Skip to main content

Retailer catalog

Your retailer catalog is 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, and the Universal Catalog provides the rest. If needed, you can override some of the Universal Catalog details by including those details in your inventory file.

You define your catalog by creating a catalog inventory file and uploading it to Instacart through the designated SFTP server. Your catalog controls the products that appear on your storefronts. In addition, your catalog is used by Instacart Shopper App to recommend replacement items when a shopper can't find a customer-requested item.

Set up your catalog​

If this is your first time setting up a catalog for your storefront, your Instacart representative will explain requirements during onboarding.

Your representative covers the following information:

Display different products at different store locations​

Many retailers have multiple store locations in different regions. Some products might have different details across stores, such as price, sales, promotions, and availability.

You have the following options for setting unique product details across multiple stores:

  • Create an inventory file for each store and upload the files in separate SFTP subdirectories. There must be a one-to-one relationship between the number of files and the number of stores.
  • Create and upload a single inventory file that contains the data for all stores. Define the store-specific product details on separate rows and use the location_code column to identify the store.

If a customer changes stores during their session, Instacart automatically updates the catalog to reflect accurate product availability and pricing for the new store.

Maintain your product catalog​

After your initial catalog is configured, you can add, update, or delete products by using any of the following options:

  • Upload an updated inventory file to the SFTP server. For more information, see Catalog inventory file.
  • Use Instacart Platform Portal. In the Portal, you can update one product at a time and edit some of the product details. For more information, see Manage product details.

Update your product details as frequently as your pricing and availability changes. It's recommended that you update at least once a day. Instacart continuously updates your catalog.

For more information about the catalog and setting up your inventory file, see the Catalog documentation.

Last updated on