02Catalog
Data quality: the catalog checkup
What blocks publishing, what is missing and what differs across channels.
Data quality reviews one channel at a time and grades the catalog out of 100. It reads what is really on that channel and separates what blocks publishing from what just gets in the way. Some problems Koalab leaves fixed for you to approve; others you fix yourself.
Choose which channel you are looking at
If you have more than one catalog, at the top there is one tab per catalog: «Shared catalog» and each independent catalog. The «Channel» dropdown picks which one you review; with a single channel, it does not appear. Under the title you see the channel's name, its platform, its catalog and its role. The line below says when the channel was read («read 17h ago») and how many products it has: what you see is what is on the channel, not what Koalab says. If after that read you published, linked or corrected products, or the read is more than a day old, a notice above the score offers «Run again». If the channel has no review yet, you see «This channel hasn't been reviewed yet» with «Run the review»; if your catalog is empty, «Import my catalog».
Read the scoreboard
On the left, «Catalog status» and a number «out of 100». Below, the bars of the last six results —a review that gives the same as the previous one adds no bar— and the trend, if it changed: «Up 4 points over the last 6 checkups». On the right, the same in words: how many products cannot be published as they are and how many have data that will get in the way. If all that is left are differences with Koalab, it says so: «N products on this channel don’t hold what Koalab says». «All good!» only appears when there are neither problems nor differences.
Mock-up: the scoreboard with its trend and the three bands of problems Three bands, in order
Problems come in three bands. «Blocks publishing»: «Missing SKU», «Duplicate SKU», «Empty or zero price», «Negative price» and «Negative stock». «Missing data»: «Sale ≥ regular price», «Missing name» and «No category». «Can be improved», marked «blocks nothing»: «Missing cost», which only appears if you use costs. The blocker with the most products opens on its own. A channel having a price or stock different from Koalab's also lowers the grade, but that shows in «Different across channels» (step 8).
Open a problem and look at the products
When you open a problem, the list of affected products appears with SKU, Product, Price and Sale. Click a row to open the product in Koalab; the ones not yet in Koalab show «Not imported». The list shows up to 500 products per problem, and «Export the N» downloads that problem's Excel with all the affected products (up to 50,000; if it hits the cap, it tells you).
What Koalab fixes and what is on you
«Fix in review» only appears on two problems: «Sale ≥ regular price» (it proposes emptying the sale) and «Negative stock» (it proposes setting stock to zero). It takes you to «Review changes» with the before and after. Check each row: if the error is in the regular price and not the sale, change the value there. Nothing reaches a channel until you click «Apply or schedule N» and confirm. The rest you fix yourself: Koalab cannot make up an empty price or a missing SKU.
Export everything to Excel
«Export everything to Excel» downloads the products with problems from the first two bands in the same sheet as «Upload a list»: one row per product, with Koalab's prices and stock, the reference columns and a «Problems (not uploaded)» column that is only for reading. Fix the file and upload it in «Upload a list» without mapping anything. If a product on the channel is not in your catalog, it does not come in the file and it tells you: look for it in «Unmatched». SKU, name and category are fixed on each product.
Read the channel again
«Run again» does not reanalyze the old snapshot: it downloads the channel's catalog again, so it takes a while —the button says «Reading the channel…»—. It can be done once every 6 hours, or after 15 minutes if since the last read you published, linked or corrected that channel's products in Koalab. If the server holds you back, the notice says how long is left. Fix things in Koalab: open the product from the list, change the data and save; the change reaches the channel. If you fix it in the store, depending on the channel's role it may wait in «Pending approval» or be changed back the next time Koalab writes that product. Rereading the channel is for those who can edit.
See what each channel holds differently from Koalab
Only in «Shared catalog». «Different across channels» compares each channel with Koalab —not channels with each other— and takes the channel's price rules into account: with −10 % on Mercado Libre, 450 against 500 is not a difference, and 500.00 and 500 are the same price. At the top goes the summary, for example «1 stock difference · 0 price». Below, one block per product with what differs («BUZ-GR · Stock — Koalab: 38») and each channel with its value and its likely cause: a sale that has not reached Koalab yet, a manual change on the channel, a rejected write, a change that was never written or one waiting in «Pending approval». What is not published does not count, and paused channels are not compared. If everything matches: «Your channels hold what Koalab says».
Mockup: «Different across channels» with one stock difference, its cause and its actions Fix a difference
If you can edit, each channel that differs has its buttons. «Send again» sends Koalab's value to that channel, with its rules, its alerts and its row in Movements; if the stock was reported by the channel and is lower than Koalab's, it asks you first, because it could undo a sale. «Use the channel’s value» only appears for a stock the channel itself reported, when that channel shows the catalog's full stock: it leaves it in «Pending approval», and once approved Koalab and the other channels take it. For a price there is no channel value to use: Koalab only knows the one it wrote. If the change is already waiting in «Pending approval», the button is «Review in Pending approval».
On Mercado Libre: the missing attributes
If the channel you review is Mercado Libre, at the top «Missing attributes for Mercado Libre» appears when there are products to publish that Mercado Libre would hold back: one line per attribute («Brand», «Strap brand»…) with how many products. It uses the same check as «Publish the N» and does not count toward the grade. «Fill in bulk» takes you to complete them all at once.
Details worth knowing
- The check reviews product data as it is on the channel, not each channel's own rules: a product without a SKU or a category is so for all of them. The exception is Mercado Libre's required attributes, which are counted apart. Whatever else a channel does not accept is checked before publishing there.
- The dropdown only lists connected channels: a disconnected channel has nowhere to read or write.
- As long as you do not close the browser tab, the screen remembers the last channel you looked at and reopens on it.