Heureka on Shopify: Connecting the XML Feed
Heureka on Shopify is one of the most important marketing channels for a Czech e-shop – and out of the box, Shopify has no Czech feed for it. Connecting Heureka means creating a proper product XML feed, enabling the Ověřeno zákazníky (Verified by Customers) program and keeping the feed up to date, so your products appear on the comparison site and bring in shoppers with high purchase intent.
In this guide, we cover what a Heureka feed involves, how to create one on Shopify, what the end of Zboží.cz means and which comparison sites make sense today as a complement. If you are still building your e-shop, follow on from our pillar article What Shopify is and how it works.
Key takeaways
- Heureka needs a product XML feed in its own format (SHOPITEM items with prices, availability and parameters).
- Shopify has no native Czech feed – the solution is an app or a custom feed generator.
- Zboží.cz has shut down (Seznam discontinued the Zboží API as of 16 March 2026) – redirect your budget and feed to Heureka and Google Shopping.
- The Ověřeno zákazníky program collects reviews and strengthens both trust and rankings.
- The feed must always be up to date – prices and availability have to sync automatically.
Table of contents
- What Heureka is and why you need a feed
- The end of Zboží.cz: what it means
- How to create a Heureka XML feed on Shopify
- Ověřeno zákazníky (Verified by Customers)
- Alternative comparison sites and channels
- What the XML feed must contain
- Step by step: launching the feed
- Google Shopping as a replacement for Zboží.cz
- How to measure the value of comparison sites
- How to improve your product rankings on Heureka
- What Heureka costs and how to plan your budget
- One feed, multiple channels
- What to watch out for
- Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
What Heureka is and why you need a feed
Heureka has long been the largest Czech price comparison site – the place where customers compare prices and reviews right before they buy. That is why it brings in visitors with very high purchase intent – people who already want to buy and are only deciding where. For your products to appear on Heureka, Heureka needs to regularly read your e-shop's XML feed – a structured file that describes each product (name, price, availability, category, parameters, image).
The feed acts as a bridge between your e-shop and the comparison site: whenever you change a price or an item sells out, the feed has to reflect it so that Heureka shows current data. An incorrect or outdated feed leads to rejected products, wrong prices and lost orders. Keeping data up to date is one of the most common places where e-shops slip up – a customer who sees a different price on the comparison site than in your e-shop loses trust and often goes to a competitor.
What's more, Heureka isn't just a price comparison site – for many customers it's the starting point of a purchase, where they look for a trustworthy e-shop with good reviews. A strong presence on Heureka therefore affects not only click-throughs but also the overall credibility of your brand. For a Czech e-shop on Shopify, a well-configured feed is one of the first things to sort out after launch.
Heureka is also about more than price comparison. Customers read reviews here, compare availability and judge how trustworthy an e-shop is before they ever buy from you for the first time. A quality feed backed by good reviews from the Ověřeno zákazníky program thus works as a gateway through which some of your best-prepared customers arrive – those who already know what they want to buy.
The end of Zboží.cz: what it means
An important change now factors into decisions about comparison sites: Seznam has discontinued the Zboží.cz service and its API (as of 16 March 2026). If you targeted Zboží.cz, you need to shift your budget and attention elsewhere. In practice, this means strengthening Heureka and Google Shopping, which today form the backbone of comparison-site and product marketing in the Czech Republic.
How to create a Heureka XML feed on Shopify
Shopify generates feeds for Google, but it doesn't support the Czech Heureka format out of the box. You have two options:
- A feed app. You can install an app from the Shopify App Store that generates a feed in the Heureka format and keeps it up to date.
- A custom feed generator. When you need full control over how categories, parameters and availability are mapped, we build a custom feed that matches your catalog and Heureka's requirements exactly.
Whichever you choose, the key is correct category and parameter mapping (CATEGORYTEXT, PARAM) and reliable price and stock updates. A clean, accurate feed is what determines whether Heureka accepts your products and displays them in the right category.
