Explore the seamless integration of Shopify with Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) using Magic XPI for efficient business operations.
Why EDI2XML?
With more than twenty years of experience in EDI integration, EDI2XML offers a wealth of specialized knowledge that enriches the functionalities of Magic xpi, enabling comprehensive integration and streamlined operations. Explore the transformative potential of combining EDI2XML‘s expertise with Magic xpi to optimize your business procedures, promoting efficiency and success in today’s ever-evolving market environment.
Understanding EDI and Its Benefits for E-commerce
What is EDI?
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is a digital communication method that allows businesses to exchange data via electronic means.
Why use it in E-commerce?
In the context of e-commerce, EDI is particularly beneficial for several reasons:
Efficiency: By automating data exchange, EDI reduces the need for manual entry, thereby saving time and resources.
Speed: EDI enables real-time processing of transactions, which can significantly speed up business cycles.
Cost Savings: EDI can lead to substantial cost savings by reducing the use of paper, storage space, and administrative effort.
Accuracy: The automation of data transfer through EDI minimizes the risk of errors, leading to improved data quality.
Competitive Advantage: The ability to process transactions faster and more accurately can enhance customer satisfaction and boost a business’s reputation.
EDI offers a range of benefits that can enhance the operations of an e-commerce business, making it a valuable tool in today’s digital marketplace.
Introduction to Shopify and Its Integration Capabilities
Shopify is a leading e-commerce platform that allows businesses to create online stores and sell products. It’s known for its user-friendly interface, making it accessible even to those without technical expertise. But what sets Shopify apart is its robust integration capabilities.
It can seamlessly connect with various third-party applications, such as:
Inventory management systems
Customer relationship management tools
Marketing automation software.
This means business owners can manage different aspects of their operations from a single platform. These integrations not only simplify the management of an online store but also enhance its functionality, providing a better shopping experience for customers. Therefore, Shopify is a powerful tool for business owners looking to establish or expand their online presence.
The Role of Magic XPI in Streamlining Shopify-EDI Integration
Magic xpi is a powerful and versatile integration platform designed to facilitate the seamless connection of various software systems and data sources within an organization. In the context of e-commerce, Magic xpi stands out by streamlining business operations, automating data exchange, and enhancing customer experiences, thereby unlocking the full potential of e-commerce.
Magic xpi is a versatile integration platform that allows you to connect Shopify with various EDI systems smoothly. It acts as a bridge, facilitating the smooth exchange of data between the two platforms. With Magic XPI, business owners can automate the transfer of data such as orders, inventory updates, and shipping details from Shopify to their EDI system and vice versa.
This automation reduces manual data entry, minimizes errors, and speeds up business processes. As a result, businesses can operate more efficiently, fulfill orders faster, and provide a better customer experience.
Drop shipping and EDI integration (Why Do You Need EDI if You Have a Shopify Store?)
If you’re running a Shopify store, you might wonder why you need EDI integration for drop shipping. Here’s the deal: EDI, or Electronic Data Interchange, is a system that allows different software to talk to each other. In the context of drop shipping, it means your Shopify store can communicate directly with your suppliers’ systems. When a customer places an order, the details are automatically sent to the supplier who then ships the product to the customer.
This automation eliminates the need for manual data entry, reducing errors and speeding up the order fulfillment process. So, even though Shopify is a powerful platform, integrating EDI can take your drop shipping business to the next level by enhancing efficiency and accuracy.
Apps vs Managed EDI Service
When it comes to electronic data interchange (EDI), you have two main options: apps or managed services. Apps, like those you can add to your Shopify store, can handle basic EDI tasks. They’re user-friendly and often affordable, making them a good choice for small businesses or those new to EDI. However, they may lack advanced features and scalability.
On the other hand, a managed EDI service takes care of all your EDI needs for you. This includes not just the technology, but also handling setup, maintenance, updates, and troubleshooting. While this option might cost more, it provides a comprehensive solution that can be adapted as your business grows.
