Product feed generation for Facebook and Instagram Catalog

Generating Product Feeds for Facebook/Instagram Catalog

Meta requires feeds in CSV, TSV, or XML (RSS/Atom) format. The catalog is used in dynamic advertising (Dynamic Ads), Instagram Shopping, and Shops — three different placements with partially overlapping field requirements. One error in the price or availability field format results in rejection of the entire product batch on upload.

Required Catalog Fields

Additional Fields for Clothing and Shoes

For Apparel & Accessories category, Meta requires:

• google_product_category — numeric ID from Google taxonomy (Meta uses it)
• size — size (XL, 44, 42/34)
• color — color in target audience language
• gender — male / female / unisex
• age_group — adult / kids / newborn
• material — material (optional, but increases relevance score)

CSV Feed Generator

CSV is simpler to generate and debug than XML. Meta accepts both formats equally.

class MetaCatalogFeedGenerator
{
    private const HEADERS = [
        'id', 'title', 'description', 'availability', 'condition',
        'price', 'link', 'image_link', 'additional_image_link',
        'brand', 'google_product_category', 'color', 'size',
        'gender', 'age_group', 'sale_price', 'sale_price_effective_date',
    ];

    public function generate(string $outputPath): void
    {
        $file = fopen($outputPath, 'w');
        // Don't add BOM — Meta doesn't require it, might break parser
        fputcsv($file, self::HEADERS, "\t"); // TSV is more reliable than CSV due to commas in descriptions

        Product::with(['images', 'category', 'brand', 'variants'])
            ->where('is_active', true)
            ->chunk(200, function ($products) use ($file) {
                foreach ($products as $product) {
                    foreach ($this->expandVariants($product) as $row) {
                        fputcsv($file, $row, "\t");
                    }
                }
            });

        fclose($file);
    }

    private function expandVariants(Product $product): array
    {
        if ($product->variants->isEmpty()) {
            return [$this->buildRow($product, null)];
        }

        return $product->variants->map(
            fn($variant) => $this->buildRow($product, $variant)
        )->toArray();
    }

    private function buildRow(Product $product, ?ProductVariant $variant): array
    {
        $id    = $variant ? $product->sku . '-' . $variant->sku : $product->sku;
        $price = $variant?->price ?? $product->price;
        $stock = $variant?->stock ?? $product->stock;

        $additionalImages = $product->images->skip(1)
            ->pluck('cdn_url')
            ->take(9) // Meta allows up to 10 images
            ->implode(',');

        $salePrice = '';
        $salePriceDate = '';
        if ($product->sale_price && $product->sale_ends_at > now()) {
            $salePrice = number_format($product->sale_price, 2, '.', '') . ' RUB';
            $salePriceDate = $product->sale_starts_at->toIso8601String()
                . '/' . $product->sale_ends_at->toIso8601String();
        }

        return [
            $id,
            mb_substr($product->name . ($variant ? ' ' . $variant->name : ''), 0, 150),
            strip_tags($product->description),
            $stock > 0 ? 'in stock' : 'out of stock',
            'new',
            number_format($price, 2, '.', '') . ' RUB',
            route('products.show', $product->slug) . ($variant ? '?variant=' . $variant->id : ''),
            $product->mainImage()?->cdn_url ?? '',
            $additionalImages,
            $product->brand?->name ?? '',
            $product->google_category_id ?? '',
            $variant?->color ?? $product->color ?? '',
            $variant?->size ?? '',
            $product->gender ?? '',
            $product->age_group ?? 'adult',
            $salePrice,
            $salePriceDate,
        ];
    }
}

Setup in Business Manager

After feed generation:

1. Commerce Manager → Catalog → Data Sources → Add Data Feed
2. Specify feed URL or upload file manually
3. Select update schedule: hourly, daily, or manual
4. Assign catalog to advertising accounts

Meta provides error diagnostics in Catalog → Issues section — each product with issues is marked with problem description.

Pixel + Catalog for Dynamic Retargeting

For Dynamic Ads, feed alone is not enough — configure Meta Pixel with events:

// Product page
fbq('track', 'ViewContent', {
  content_ids: ['SKU-44231'],
  content_type: 'product',
  value: 4990.00,
  currency: 'RUB',
});

// Add to cart
fbq('track', 'AddToCart', {
  content_ids: ['SKU-44231'],
  content_type: 'product',
  value: 4990.00,
  currency: 'RUB',
});

content_ids must exactly match the id field in the catalog — otherwise matching doesn't work.