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Your product feed isn't just backend plumbing anymore. It's the foundation that determines whether your products can be found, clicked, and purchased across every performance channel that matters.
But here's where most marketers get confused: there are two completely different types of tools that work with your feed, and they couldn't be more different in purpose or value.
Feed management tools and feed enrichment tools are often mentioned together, but they solve fundamentally different problems.
One handles the technical logistics of translating and transporting your data everywhere it needs to go. The other transforms that data into something that actually converts. Most brands need both, but until recently, that meant juggling multiple platforms, monthly fees, and disconnected workflows.
Let's break down what each type of tool actually does—and why the top brands are looking for solutions that do both.
Feed management tools are the technical backbone of ecommerce. They handle the important-but-unglamorous work of getting your product data formatted correctly, distributed everywhere it needs to go, and kept in sync when things change.
Think of them as the "plumbing" that connects your store to the rest of the digital world.
Here's what should frustrate most brands–feed management tools have quietly become a "hidden tax" of doing business online.
Want to group SKUs for better Meta ad targeting? That's $49/month. Need to edit Google Shopping titles without breaking your Shopify store? That's $79/month. Running localized pricing across different markets? You'll need the $149/month plan. And if you want help actually setting it up? Add another zero.
As Marpipe CEO Dan Pantelo puts it: "Most of these apps are just rent-seeking. They don't offer strategic value. They exist because there's friction, and they charge you to fix it."
The technology isn't complex—it's essentially a spreadsheet with live syncing capabilities. But until recently, there haven't been any good alternatives, so brands quietly accept these monthly fees as the cost of doing business.
Feed enrichment tools approach product feeds from a completely different angle: creative performance and customer engagement.
Rather than focusing on distribution and technical compliance, they enhance your existing product data to make it more compelling, discoverable, and conversion-friendly. They're the difference between a basic product listing and an ad that actually stops the scroll.
Most product feeds are written for product pages, not advertising. Descriptions are too long, titles are too technical, and images are just standard product shots. When that data gets pushed into ad platforms, the results look generic, boring, and easy to scroll past.
Feed enrichment tools solve this by making your product data ad-ready, not just platform-compliant. They help your products stand out in feeds, tell better stories, and actually convert browsers into buyers.
Here's the thing: the most successful ecommerce brands don't choose between technical management and creative optimization. They do both, and they do them well.
It's not enough to just get your products listed correctly anymore. Those products also need to stand out, engage customers, and actually convert in today's hyper-competitive digital landscape.
Feed management gets you in the game. Feed enrichment helps you win it.
The challenge has always been that these capabilities lived in completely separate tools, with separate workflows, separate monthly fees, and separate teams managing them.
That's led to disconnected processes where technical accuracy and creative performance operate in silos. The best-performing brands have figured out how to bridge this gap—and increasingly, they're looking for platforms that do both without the usual compromises.
While most platforms focus on either management or enrichment, Marpipe built something different–a unified platform that handles both feed management and feed enrichment without forcing you to choose.
Instead of juggling multiple tools, monthly fees, and disconnected workflows, you get one platform that turns clean feed data into performance-ready campaigns. Your product information flows seamlessly from technical management to creative optimization, all in one place.
As Pantelo explains: "Your product feed is your source of truth, but it's only valuable if it's connected to creative and performance. Most tools stop at formatting. We built Marpipe to close that loop."
Feed management used to be a necessary expense—technical, disconnected from marketing results, and surprisingly expensive for what it delivered. Feed enrichment was often an afterthought, something brands tackled only after they'd grown large enough to justify separate creative tools.
That's changing fast.
The best brands now treat their product feeds like creative infrastructure.They don't accept the "hidden tax" of overpriced management tools, and they don't settle for generic-looking catalog ads that blend into the background.
The future belongs to brands that can move quickly, test effectively, and scale creative production without burning out their teams. That requires tools that handle both the technical foundation and the creative execution—seamlessly, affordably, and in one unified workflow.
Ready to see the difference?
Marpipe's free feed management tool gets you started immediately—no credit card, no usage limits, no fine print. Just full functionality from day one, with the option to unlock creative automation features as you grow.
Because your product feed should work as hard as the rest of your marketing stack.
Start with Marpipe’s free Feed Management tool