Enhancing Business Efficiency and Growth through Shopify-EDI Integration
In conclusion, integrating Shopify with EDI can significantly enhance business efficiency and growth by streamlining operations, improving data accuracy, and fostering stronger business relationships.
EDI2XML plays a pivotal role in this integration, offering a robust, flexible, and cost-effective solution that can be tailored to your specific business needs. By leveraging our services, businesses can establish and boost their performance, thereby gaining a competitive edge in the market.
If you’re interested in exploring how EDI2XML can transform your business operations, we invite you to book a free consultation with our experts.
Let us help you unlock your business’s full potential.
https://www.edi2xml.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/EDI2XML-shopify-integration-with-EDI-using-Magic-xpi.jpg6751200Tatyana Vandichhttps://www.edi2xml.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/edi2xml.com-EDI2XML-company-logo.pngTatyana Vandich2024-04-16 12:15:332024-04-30 08:41:27Shopify Integration with EDI using Magic xpi
Even before Shopify arrived on the e-commerce scene in 2006, our company EDI2XML already had solid experience in e-commerce integration.
We have helped companies in a variety of industries improve inventory management and operational efficiency.
Since then, our experience includes many successful e-commerce integration projects, and our passion for e-commerce remains unwavering.
Today, we’ll delve into a topic that’s exceptionally relevant for all Shopify store owners: inventory management.
The Essential of All Shopify Stores: Inventory Management
At its core, Shopify Inventory is about managing stock levels, tracking SKUs, and ensuring seamless order fulfillment.
Your inventory is not a static object. It constantly changes with each order or new arrival of goods. In Shopify, you need to get real-time information about inventory levels. Guessing games or manual reconciliations have caused a lot of problems for many businesses who haven’t gotten their inventory management right.
That is why, effective inventory management is crucial for customer satisfaction, sales, and overall business success.
Stock and Inventory Organization ERP vs Shopify Practices
Shopify store owners employ various strategies to organize their inventory efficiently. Let’s explore how ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems like Oracle NetSuite ERP, SAP Business One, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Sage Intacct etc. handle inventory organization and management, drawing parallels with Shopify practices:
Collections and Sub-Collections:
While Shopify uses collections and sub-collections to group related products, ERP systems often organize inventory using categories or product hierarchies.
ERP categories allow businesses to group items based on attributes such as product type, brand, or department.
Sub-collections in Shopify align with ERP subcategories or nested product hierarchies.
Product Management and Variants:
ERP systems provide robust tools for managing product details, including descriptions, images, and pricing.
Similar to Shopify variants, ERP systems handle product variations (e.g., different sizes, colors) within a single product record.
ERP variants allow specifying unique inventory quantities for each variation.
Barcode Scanning:
Both Shopify and ERP systems benefit from barcode scanning.
ERP solutions integrate with handheld scanners, mobile apps, or RFID tags to track inventory movements.
Barcode scanning streamlines stock intake, sales, and restocking processes.
Advanced Features in ERP:
ERP systems go beyond Shopify by offering additional features:
Demand Forecasting: ERP predicts future inventory needs based on historical data and market trends.
Multi-Warehouse Management: ERP handles inventory across multiple locations or warehouses.
Serial and Batch Tracking: ERP tracks individual items using serial numbers or batch codes.
ERP integrates inventory management with broader business functions such as finance, procurement, and manufacturing.
It ensures a holistic view of operations, from raw materials to finished goods.
Customization and Scalability:
ERP systems are highly customizable to fit specific business needs.
As companies grow, ERP scales seamlessly to accommodate increased inventory complexity.
What are Common Inventory Management Challenges for Shopify Owners?
Inventory management is crucial for e-commerce businesses to efficiently track, organize, and control their product stock. Based on our many years of experience working with various companies (both small startups that are just starting their business and large companies that have owned a Shopify store for many years), we’ve identified several key challenges associated with Shopify inventory management.
