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Version 0.1
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Using the Argos Product Service Version 0.1
1 Contents
1 CONTENTS ...................................................................................................................................... 2
2 Management summary
This document details the functionality of Argos product service, which has been developed to provide
access to the Argos product catalogue for third party concerns and intermediaries. The current product
extracts which are sent from the web application to partners, affiliates, shopping comparison sites and the
PPC agency are now several years old and are no longer fit for purpose. This has the following impact:
Conversion the poor data quality often means product feeds are not being mapped correctly to
partners and affiliate structures. This has a knock on impact on click through and conversions rates.
Sales Poor data shows the site to be uncompetitive in some engines due to the above reasons and as a
result, sales are restricted.
Search Rankings Quality of data in the feed has an impact on rankings within Google Product Search
and the potential achievable sales from this channel.
This product service is designed to replace the legacy feeds.
3 Service Overview
In order to address these issues, a standard product feed has been introduced which will comprise the
following 3 sub-services:
Core Product Service The third party will pass a product reference number and the web application will
return an XML feed containing details of the specified product.
Category Hierarchy Service The third party will pass a category identifier and the web application will
return an XML feed containing details of the category and its sub category hierarchy.
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Using the Argos Product Service Version 0.1
Category Product Service - The third party will pass a category identifier and the web application will
return an XML feed containing details of the category and its sub category hierarchy. Additionally it will
contain a list of product cat numbers underneath those categories.
where:
<pid> is the CJ Publisher Website Id
<sid> is the CJ Shopper Id
<product_id> is the 7 digit product reference number (may need to pre-pad with zeroes up to 7 characters).
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<reviewcount>2</reviewcount>
<buyurl>http://www.dpbolvw.net/click-1245-
10764890?URL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.argos.co.uk%2Fstatic%2FProduct%2FpartNumber%2F2858542.htm</buyurl>
</product>
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where:
<pid> is the CJ Publisher Website Id
<sid> is the CJ Shopper Id
<cat_id> is the (typically) 8 digit category ID.
The hierarchy service retrieves in a hierarchical structure the name and ID of the current category and those
categories which are successors (children / grandchildren) to the requested category.
5.1.2 Where the category has one or more hierarchy of child categories
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<categoryhierarchy>
<format>ArgosUK</format>
<profilename>Category Hierarchy Service</profilename>
<status>Success</status>
<date>18/04/2010</date>
<time>09:32</time>
<requesturl>http://www.uat.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/feed?storeId=10001&langId=-
1&profileName=categoryhierarchy&input=14417895</requesturl>
<cat id="14417895">
<name>Bedding and electric blankets</name>
<categories>
<cat id="14417898">
<name>Throws, blankets and bedspreads</name>
</cat>
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Using the Argos Product Service Version 0.1
<cat id="14417900">
<name>Single duvet cover sets</name>
</cat>
<cat id="14417908">
<name>Pillowcases</name>
</cat>
<cat id="14417910">
<name>Valances</name>
</cat>
<cat id="14417912">
<name>Sheets</name>
</cat>
[etc ...]
</categories>
</cat>
</categoryhierarchy>
where:
<pid> is the CJ Publisher Website Id
<sid> is the CJ Shopper Id
<cat_id> is the (typically) 8 digit category ID.
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<requesturl>http://www.uat.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/feed?storeId=10001&langId=-
1&profileName=categoryproduct&input=14344675</requesturl>
<productcount>2</productcount>
<cat id="14344675">
<name>Built in BBQs</name>
<products>
<product id="3450310" />
<product id="3455377" />
</products>
</cat>
</categoryproduct>
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referenced via this node. The category ID of each category is referenced in the
id attribute.
name Y the name of the category
products N substructure to contain references to subsidiary products where appropriate.
Each product is expressed in a <product> node.
product individual product contained within the <products> node. Product reference
number referenced in the id attribute.
categories N substructure to contain references to subsidiary categories where
appropriate. Each subcategory referenced in <cat> nodes. Each <cat> node
may theoretically contain subsidiary <categories> nodes, however this is only
likely up to level 3 (see category notes below).
cat N individual category contained within the <categories> node.
Cafetieres
Espresso coff.
Kettles
Electric cookers
Kitchen equip
Kitchen equip
The hierarchy labelled Level 3 grouping category show in the argos.co.uk dropdowns and in the left hand
browse navigation, however it is not reflected in the product services. Hence, in the example above, the first
hierarchy would read Kitchen & Laundry Coffee machines Bean to cup ... and the Kitchen level
3 grouping category, which is effectively a label, is suppressed.
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Categories typically retain their names and IDs from catalogue to catalogue, however it is possible that
category IDs will change at cat launch, particularly if there is a major reshuffle of the product hierarchy. The
intention is to keep such changes at a minimum in order decrease the negative SEO impact.
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