Catalog overview

A catalog is a library of every possible product that can be sold. Instacart has an extensive Universal Catalog that includes products commonly sold across multiple retailers. For each product, Instacart uses third party sources to obtain the product's attributes at the UPC level. For example, the Universal Catalog includes different brands of milk and their associated attributes, such as images, product description, ingredients, nutritional facts, and storage directions.

When you define your catalog, you are creating a library of every possible product that can be sold at your stores. If you sell products that exist in the Universal Catalog, you don't have to include every product attribute. Instead, you can add the minimal catalog specifications, such as the price and the locations that sell the product. Instacart provides the rest. If needed, you can also override content from the Universal Catalog by including the information in your inventory file.

If you sell products that don't exist in the Universal Catalog, then you'll need to provide the product details. For example, for your own private label products, you need to provide information, such as images, size, descriptions, and nutritional facts. It is critical to maintain an accurate catalog so that your storefronts are showing the correct inventory availability and product information to your customers.

Your catalog determines the products and product information that customers see on your sites. This includes your Instacart Marketplace storefront and your e-commerce site running on Instacart Storefront or Instacart Storefront Pro.

There are two ways to share your catalog with Instacart:

• Inventory files. Create catalog inventory files and send the files to Instacart through SFTP. This method supports sending more product information than the APIs. For example, by using inventory files you can specify product claims to denote items that are gluten free.

• APIs. Use catalog APIs to send catalog information.

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  To use Catalog APIs, contact your Instacart representative.