Manual Inventory Management
Some Shopify owners may rely on manual methods for inventory management, which are prone to errors and inefficiencies, especially as the business scales.
Overselling and Stockouts
Inaccurate inventory tracking or manual errors can lead to overselling (selling more products than available) or stockouts (running out of stock) which can result in frustrated customers and lost sales.
Inventory Synchronization
If you sell across multiple channels (e.g., Shopify, Amazon, eBay), ensuring accurate inventory synchronization can be challenging. Discrepancies in stock levels across platforms can lead to fulfillment issues and customer dissatisfaction.
Complex Product Variants
Managing inventory for products with numerous variants (e.g., size, color, style) can be complex and time-consuming.
Inventory Storage and Fulfillment
Efficiently managing inventory storage and fulfillment processes, including picking, packing, and shipping orders, requires careful planning and optimization to minimize costs and streamline operations.
Some of these problems can be solved by using Shopify’s built-in features and public applications, but in our experience, using custom third-party integrations greatly improves efficiency and accuracy, especially for growing and ever-changing businesses.
Shopify Inventory Management Options: Built-in Tools vs. Integrating with ERP
When it comes to Shopify inventory management, choosing between built-in tools and integration with your ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system is a crucial decision.
The choice depends on your business model, scalability, and existing infrastructure.
New businesses embarking on their e-commerce journey often face the decision of how to manage inventory effectively. Often they start with Shopify’s native tools, but as they evolve, ERP integrations become more appealing.
For companies that already have an ERP system in place, integrating with a Shopify store provides many benefits. Again, here companies with an existing ERP system can choose from two main approaches: use ready-made public app or use the services of a third-party integration provider for custom integration completed just for you.
Let’s explore the Shopify build-in inventory tool, as well as the Integration with ERP via public app and custom integrations with third-party providers.
Shopify’s native inventory tracking system is reliable for most new, small businesses. It provides real-time updates on stock levels, preventing overselling and stockouts.
Advantages:
Ease of Use: It’s straightforward to set up and manage within the Shopify admin.
Cost-Effective: No additional fees for using Shopify’s built-in tracking.
Centralized Solution: Integrated seamlessly with other Shopify features.
Limitations:
Scalability: As your business grows, these tools might become less robust. Moreover, for medium-size and large enterprises or complex multi-channel operations, Shopify’s native system may lack advanced features.
Customization: Limited customization options for specific business needs.
Standard Features: Built-in tools may not cover all advanced inventory management needs.
Customization: Limited flexibility for unique requirements.
Shopify Ready-Made Public Apps vs Custom Integration with Third-Party Integration Provider
Here’s a comparison of using a public app for integration versus opting for custom integration with third-party providers:
Customization and Tailored Solutions:
Public App: Public apps offer standardized solutions with predefined features and functionalities. While they provide convenience and quick setup, they may lack the ability to fully customize the integration to fit specific business needs.
Custom Integration with Third-Party Provider: Custom integrations with third-party providers allow for tailor-made solutions that can be precisely customized to meet the unique requirements of the business.
This level of customization ensures that the integration aligns closely with the business’s workflows, processes, and objectives, potentially leading to more efficient and profitable outcomes.
Scalability and Flexibility:
Public App: Public apps are designed to be scalable and accessible to businesses of all sizes. However, they may have limitations in terms of scalability and flexibility, particularly as the business grows or requires more advanced features.
Custom Integration with Third-Party Provider: Custom integrations offer greater scalability and flexibility, allowing businesses to adapt and evolve the integration as their needs change over time. This scalability ensures that the integration remains effective and efficient, supporting the business’s growth and expansion while maximizing profitability.
Cost-Effectiveness and ROI:
Public App: Public apps generally offer affordable pricing plans, including free options with basic features and premium plans with advanced functionalities. While they provide value for businesses with limited budgets, the return on investment (ROI) may vary depending on the specific needs and requirements of the business.
