And why ý makes these required transitions faster, easier, and spreadsheet-free
As ecommerce evolves, so do the rules for selling on the biggest marketplaces. and are two major listing updates that sellers must comply with to keep listings live, discoverable, and converting.
But here’s the reality:
⚠️ Without ý, adapting to these new standards means manual spreadsheets, new templates, and a time-consuming, error-prone process – even if you’re using another listing solution.
🔥 With ý, the transition is fast, accurate, and largely automated, thanks to and our powerful SMART Types.
Let’s break down the changes and how ý simplifies your transition.
Why staying compliant is crucial
Marketplace updates like these aren’t optional and failing to adapt can seriously impact your sales and operations. Here’s what’s at stake:
- Keep listings published and discoverable: If your product listings don’t meet the latest requirements, they may become undiscoverable through search or browsing, or worse, unpurchasable. Ensuring your listings comply with the latest standards means they stay active, visible, and available for purchase, maximizing your sales potential.
- Avoid delays when publishing new listings: Sellers who don’t adapt to new requirements may face errors or delays when trying to publish new products. With new templates or standards, there’s often a learning curve that can slow your time to market. Sellers without a solution (👋 ý 👀) to streamline this process could face costly delays, especially for high-demand products.
- Ensure existing listings stay active and shoppable: Updates to marketplace requirements also apply to your existing listings. If they aren’t updated to meet new standards, they could fall out of search results or become unpurchasable, leading to lost sales. Keeping your product attributes current ensures your listings remain discoverable and prevents any negative impact on your GMV.
- Improve both seller and customer experience: Marketplace updates are designed to create a smoother buying and selling experience. Staying current ensures you’re taking full advantage of these improvements, leading to higher customer satisfaction and more efficient operations for your team.
Now, let’s dive into the specific updates from Amazon and Walmart.
Amazon updates: Amazon SP-API
What is Amazon SP-API?
Amazon’s Selling Partner API (SP-API) is a comprehensive set of tools that allow sellers to better manage their Amazon accounts. One major change is the upgrade to the backend schema and taxonomy, which affects the attributes available to sellers during the item setup process. This means that sellers must now adhere to new item setup requirements to ensure their listings remain active, compliant, and discoverable on Amazon.
Why should you upgrade?
With the release of SP-API, upgrading is critical for sellers to maintain smooth operations, optimize listing performance, and keep up with Amazon’s new standards. A significant part of this upgrade is the revamped item setup process, which includes updated templates and new required attributes for listings. Sellers must now use these updated templates to meet Amazon’s new product type and attribute requirements, or they risk having their listings become inactive or undiscoverable.
A major update with SP-API is the revamped item setup process. which includes new required attributes and templates. Adapting to these new workflows ensures that product listings stay compliant, active, and visible to customers. Failure to comply can result in listing errors, delays, or deactivation, directly impacting sales.
By upgrading, sellers can efficiently manage inventory, orders, and pricing, while ensuring their products remain visible and available for purchase on Amazon.
5 things to know about Amazon SP-API
- New Listing Requirements: SP-API has introduced a new set of Product Types with over 1,600 unique categories. This change impacts what product data is required, including updated attributes, attribute types, and valid values. ý has automatically mapped all SMART Types to these new Amazon Listing Product Types, ensuring sellers comply with the new standards.
- Faster Data Syncing: With SP-API, inventory updates are now near real-time. ý has optimized how data is sent to Amazon, reducing the time to reflect inventory changes from minutes to seconds. This minimizes the risk of overselling and inventory mismatches.
- Improved Security: The new API implements stronger security protocols, ensuring safer data transfers and better protection of sensitive information against breaches.
- More Comprehensive Reporting: The new API offers expanded reporting capabilities, giving sellers more detailed insights into their performance metrics, enabling better optimization of their operations.
- Improved Integration Capabilities: SP-API enables smoother integration with third-party tools, automating workflows and reducing manual intervention, thus boosting productivity.
Walmart updates: Omnispec 5.0
What is Walmart Omnispec 5.0?
Walmart’s Omnispec 5.0 is the latest update to its product listing specifications. It brings a host of improvements to how sellers provide product data, including more granular details and enhanced accuracy. This update is designed to make product listings more standardized, ultimately leading to better searchability, higher conversion rates, and a more seamless customer experience.
Why should you upgrade?
Sellers who upgrade to Walmart Omnispec 5.0 will have access to more relevant data fields, allowing for richer, more informative product listings. This can significantly improve product discoverability and lead to higher sales. If you’re still using an older specification, you might miss out on crucial opportunities for enhanced visibility and better performance in search results.
5 things to know about Walmart Omnipec 5.0
- Expanded attributes: Omnipec 5.0 introduces more detailed attributes, allowing you to provide deeper product information that boosts relevance in search results.
- Better data accuracy: The new spec reduces the risk of data errors by introducing more stringent validation rules, ensuring cleaner product information across Walmart’s marketplace.
- Optimized search performance: By using richer product data, Omnispec 5.0 helps Walmart’s algorithm display more relevant products to shoppers, improving the likelihood of purchase.
- Simplified data entry: While there are more attributes to manage, Omnispec 5.0’s structure simplifies the data entry process, helping sellers stay compliant with less effort.
- Improved customer experience: With more accurate and detailed product information, shoppers can make better-informed decisions, decreasing returns and increasing satisfaction.
How ý helps you upgrade or transition
Navigating marketplace updates can feel overwhelming but ý makes the process seamless. With tools built specifically to support these changes, we help you stay compliant, reduce manual work, and get listings live faster.
👉 Automated product data mapping: Upload your product data once, then let SMART Types automatically map it to the correct product types and attributes – no spreadsheets or configuration necessary.
👉 Stay compliant 24/7: When marketplaces change their taxonomies, SMART Types automatically adjust your listings behind the scenes to keep you compliant with the latest requirements.
👉 Get to market faster with Listing Prep: ý tells you exactly what data is needed – by channel and product type – before you list, helping you complete setup quickly and accurately.
👉 Resolve issues with Listing Status: See which SKUs are unpublished, why they’re blocked and what to fix so you can publish more listings without the guesswork.
👉 Built better listings: Boost your rankings with proactive suggestions that surface advanced attributes to strengthen your listings.
👉 Deliver consistent experiences: Set clear customer expectations across all your sales channels with rich, optimized product data, reducing returns stemming from "item not as described."
👉 Keep data accurate across channels: With improved inventory syncing and access control, you’ll prevent errors, reduce returns, and keep listings consistent and up to date.
With ý, compliance isn’t just easier, it’s automatic. Don’t wait – get in touch with us today to learn how we can help you take full advantage of these marketplace changes.
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