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What can I include in my Merchant Promotion feed file?

Take a look at what the required and optional fields are for your Merchant Promotion feed file.
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Note

This feature is currently available in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Your feed file is a text delimited file that contains all the information needed to submit a promotion. For manual uploads, .tsv or .xml file formats are accepted. For FTP uploads (available in the United States only), .tsv, .txt, or .xml file formats are accepted. After you create a feed file, submit it to Microsoft Merchant Center.

Here are the required and optional fields you can include in the catalog feed:

Required Fields expando image
Field name Description What you need to know
promotion_id

The unique ID for the promotion.

Example:
50off

Requirements:
Alphanumeric
60-character limit

  • ID must be unique for each promotion.
  • For online promotions that apply to specific products, the promotion_id in the promotions feed must match the promotion_id in the product feed so Microsoft Advertising knows which products apply to the promotion.
  • Spaces or symbols (for example, $ or %) are not allowed.
  • Values must be separated by commas.
product_applicability

Indicates if the promotion is applicable to all products or specific products.

Valid values:
ALL_PRODUCTS
SPECIFIC_PRODUCTS

  • If the promotion is only applicable to specific products, the promotion_id column must be present in the product feeds. This is to ensure that the promotion is mapped to the right products.
  • If the promotion applies to all products, the promotion_id does not need to be added in the products feed.
offer_type

Indicates if there is a code or not.

Valid values:
NO_CODE
GENERIC_CODE

  • This determines if the coupon code is required to redeem the offer.
  • A GENERIC_CODE is a code that is the same for all users.
long_title

The full title of the promotion.

Example:
Extra 50% off shoes

Requirements:
60-character limit

promotion_effective_dates

Date and time that the promotion will be live on Bing.com.

Example:
2016-07-07T01:00:00-08:00/2016-08-07T01:00:00-08:00

Requirements:
Format is Start-Date-Time/End-Date-Time

  • The promotion must be live on your website to be live on Bing.com.
  • Separate the start and end date with a forward slash (/).
  • The start and end date format is: (YYYY-MM-DD), followed by the letter T, then the time of day when the promotion starts, followed by the time zone expression as defined by the ISo 8601 standard. For example:

    If you want your promotion to run from 1:00 p.m. on July 7, 2016, to 1:00 p.m. on August 7, 2016 (Pacific Standard Time), you would submit: 2016_07-07T13:00:00-08:00/2016-08-07T13:00:00-08:00.

    If you want your promotion to run from 1:00 p.m. on July 7, 2016, to 1:00 p.m. on August 7, 2016 (Greenwich Mean Time), you would submit: 2016_07-07T13:00:00-00:00/2016-08-07T13:00:00-00:00.

    If you want your promotion to run from 1:00 p.m. on July 7, 2016, to 1:00 p.m. on August 7, 2016 (Eastern Standard Time), you would submit: 2016_07-07T13:00:00-05:00/2016-08-07T13:00:00-05:00.
redemption_channel

Indicates if the promotion is online.

Valid value:
ONLINE

Optional Fields expando image
Field name Description What you need to know
generic_redemption_code

The text code that customers use online.

Example:
EXTRA50

Requirements:
Alphanumeric
60-character limit

  • This code is provided only when offer_type has a value of GENERIC_CODE.
promotion_display_dates

Date and time that the promotion will be live on Bing.com that falls within the promotion_effective_dates.

Example:
2016-07-07T01:00:00-08:00/2016-08-07T01:00:00-08:00

Requirements:
Format is Start-Date-Time/End-Date-Time

  • This can be used with promotion_effective_date to validate promotions before they are active.
  • Separate the start and end date with a forward slash (/).
  • The start and end date format is: (YYYY-MM-DD), followed by the letter T, then the time of day when the promotion starts, followed by the time zone expression as defined by the ISo 8601 standard. For example:

    If you want your promotion to run from 1:00 p.m. on July 7, 2016, to 1:00 p.m. on August 7, 2016 (Pacific Standard Time), you would submit: 2016_07-07T13:00:00-08:00/2016-08-07T13:00:00-08:00.

    If you want your promotion to run from 1:00 p.m. on July 7, 2016, to 1:00 p.m. on August 7, 2016 (Greenwich Mean Time), you would submit: 2016_07-07T13:00:00-00:00/2016-08-07T13:00:00-00:00.