Custom Integration with Third-Party Provider: Custom integrations may involve higher upfront costs due to development expenses. However, the potential for a higher ROI exists as the integration can be tailored to deliver specific business outcomes, such as increased efficiency, productivity, and profitability. By investing in a custom integration with a third-party provider, businesses can potentially achieve greater long-term value and competitive advantage.
Competitive Advantage and Differentiation:
Public App: Public apps offer standardized solutions that are accessible to all businesses using the same platform. While they provide essential functionalities, they may not offer unique features or capabilities.
Custom Integration with Third-Party Provider: Custom integrations enable businesses to differentiate themselves from competitors by implementing unique features, workflows, and capabilities that are tailored to their specific needs and objectives. This competitive advantage can help businesses stand out in the market, attract more customers, and ultimately drive profitability.
Benefits of Custom ERP integration with Shopify
Custom integrations require technical expertise and development time, but the benefits far outweigh the initial investment. Let’s explore why this integration is crucial:
Streamlined Business Processes:
Custom integrations between ERP and Shopify allow you to tailor the connection to match your specific workflows.
Automate processes such as order management, inventory control, and fulfillment.
Minimize manual data input and enhance workflow efficiency throughout your entire business.
Increased Data Accuracy:
Real-time synchronization ensures that data remains consistent between systems.
Eliminate discrepancies caused by manual transfers.
A better decision can be made with accurate inventory information, pricing, and product information.
Better Inventory Management:
ERP integration provides real /or near real-time inventory counts across your stores and warehouses.
Continually updated inventory levels prevent stockouts and overselling.
Improved Customer Experience:
Real-time access to order status, inventory levels, and delivery information.
Customers receive accurate information promptly.
Enhanced Efficiency and Productivity:
Automation reduces manual tasks, allowing your team to focus on strategic activities.
Increased efficiency translates to higher productivity and cost savings.
Advanced Reporting and Insights:
Combined data from ERP and Shopify enables comprehensive reporting.
Analyze sales trends, inventory velocity, and financial performance.
Make informed decisions based on data-driven insights.
Conclusion: How to Master Shopify Inventory Management
Eventually, the decision between built-in Shopify applications or integrations with ERP depends on your specific business requirements, and long-term goals. For simple inventory management needs and smaller businesses, built-in Shopify applications may suffice.
However, if you want better inventory management, investing in a custom integration may be the better option for long-term scalability and competitiveness.
Collaboration with experienced integration provider like EDI2XML to build a robust connection between your ERP and Shopify.
We at EDI2XML are committed to helping companies improve their e-commerce businesses.
Our experts are ready to help. Book a free consultation to discuss your goals, challenges, and vision for your e-commerce business. Feel free to schedule a convenient time with us through our calendar or reach out via the contact form below. We look forward to helping you succeed in your e-commerce journey!
During the COVID-19 pandemic situation, companies worldwide have shifted their business mostly to their eCommerce front, to stay the course and become effective, given the worldwide safety and restrictions. It is no secret that this kind of business shift positively affected eCommerce platform providers such as Shopify, Big Commerce, WooCommerce, Magento, and others in the marketplace.
Considering Shopify is the one of the top 5 major players in the eCommerce market in North America, we frequently get this question from clients and contacts, when discussion integration projects between Shopify and ERP/CRM:
“What is the best option to integrate the Shopify eCommerce store, is it to do it through any public app in the marketplace or through the private app?“
While this question is very generic, I will try to keep my explanation simple, with an emphasis on the pros and cons of both integration options. All this is based on our proven expertise in ERP integration to eCommerce platforms and other systems; Let me start by putting some definitions.
Shopify is a Canadian eCommerce platform company based in Ottawa (Canada), with a revenue of less than little less 3 billion US dollars as of 2020. Shopify is servicing companies and users around the globe, in providing a stable, intuitive, and solid eCommerce platform for eCommerce business.
For more information about Shopify as a company or offerings, you can always check their website
Companies of all sizes in today’s business reality are becoming very agile in using different means to process sales transactions and generate revenues. As an example, a typical company today in the service or retail industry will have several means to receive orders:
1. through a phone call where consumers or even B2B clients might call in, to place orders.
