Google Channel App & Facebook/Instagram App - Brand & Vendor attributes

[Sandfordddddd]

Hello - hoping someone can kindly point me in the right direction please.

I have been selling luxury designer items online previously using the Facebook/Instagram App, and trying to get started with the Google Channel App too.

Whilst editing my feed within 'manage products' in the Google Channel App, the 'Vendor' column is listed as my brand name rather than the product brand designer names. Shopify states that the Vendor is: 'The manufacturer, wholesaler, or other vendor for the product' of which I am the 'other vendor' and obviously not the manufacturer hence why this has been done.

As the below screenshot shows, the Google Channel requires GTIN/Brand attributes but there is no 'Brand' column... and therefore I have amended the 'vendor' to reflect the brand names of the actual products which caused all my products on the Facebook/Instagram App to become disapproved; the Facebook/IG app stated they do not accept the product brand names being used due to trademarks/copyright issues which makes total sense and therefore I changed this 'vendor' column back to my brand name and alas all was fine again.

Therefore I am left abit puzzled as to where I can submit 'BRAND' information about my products - I am assuming obviously the GTIN/MPN etc obviously goes in the 'BARCODE' column above, however for 'BRAND' I am abit lost as to where this go to allow me to show products across both channels. Here are my possible solutions - I would be super appreciative if anyone can weigh in on these:

1. Leave as normal and to try run products on Google Shopping with the 'demoted due to missing GTIN/BRAND' product error. Is this likely to trigger a Merchant Centre Suspension due to possible misrepresentation, since the brand is obviously showing as my brand name rather than the actual product brand name - the items have been approved however already in GMC having an 'active' status?!

2. Would a Supplemental feed be of use here within GMC to introduce the Brand/GTIN etc columns? I would be really keen to hear how using a GMC supplemental feed may interact with using the Content API (Google Channel and whether its actually wise to use both along side each other?

3. Scrap the Google Channel and upload a feed through Gsheets etc - obviously alot more long winded and requires ongoing maintenance with price changes etc that woudlve been automated by the Content API (Google Channel) but would of course allow separate and full control of the feed columns without interfering with the Facebook/IG channel. Ideally I want to keep the Content API (Google Channel) as I like the integration and prefer to keep everything centralised - I am however open to flexibility to finding the right solution of course!

Thankyou for taking the time to read the above.

[ilanadavis]

Hey @Sandfordddddd 

This issue is most likely because you're missing the GTIN which is the barcode field in Shopify. You'll want to enter the missing information and make sure this is also included in your structured data. Many themes do not automatically include the GTIN for products nor at the variant level which will be required for Merchant Center.

You can run your product pages through the Rich Results Testing Tool (after adding the GTINs) to see if your theme includes the unique product identifiers for GTIN in the structured data. If not, you'll either need to code that in yourself or use an app like JSON-LD for SEO to automatically include the data for you.

This article and video go into a bit more depth on including the unique product identifiers to help with Merchant Center.

https://www.ilanadavis.com/blogs/articles/using-advanced-product-data-in-shopify-to-help-your-seo-an...

I hope that helps and if you need a free structured data audit, let me know and I can check to see if you have all the required data for Merchant Center or if JSON-LD for SEO could help.

[EmmanuelFlossie]

Generally vendor is indeed the brand name of the product, in context of Google Merchant Center.

You can manually add the brand values using Google sheets as a supplement feed.

Yes it is ok to use Suppplement feeds, it is always used if you need to over write the primary feed.

Changing feed options to a different feed will not work, because vendor as brand values is used by all data feed apps.

However, if you use https://apps.shopify.com/multiple-google-shopping-feeds

And you add a custom metafield, for your brand names, you can them map these values in the data feed app. So that is a great alternative if you want to keep everything in Shopify.

[Sandfordddddd]

Thank you Emmanuel - just so I understand correctly, can you confirm:

I will upload a supplemental feed into GMC changing the 'Vendor' column to the actual Product Brand name rather than my company brand name. Because this will be straight into GMC, will this allow the Shopify product feed for Facebook/Instagram to keep the Vendor column there as my company brand name (as it has to remain this to allow me to show products there?). 

[Sandfordddddd]

@EmmanuelFlossie would I be able to create & upload a Google sheet as Primary Feed and unlink GMC from the Google Channel, then delete the content API feed whilst keeping the Google Channel? This would mean GA4 would be the only thing linked in the Google Channel App though - do you know if I remove the GA4 link to the Google Channel will this stop data flowing through GA4 entirely too?

[EmmanuelFlossie · Accepted solution]

Yes you can disconnect from Google merchant center and setup your feed manually. However that is not recommended, because you need to ensure the price and availability is upto date all the time. Hence why automation is best.

Google merchant center does not have a vendor attribute, it is called brand: https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/6324351

So simply add the values as brand.

And just to let you know all the ways you can edit data, I recommend checking below: