Feed standards and protocols
ACP, UCP, Google Merchant Center, and schema.org - how each actually works (spoiler: they are all pull-based), what format your data needs to be in, and what Merchdex generates automatically.
The Merchdex blog
Practical guides on fixing product feed issues, enriching catalogue data, measuring channel attribution, and preparing for AI-driven commerce discovery.
Enterprise retailers have teams and budgets to prepare their products for AI shopping agents. Independent merchants have had nothing - until now. This is what the gap looks like, why it matters more than most merchants realise, and exactly how to close it.
ChatGPT uses product feed files that merchants generate and host. Most Shopify merchants have not generated them - or have generated them with product data too thin to match specific buyer queries. Here is what eligibility actually requires and how to prioritise the fixes.
There are two dominant agentic commerce protocols - OpenAI's ACP and Google's UCP. They do different things and require different data. Here is what you actually need to do.
An AI Readiness Score measures how well your product data is structured for AI agent discovery. A score below 40 means you're effectively invisible to ChatGPT and Gemini shoppers.
When an AI agent gets asked for "a warm jacket for hiking in Patagonia under $250", it needs far more than your title and description. Here are the 12 attributes that determine whether it recommends you.
Most merchants getting AI-driven traffic have no idea what converts or what it's worth. Standard UTM tracking misses most of it. Here's how to measure AI channel revenue honestly.
Google Merchant Center blocks products with unsubstantiated claims. AI feed validators do the same. A 'sustainable' or 'waterproof' claim without source evidence will get your product excluded from feeds - and creates advertising compliance risk under ACCC and FTC guidance.
Google's AI Mode is now handling a significant share of shopping-intent queries. It does not surface products the same way traditional Shopping does. Here is what changed and how to adapt.
The shift from human-browsed storefronts to AI-mediated discovery is happening faster than most merchants realise. This is what the next 18 months look like - and what to prioritise.
ACP, UCP, Google Merchant Center, and schema.org - how each actually works (spoiler: they are all pull-based), what format your data needs to be in, and what Merchdex generates automatically.
What attributes AI agents need, how to generate them efficiently, and how to validate product claims before they become liabilities.
How to track AI-channel revenue honestly, why standard UTM tracking misses most of it, and what refund-adjusted reporting tells you.
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