2. through the exchange of electronic business documents (EDI) a typical protocol mainly used by large retailers and distribution (B2B)
3. through one or multiple consumer based (B2C) eCommerce sites.
As you notice, there are different channels or protocols to communicate sales orders for that same company, which are typically through different systems (ERP, CRM, eCommerce site) and having their ERP as the main business system.
The process to consolidate all orders received from all the different sources, into one destination system (ERP or CRM), is called “integration”.
Having an integration and synchronization between an eCommerce site based on any of the known platforms of the marketplace (i.e. WooCommerce, Shopify, Big Commerce, Magento,…), and the ERP / CRM system of an enterprise (i.e. SAP, Oracle JDE, Microsoft Dynamics,….), will improve efficiency and productivity, and most importantly offer a better customer experience to their clients.
Shopify offers several options to allow integration between an eCommerce site on its platform and other third-party systems, they are offered under two models:
a) Public Shopify apps
b) Private Shopify apps
both options are available for all Shopify subscribers. Let’s drill down and describe the difference between both integration options
Those types of applications (or apps) are most of the time activated per instance of Shopify, from within Shopify marketplace. Those apps can be purchased through a subscription paid annually or monthly, in return of its use.
Here are some of the characteristics of Shopify public apps:
Public apps are publicly available on Shopify marketplace. They are sometimes developed by Shopify team, or a certified Shopify partner or developer.
Most of the times, such apps do execute one and only one functionality (for example reading an inventory feed and updating the SKU available quantity in Shopify).
You can find on the same marketplace, multiple apps, providing the same functionality, while it is developed by different professionals, and offered at different prices.
Subscription to public apps is most of the times intuitive, quick, and requires little configuration for users with some level of expertise.
Private apps on Shopify, as per their definition are built for a single Shopify instance (or store). Shopify provides access to the underlying database through a REST API.
By selecting the option to build a private app to access Shopify, you will be given necessary credentials and security tokens to be able to read and write all the data objects available to you from your Shopify store.
Here are some of the characteristics of Shopify private apps:
Not available for the public; only you can use it for your own store
Not publicly available on Shopify marketplace.
This type of private apps is developed by your integration partner, to access your own data.
Your integration partner can develop integration flows that can sync in both directions multiple flows.
While public apps are great applications, built by experienced developers, we have been seeing much better success when doing the integration between Shopify and a company’s ERP / CRM system using Shopify private apps. This conclusion is based on previous integration projects.
In previous projects, we were able to integrateShopify orders, fulfillment, inventory with home grown ERP systems, and branded ERP / CRM systems such as Oracle JDE, SAP, Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics….
Our integration flows are proven to be stable and mainly it does not conflict with different Shopify public apps active on the Shopify instance. In fact, most of the clients who use our integration services, they come to us, to solve the technological issues they face when they implement and use different public apps in their instance of Shopify.
We, as a successful integration provider, have been helping our customers for 21 years quickly, reliably connect eCommerce to ERP or CRM and integrate it into business systems.
Contact us for a free consultation and we will help you choose the most suitable integration solution for your business.
https://www.edi2xml.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Shopify-Public-app-Private-app.jpg6751200Pierre Namroudhttps://www.edi2xml.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/edi2xml.com-EDI2XML-company-logo.pngPierre Namroud2021-08-04 11:19:372023-12-18 15:39:18Shopify Private or Public app: What’s Best for ERP Integration
This post was updated to reflect current trends and information.
In almost all countries where coronavirus (COVID-19) has spread, isolation, social distance, and lockdown measures were taken. Whenever possible, employees have been asked to work remotely from home, schools have been closed, and people have been asked to avoid public crowded places.
It is not surprising that in this pandemic of coronavirus disease situation more and more people turned to shop online. Thus, the COVID-19 virus can stimulate e-commerce, as consumers avoid visiting places like shops, malls, and shopping centers.
