Google is requiring that all products sent to GoogleShopping have unique identifiers associated with them in the data feed.  Unique identifiers are product codes or other values associated with a specific product.  The primary set of unique product identifiers are what are referred to as Global Trade Item Numbers (GTINs), which include UPC, EAN (in Europe), JAN (in Japan), and ISBN. In addition, a Manufacturer Part Number (MPN) can be used to identify a specific product if it is accompanied by the manufacturer's brand name.  UPCs are generally used only in North America while EANs are predominantly used in Europe.   Products in the apparel category and custom made goods are exempt from these requirements.

For most categories Google requires at least 2 of the following 3 data elements:

• UPC, EAN or JAN
• Brand
• MPN

To ensure that your products are meeting these requirements please do the following in ChannelAdvisor:

1. Once logged in to your ChannelAdvisor account, navigate to Comparison Shopping > Product Mapping > Templates and find your Google Shopping (aka Google Base) template.
2. Click on the template name to open the template.
3. Verify that you have either the UPC, ISBN, EAN or MPN and Brand fields mapped to your inventory.  If none of these fields are mapped, map one or more of them to your inventory by clicking the Edit icon and then making a selection from the drop down (to map to an inventory field or create a business rule or lookup list).
4. Save the template and exit.

If your template is mapped properly it is still a good idea to review your feeds to make sure you are sending one of these unique values for all products.  You can do this by using the Preview feed option.  If you aren't sending unique identifiers you will want to modify the feed you send ChannelAdvisor to include one of these values.

If unique identifiers do not exist for your products Google has a process to request an exemption.