in a feed: contact sales
  • Product feed: your product list as a CSV file or a Google Sheet, with a unique SKU on every product: prepare the spreadsheet

Activated by our sales team

Product catalog is turned on for your account by Flipsnack. Our sales team sets it up with you.

Talk to sales

Choose a feed

  • Click Create, then Product catalog.
  • Under Your feeds, select the feed to build from. Use Search feed to find it in a long list.
  • Click Continue.

The Select a feed step of the Product catalog wizard, with the feed velora-feed-large selected under Your feeds

If your feed is not listed yet

For products that change often, use a Google Sheet: edit it, then sync.

  • Under Add a feed, click Google Drive to connect a Google Sheet, Upload CSV to upload a file from your computer, or Import URL to import a CSV file from a public link.

The Add a feed options Google Drive, Upload CSV and Import URL highlighted below Your feeds

  • In Map feed content, under Select unique ID, choose the column that holds each product's unique code.
  • Under AI mapping, correct any column Flipsnack matched wrongly, such as SKU.
  • Click Save changes, then select the new feed under Your feeds and click Continue.

The Map feed content dialog with Select unique ID set to the id column and the AI mapping section listing Flipsnack options next to the feed columns

Caution: pick the unique ID column once and keep it. If you switch to another column later, updates from the feed can no longer reach the products already in your catalog.

Choose the products

  • Click All products to build the catalog from the whole feed. Your selection lists every product it will include.
  • Click Continue.

The Select products step with All products chosen, stating that all 320 products will be included, and Your selection listing them on the right

With All products, the catalog follows the feed: when you sync, new products in the feed are added to the catalog and products removed from the feed leave it. A catalog holds up to 2,000 products; for a larger feed, build several catalogs with Selected products.

To build a catalog from only some of the products, such as one brand or one category, choose Selected products instead: how to build a catalog from selected products.

Choose a template

The template sets the layout and the style of the catalog pages. In the Design step, select one template:

  • Your templates: the custom templates made for your account.
  • Default templates: the layouts that every account has, from 2 to 7 products on a page.

On the right, Field mapping shows how many feed columns still need mapping, and Product categories shows the Category and Subcategory columns of the catalog. Click Review or Change to edit them.

Then click Continue.

The Design step of the Product catalog wizard, with Your templates and Default templates highlighted, and Field mapping and Product categories on the right

If your feed already sets the templates

The FS_template_name column is optional. It is how the products of one category get a different template. If your feed has a column named FS_template_name, Flipsnack applies the templates from the feed and skips the Design step. The feed shows Templates included in the first step.

Use this column to give each category its own layout. On each main product, type the name of the template it uses, exactly as it shows in Flipsnack, with the same spaces and capitals. Product variants can leave the column empty. For example, all sofas and chairs use the template Seating & Sofas, and all tables use the template Tables.

Custom templates

Our in-house design team makes custom templates in your brand. Custom templates have an extra cost. Before you buy, you can ask for a free sample to see how your catalog will look: contact sales.

Review and generate

The Review & generate step sums up the feed, the catalog name and how many products are selected.

  • The catalog takes your feed's name. To rename it, click Edit next to Catalog name.
  • To change the products, click Edit next to Products.
  • If your feed sets the templates, the Templates row reads From your feed, matched to your products.
  • Click Generate.

The Review and generate step listing the feed, the catalog name, 320 selected products and the Templates row, with the Generate button highlighted

To keep working while the catalog builds, click Run in background. When it is ready, the catalog opens on its overview page, unpublished, so you can check it before you publish it.

Keep the catalog up to date

Your feeds live on the Automation page. After you change your feed, sync it: how to sync a feed with your catalog. What a sync changes depends on how you chose the products:

  • All products: the sync updates the product details, adds the new products in the feed and removes the products that are no longer in it.
  • Selected products: the sync updates the details of the products already in the catalog, such as prices and descriptions. It does not add or remove products: new products in the feed are not added, and products removed from the feed stay in the catalog.

Customize your catalog

A generated catalog is an ordinary flipbook. Open it in the Design Studio to add a front and back cover, extra pages, videos or links, then publish it when it is ready.

Troubleshooting

  • Continue stays greyed out on the first step: select a feed under Your feeds, or add one.
  • Continue stays greyed out on the second step: with Selected products, add at least one product to Your selection.
  • Selected products is locked: Selected products is a separate extra on the Product catalog add-on and is not active on your account. Click Contact us, or contact sales to turn it on.
  • The catalog does not generate: check the FS_template_name column. Every product must hold the template's name exactly as Flipsnack gave it; if one space or capital letter is different, Flipsnack cannot find the template.
  • A category has no template: if some products in the feed have no template, Flipsnack uses the template of the first product in the feed for them and shows a notification. To give that category its own layout, add the template name to its products in the FS_template_name column.
  • One product in the catalog no longer updates: that product's ID value changed in the feed, so Flipsnack treats it as a new product. Keep each product's ID the same.

Additional tips / FAQs

  • Can I create several catalogs at once? No. Run the wizard once per catalog.
  • Can I choose a different layout? Yes. Pick another template in the Design step. To change a custom template, contact sales; the Flipsnack design team updates it.
  • In what order do the products appear? In the same order as in your feed. If the catalog uses several templates, Flipsnack groups the products by template, and each group keeps the feed order.

After you update a feed, you can update every catalog that uses it in one action. See Update every catalog that uses a feed.

Next steps

Need expert support?

Our team is here to help. Connect with our team experts or message us via the live chat for personalized assistance.