People’s habits are changing very quickly, therefore the category of consumers who never made online purchases previously, are somehow forced to do so, because of the Coronavirus pandemic; consumers will likely continue to do online purchases in the future, considering they live a positive shopping experience online. Hence why companies running online commerce stores must be ready to quickly and efficiently meet the needs of an increasingly growing number of customers and their demands, while the pandemic’s curve does not seem to be likely in the near future…
Increase E-Commerce Efficiency by Connecting online store to ERP Software
ERP is a business management software. It is used to collect, store and manage data of various business processes of an enterprise. Implementation of an ERP system is considered necessary for the effectiveness of the management of any company.
ERP systems, originally implemented only by industrial enterprises, are now adopted by most organizations, regardless of the size of the company, industry, or country. One of the most popular ERP systems is SAP ERP Software, Oracle JDE for large enterprises, and Microsoft Dynamics suite in addition to numerous ERP systems for the mid and small market…
E-commerce stores must be viewed from two sides. The first is the store’s external interface, which allows online visitors to shop online. The second side is the internal business process of your online store. Inventory, orders, and sales management.
Connecting ERP / SAP (for example), to your online store is critical to the successful functioning and development of your online business.
Yes, your online store can work even without integration with your ERP system. However, in this case, a company will have to leverage human resources to manually manage orders, inventory, and sales orders, which is usually a very demanding job, inefficient, often leading to lots of human errors and increasing the delivery window of the orders… This will certainly result in a loss of profit, hence defeating the purpose of the basics of eCommerce.
Key Benefits of Integrating ERP with Shopify e-commerce store
Integration to Shopify or any other e-commerce platform with a company’s ERP prevents inefficient manual data entry between the business system and the online shop. Manual data entry is very time-consuming and involves a high risk of costly errors.
Data transfer errors are one of the most common errors that occur in online stores that are not integrated with the company’s business system. These can be errors with both, the end-users and the suppliers. These errors lead to financial losses; company’s executives should take it seriously and should not ignore those facts.
Integrating the ERP of a company with its online eCommerce store, will certainly eliminate all these errors and provide a close to real-time synchronization between the ERP and Shopify for example, which is necessary to guarantee error-free data transmission between both systems/platforms.
Integration can save companies a lot of time by providing continuous and uninterrupted data transfer between the online store and their business system. This means the purchase order, inventory update, etc. can be automatically updated on both systems, eliminating duplicate data entry.
The integration service that we provide at EDI2XML, is bi-directional between the Shopify online store and a company’s ERP. In other words, information is transferred back and forth between both systems.
Through integration, an order created in the online store is registered in the ERP system without any human intervention. This not only avoids errors but also saves on salary costs.
In the same way, the availability of stock data from the ERP is synchronized with the online store. Thus, online customers have up-to-date information on available products, always.
How to Connect Shopify e-commerce store with SAP ERP Software
Shopify is a popular eCommerce platform that can be integrated with your ERP software using Magic xpi integration platform while leveraging Magic’s SAP-certified connectors.
Magic xpi Integration Platform lets you easily integrate, synchronize and automate processes between ERP systems and e-commerce store and provides a robust integration with any ERP. It is a proven Integration Platform certified for SAP Applications, SAP NetWeaver, and other major enterprise application vendors.
Below are some of the examples of business process integration between Shopify and business systems:
ERP – eCommerce Catalog data integration
inventory data pushed to the Shopify store
ERP to eCommerce pricing updates (bidirectional)
real-time inventory checks
real-time credit checks
order information pushed to ERP
address book updates (bidirectional)
shipping confirmations
delivery notices
inventory alarms to eCommerce managers
call center integration
CRM integration
With near real-time processes, information is updated within seconds. Magic xpi automates the way you deal between ERP and Shopify processes.
This post was updated to reflect current trends and information.
