A practical guide to supplier feed formats: XML, CSV, Excel and Google Sheets

“Can you work with our feed?” is the first question every supplier relationship raises. The honest answer is that the format matters less than people fear — what matters is that the file has stable SKUs and readable columns. Here is what each common format looks like in practice.

XML feeds

An XML feed is a URL your supplier hosts, regenerated on their schedule. It is the most automation-friendly format: structured, typed, and fetchable on a timer without anyone attaching files to emails.

What goes wrong: the structure varies per supplier, so an XML feed needs to be set up once for your supplier's specific shape. After that it is the most reliable of the formats.

CSV and Excel price lists

The classic: a spreadsheet, one row per product, columns for SKU, name, price and stock. Because you map the columns yourself, any supplier's spreadsheet works — there is no “supported suppliers” list to be on.

What goes wrong, and how it is handled:

• Renamed or reordered columns. Mapping is by column, and the import wizard shows a live preview with a confidence score per field, so a changed layout is visible before it touches anything.
• Missing required fields. SKU, name and price are required. Rows without them are skipped and counted — the validation summary says exactly how many rows imported and why the rest did not. No row disappears silently.
• Prices as text, currencies, VAT. You declare the feed's currency and whether prices include VAT once, per supplier.

Google Sheets

A Google Sheet behaves like a CSV that updates itself — share the sheet as “anyone with the link” (or publish to web as CSV) and point OhoSync at it. Good for suppliers who maintain their list continuously.

The safety net under all of them

Whatever the format, the same guards run before anything is written:

• If a price moves further than your allowed band or falls below your minimum margin, that product is held back rather than published.
• If the file suddenly loses a large share of its products — a broken export, a truncated download — the whole update stops so your shop is not emptied by a bad file.

If you are unsure whether your supplier's file fits, the fastest way to find out is to load it and run a ten-product preview: the validation summary will tell you honestly.

Written by OhoSync. Questions about your own supplier feed? Send it to us and we will tell you honestly whether it fits.