What are two ways to populate the Marketing Cloud Personalization catalog?

The Marketing Cloud Personalization catalog can be populated and updated through two primary methods. The most common method for bulk loading and scheduled updates is the ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) feed, where a data file is imported from an SFTP server. For real-time updates, such as changes in price or inventory, the Web SDK can be used to send catalog object information directly from the website to Personalization as user interactions occur.

A. Email Pixel: The email open pixel is used to track email engagement and user identity. It does not send catalog data.

B. Third-party Integration: While other systems generate the data, Personalization ingests it via standard methods like ETL or the SDK, not through direct third-party connectors for catalog population.

1. Salesforce Help, Marketing Cloud Personalization, "Catalog". This page details the methods: "You can add items to your catalog in several ways: ... Use an ETL (extract, transform, and load) data feed to import catalog information from a file. ... Use the Salesforce Interactions SDK to send catalog updates from your website."

2. Salesforce Help, Marketing Cloud Personalization, "ETL Data Feeds". This section describes the process of using a scheduled feed to "import catalog, user, and transaction data into Personalization."