Besides generating the feed itself, ongoing testing matters too. Heureka offers a feed check that flags structural errors, missing required fields or wrongly categorized products. We recommend checking the feed after deployment and then regularly monitoring whether all products load correctly and whether prices match your e-shop. This prevents part of your range from disappearing because of a technical error. Checking the feed is a quick task that pays for itself many times over – a single uncaught error can mean an entire product line quietly vanishes from the comparison site and you lose orders without knowing why.
Ověřeno zákazníky (Verified by Customers)
Heureka includes the Ověřeno zákazníky program, which collects reviews of your e-shop after each purchase. Ratings increase shopper trust, improve your e-shop's ranking on the comparison site, and the “Ověřeno zákazníky” certificate works as a strong piece of social proof. Connecting it means passing orders to Heureka, which then asks customers for feedback – we set it up as part of the integration.
Alternative comparison sites and channels
Alongside Heureka, these channels in particular make sense today and will help you spread both risk and your sources of orders:
- Google Shopping – product ads right in Google Search, an essential channel now that Zboží.cz has ended.
- Glami – a comparison site focused on fashion and accessories, a good fit for fashion e-shops.
- Marketplaces (e.g. Allegro) – an additional sales channel, depending on your segment.
Most of them also work with a product feed, so a well-built feed can be reused across channels without much extra work – you just map the data to each platform's requirements.
What a Heureka XML feed must contain
The Heureka feed has a prescribed structure – each product is described by a SHOPITEM element with a range of data. For Heureka to accept your products and categorize them correctly, the feed must include the following information in particular:
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Product name | The exact name used to match and display the product |
| Price incl. VAT | The final price the customer sees on the comparison site |
| Availability | In stock / delivery time – must reflect reality |
| Category (CATEGORYTEXT) | Placement in Heureka's category tree |
| Parameters (PARAM) | Color, size, manufacturer and other attributes for filtering |
| Image | A high-quality main product photo |
| EAN / code | Helps with product matching |
The more complete and accurate the feed, the better your products are matched and displayed in the right categories. An incomplete feed, on the other hand, leads to rejected items or incorrect categorization, which reduces both visibility and sales.
Step by step: launching a Heureka feed
- Catalog analysis. We go through your product range and map categories and parameters to Heureka's structure.
- Feed generation. We deploy an app or a custom generator that creates the feed in the correct format.
- Registering the feed with Heureka. We add the feed URL to the Heureka admin.
- Checking and fixing errors. We verify that Heureka accepts the feed without errors and categorizes products correctly.
- Automatic updates. We set up regular feed refreshes so prices and availability stay accurate.
- Enabling Ověřeno zákazníky and connecting order handover for collecting reviews.
Google Shopping as a replacement for Zboží.cz
With Zboží.cz gone, the logical step is to strengthen Google Shopping. These are product ads that appear directly in Google Search and on the Shopping tab, and they also run on a product feed. Shopify has native support for the Google feed via the Google & YouTube channel, so connecting it is fairly straightforward.
The advantage is that well-built product data can be reused across channels – Heureka, Google Shopping and other comparison sites all work with similar data. We therefore recommend splitting the budget you previously spent on Zboží.cz between Heureka and Google Shopping and tracking which channel delivers better results for your product range.
How to measure the value of comparison sites
Comparison sites and product channels aren't just about switching on a feed – the key is knowing what they actually earn you. Set up tracking so that for each channel you can see both the cost per click and the revenue it generates. A properly implemented GA4 setup with tagged traffic sources helps here, letting you tell how many orders came from Heureka and how many from Google Shopping.
Based on the data, you then shift your budget to where it returns the most. For some e-shops Heureka performs better, for others Google Shopping – it depends on the product range and price level. Without measurement you would only be guessing; with data, you spend efficiently.
How to improve your product rankings on Heureka
Showing up on Heureka is the first step – the second is ranking higher than competing products. Your position is influenced by several factors that are largely in your hands. The key one is a competitive price, because that is mainly what shoppers compare on a comparison site. Your e-shop rating from the Ověřeno zákazníky program also plays a role – an e-shop with good reviews looks more trustworthy and gets more click-throughs.