One of Shopify‘s main challenges is managing your inventory. Without well-organized inventory management, you can lose a lot in sales. A bad situation is when you sell products that you no longer have in stock, which can lead to additional costs for refunding money, irritating customers, and losing loyalty to your store.
Manually updating your inventory level in the Shopify Admin Center can be impractical and you also lose a lot of time and you have no guarantee that you will avoid errors. Thus, how to avoid these problems?
Let’s first look at what Shopify is and how the ordering process takes place.
Shopify perhaps is one of the most popular brands in the world of e-commerce, but not everyone knows how it works. Simply put, Shopify is the software you pay its usage, based on a monthly subscription, under the SaaS model. It allows you to create an eCommerce site and use the solution payment gateway to sell both digital and physical products, to customers around the world.
When you setup your Shopify store, you can choose one of 3 available plans:
Basic Shopify – $29 monthly
Shopify – $79 monthly
Advanced Shopify – $299 monthly
Shopify in no way limits the number of products that you can have in your store. You can sell an unlimited number of items on every Shopify plan.
Many experts recognize Shopify as the best solution in the e-commerce market for investing in the growth of their online store.
Understanding Shopify order processing is a fundamental part of your e-commerce business. Let’s briefly review the main stages of Shopify order processing when your Shopify store is not synchronized with your business systems.
Every Shopify online order goes through certain stages. Each of these stages requires a different action in your Shopify store. You can configure Shopify to automatically perform these actions or process them manually.
When a client makes a payment by credit card, payment information must be received and sent to his bank for processing. You can receive payments manually or automatically. If you set a manual capture, you will need to capture funds for each order from the Shopify orders area. In this way, (if you configured your settings for manual capture funds), you will not automatically receive payment from orders. And attention, you won’t be able to collect any money for an order after the authorization period ends.
Thus, manual payment management requires a lot of time and effort, especially if you have many orders.
But if you just automate the capture payment, without automating inventory updates, there is a high risk of getting money for goods that are no longer in stock.
When a client buys something from your online store, this information appears as a new order in the Orders page of Shopify. Simultaneously you receive a new order notification by email. The customer receives an order confirmation by email. The fulfillment procedure typically includes the following stage:
1. You log into your ERP/accounting system to create an order record from the Shopify store.
2. Search for customer records in your ERP/accounting system. If you do not find customer information in your system, you must manually enter all the information about the new customer.
3. To account for purchases, you need to manually adjust your inventory levels. This is more complicated than it seems at first glance, because your product identifiers (Shopify creates a unique product ID for every item you sell) in your online store may not exactly match the SKUs (Stock Keeping Unit- the code that identifies the product within your business).
4. After entering and adjusting all the related order information, you can proceed with the order, namely: picking and packaging items, labeling the order for shipment, shipping the package with a mail carrier. The steps for fulfillments may be different depending on the fulfillment method used:
Fulfill own orders. You execute orders yourself, packing and sending your goods.
Dropshipping (fulfillment services). Dropshipping partners stores, packs, and ships the goods for you to your customers. The typical dropshipping services that integrate with Shopify are Oberlo Dropshipping and Fulfillment by Amazon but it could be other services.
Custom dropshipping Customs dropshipping services realize your orders when they receive a request by e-mail. This request is generated when you mark an item as fulfilled in your Shopify store.
5. After completing the order, you must take note of the shipping information and return to your Shopify store to send this information to the customer for tracking.
6. If you use CRM you need to manually update the information to reflect the sale you just completed.
If the process described above seems familiar to you, most likely you are tired of manually entering data between business systems and your store. Either you must incur large salary costs for employees who are responsible for data entry. But the worst part is that you often find errors as a result of re-entering data. Thus, part of the orders ends with a return.
Did you know that according to e-commerce returns statistics 65% of all returns are the merchant’s fault (whether it’s an incorrect size, color, etc.) But for sure, your goal is to minimize returns in your store and increase customer satisfaction.
Our recommendation: to better manage your business we highly recommended automating all your order processing at each stage.
