Catalog and products

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 override some content from the Universal Catalog by including the information in your inventory file. You can also organize products into the appropriate collections.

In addition to displaying products in your storefronts, Instacart uses your catalog to help shoppers when they can't find a requested item. Shoppers can suggest a replacement item from your catalog.

Configuration

For more information about the catalog and setting up your inventory file, see Catalog. If this is your first time setting up a catalog, your Instacart representative will explain requirements during onboarding.