A high-quality, complete feed with correct parameters also helps, since it makes the product appear in filters, as does in-stock availability, which Heureka takes into account. Last but not least, paid position boosts work too. In the long run, however, the best results come from a combination of a fair price, good reviews and a clean feed – things that also improve your e-shop's overall reputation.
What Heureka costs and how to plan your budget
Heureka works on a pay-per-click (CPC) basis – you pay for every customer the comparison site sends you. The cost per click varies by category and competition. When planning your budget, it's important to track how much a click costs you and how much revenue it generates; from that, you can calculate your return.
We recommend starting with a reasonable budget, tracking performance by category and product, and gradually moving money to where it returns the most. For low-margin products it makes sense to watch the cost per click more strictly, while for high-earning products it pays to invest more. With Zboží.cz gone, it's logical to direct part of the freed-up budget here and the other part to Google Shopping, and to compare the performance of both channels.
One feed, multiple channels
A big advantage of a well-built product feed is that you can use it across platforms. Heureka, Google Shopping, Glami and other comparison sites and marketplaces all work with similar product data – name, price, availability, parameters and images. Once you've created a clean and accurate feed, fine-tuning it for another channel is just a matter of mapping it to that channel's requirements.
In practice, this means it pays to invest in the quality of your e-shop's product data: structured parameters, proper descriptions and high-quality photos pay off across all channels at once. Conversely, messy data multiplies – a wrong parameter or a missing image hurts you everywhere. That's why we treat product data as the foundation on which all comparison-site and product marketing rests, not as a one-off item for a single channel.
For a Czech e-shop, the ideal combination today is Heureka plus Google Shopping, supplemented by specialized comparison sites depending on your segment. With one high-quality feed, you can manage this mix efficiently and without unnecessary duplicate work.
What to watch out for
- Feed freshness. Prices and availability must sync automatically, ideally several times a day.
- Correct categories and parameters. Wrong categorization reduces both visibility and conversion.
- Availability and delivery times. Inaccurate data leads to complaints and penalties on the comparison site.
- With Zboží.cz gone, don't forget to remove the old integration and redirect your budget.
Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
Can Shopify generate a feed for Heureka?
Not out of the box – Shopify generates a feed for Google, but the Czech Heureka format has to be added with an app or a custom feed generator.
Does Zboží.cz still work?
No. Seznam discontinued the Zboží.cz service and its API (as of 16 March 2026). We recommend moving to Heureka and Google Shopping.
How often should the feed be updated?
As often as possible – prices and availability should sync automatically, ideally several times a day, so the comparison site shows current data.
What is Ověřeno zákazníky?
A Heureka program that collects reviews of your e-shop after each purchase. It increases customer trust and improves your ranking on the comparison site.
Is Google Shopping worth it alongside Heureka?
Yes, especially now that Zboží.cz has ended. Google Shopping is a key product channel today, and a well-built feed can be used for both.
How does Heureka match products?
Heureka matches products by name, code (EAN) and other data from the feed. The more accurate and complete the data you provide, the better your products are matched and displayed in the right category.
Do I have to pay to appear on Heureka?
Heureka works on a pay-per-click (CPC) model – you pay for clicks through to your e-shop. A well-configured feed and competitive prices make sure the investment pays off.
Can the feed handle sale prices and discounts?
Yes, as long as prices sync automatically. That's why frequent feed updates are essential – the sale price on the comparison site must match the price in your e-shop.
Want Heureka on your Shopify e-shop?
We will prepare a clean XML feed for Heureka and Google Shopping, connect Ověřeno zákazníky and set up automatic updates. Take a look at our Shopify e-shop development and customization services or book a free consultation.
Sources
Author: Miroslav Volovec, CEO of 3NODE Software s.r.o. — specialists in e-shop development and integrations on the Shopify platform.