    If you want your promotion to run from 1:00 p.m. on July 7, 2016, to 1:00 p.m. on August 7, 2016 (Eastern Standard Time), you would submit: 2016_07-07T13:00:00-05:00/2016-08-07T13:00:00-05:00.
microsoft_exclusive

This allows you to indicate to potential customers that your promotional code is only available on the Microsoft Search Network (Bing, AOL, and Yahoo).

Valid values:
0 or 1

  • Enter 1 as the value for this field to indicate that your promotion is only available on the Microsoft Search Network. Otherwise, enter 0.
coupon_value_type

Indicates the type of promotion that you would like to offer potential customers.

Valid values:
MONEY_OFF
PERCENT_OFF
FREE_GIFT
FREE_GIFT_WITH_VALUE
FREE_SHIPPING_STANDARD
FREE_SHIPPING_OVERNIGHT
FREE_SHIPPING_TWO_DAY

  • MONEY_OFF indicates that you are offering a monetary discount. You must provide the MONEY_OFF_AMOUNT, and optionally, MINIMUM_PURCHASE_AMOUNT.
  • PERCENT_OFF indicates that you are offering a percentage discount. You must provide the PERCENT_OFF discount percentage, and optionally, the MINIMUM_PURCHASE_AMOUNT.
  • FREE_GIFT indicates that you are offering a free gift. You must provide the FREE_GIFT_DESCRIPTION or FREE_GIFT_ITEM_ID, and optionally, MINIMUM_PURCHASE_AMOUNT and BUY_THIS_QUANTITY.
  • FREE_GIFT_WITH_VALUE indicates that you are offering a free gift and that you will showcase your free gift’s value to potential customers. You must provide the FREE_GIFT_VALUE, and optionally, MINIMUM_PURCHASE_AMOUNT and BUY_THIS_QUANTITY.
  • FREE_SHIPPING_STANDARD indicates that you are offering free standard shipping. You can optionally provide the MINIMUM_PURCHASE_AMOUNT and BUY_THIS_QUANTITY.
  • FREE_SHIPPING_OVERNIGHT indicates that you are offering free overnight shipping. You can optionally provide the MINIMUM_PURCHASE_AMOUNT and BUY_THIS_QUANTITY.
  • FREE_SHIPPING_TWO_DAY indicates that you are offering free two-day shipping. You can optionally provide the MINIMUM_PURCHASE_AMOUNT and BUY_THIS_QUANTITY.
minimum_purchase_amount

The minimum amount of purchase for the promotion to be applicable.

Example:
15 USD

Requirements:
Numerical
No symbols (for example, $)

  • Only currencies in the specified country/region are supported.
  • This attribute is optional for MONEY_OFF, PERCENT_OFF, FREE_GIFT, FREE_GIFT_WITH_VALUE, FREE_SHIPPING_STANDARD, FREE_SHIPPING_OVERNIGHT, and FREE_SHIPPING_TWO_DAY.
money_off_amount

The discount amount that you are offering.

Example:
15 USD

Requirements:
Must be a number and must specify currency

  • This attribute is required if you have entered MONEY_OFF as the value for COUPON_VALUE_TYPE.
percent_off

Indicates the percentage discount offered in the promotion.

Example:
10

Requirements:
Must be an integer

  • This attribute is required if you have entered PERCENT_OFF as the value for COUPON_VALUE_TYPE.
free_gift_description

Indicates the description (but not the value) of any free gift offered in the promotion.

Example:
Free tote bag with $100 purchase

Requirements:
Should not exceed 100 characters

  • Only use FREE_GIFT_DESCRIPTION when the free gift is not in your Merchant Center store catalog feed. Otherwise, enter the product ID in the FREE_GIFT_ITEM_ID field.
free_gift_item_id

The free gift item’s unique identifier in your Merchant Center store feed file.

Example:
ISI1

Requirements:
50 Unicode character limit

free_gift_value

Indicates the monetary value of the free gift offered in the promotion.

Example:
50 USD

Requirements:
Must be a number and must specify currency

  • This attribute is required if you have entered FREE_GIFT_WITH_VALUE as the value for COUPON_VALUE_TYPE.
buy_this_quantity

The minimum quantity of purchased products required for the promotion to be applicable.

Example:
10

Requirements:
Must be an integer

  • This attribute is optional for FREE_GIFT, FREE_SHIPPING_STANDARD, FREE_SHIPPING_OVERNIGHT, and FREE_SHIPPING_TWO_DAY.
free_shipping_type

Indicates the type of free shipping that you are offering.

Valid values:
FREE_SHIPPING_STANDARD
FREE_SHIPPING_OVERNIGHT
FREE_SHIPPING_TWO_DAY

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