Another big common problem in online shops is inventory updates. Inventory levels in the online store and business system are never synchronized; as a result, it is typical in such case to find companies issuing lots of refunds to offset ordered goods that are not available for shipping.
It’s no secret when returning the goods and reimbursing their payment, not only profitability is reduced, but unexpected order processing work is added.
Shopify takes its share from each transaction that occurs in your online store. Fees are: 30¢ for every online transaction, plus 2.9% to 2.4% depending on your plan. Even if you activate Shopify Payments (that available only to stores in certain countries) you still have to payfor each transaction.
Although the fees for Shopify Transactions are not so bad, but if the company has problems with inventory synchronization and often must make refunds, they are not happy to pay the transaction fee.
Some e-commerce owners recommend put in the financial plan “fund returns”. They say start by depositing 10% of the income into the “return fund”. And if experience shows that more or less is needed, change the percentage.
This may seem reasonable, but we recommend that you invest better in automating your business, which will improve the performance of your store at every stage and increase customer satisfaction and profitability.
Do you need an effective integration solution to automate your order processing, update an inventory and help you sell more on Shopify?
Our goal is to save the time of entrepreneurs so that they take care of the e-commerce routine problems as little as possible. We take this job on ourselves. We reduce the processing and delivery time of a Shopify order and make it faster by integrating your Shopify store with another system that you use to run your business.
https://www.edi2xml.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Shopify-inventory-update.png3501024Tatyana Vandichhttps://www.edi2xml.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/edi2xml.com-EDI2XML-company-logo.pngTatyana Vandich2020-02-19 14:45:562024-05-24 11:34:06Why You Should Automate Inventory Updates for Your Shopify Store?
This post was updated to reflect current trends and information.
As you know, an online store or eCommerce site, always becomes an additional source of revenue for a company, and sometimes even it might become the main source of sales and revenues.
Great design, information blocks and a clear structure are just some of the many good advantages if you decide to create an online store using an e-commerce platform based on Shopify.
Understand what Shopify integration is
First, your Shopify store needs an inventory management strategy. Keeping track of your inventory should be a top priority. This means that you need real-time automation for all your stock, as manual stock inventory can be an overwhelming task.
Thus, the integration of the online store with the company’s internal business system allows you to synchronize the inventory in your Shopify store with the inventory status of your ERP database system, based on pre-defined schedule.
Automatic updates of Shopify variants, inventory quantities and prices will be useful for online stores that have a considerable range of products, especially when inventory status of those products/items is constantly fluctuating…
With Shopify integration, there is no need to monitor and adjust, manually the stock of your products on the eCommerce site or store; you sell only what is available, and all new products are automatically fed to the site.
Thus, your visitors have the most complete and reliable information on a product or service. At the same time, you can significantly reduce the cost of processing the price lists and catalogs of your products.
Why do you need to exchange data?
Automatic integration between a Shopify store and the business management system (ERP, CRM, accounting, etc.) helps to solve several issues:
– Get rid of problems related to human factor.
– Reduce the number of possible errors during data exchange.
– Reduce the workload of employees and focus their activity on sales and customer service.
– Ensure the relevance of the information for both: store visitors and company sellers. Especially relevant for large turnover.
The process of implementing data exchange between Shopify and a company’s business software system, consists of three main phases:
1. Project analysis and initiation.
2. Configuration of the data Upload from ERP/CRM to the eCommerce site.
3. Configuration of the data Download from the eCommerce site to ERP/CRM.
The first phase is a step that happens only once during the lifecycle of the integration project. During this phase, our team at EDI2XML will work with the client and identify the business rules, the entities to synchronize between the ERP/CRM and their Shopify Stores, the frequency and other aspects.
This initiation phase is crucial to initiating a continuous automatic process that will have one single mission: run indefinitely and do what it is configured to do.
The automation process will be executing the upload of data from ERP/CRM to Shopify and the download of data from Shopify to the ERP/CRM system, when needed, without any human intervention.
Which information is usually sent from ERP to the online store?
The following is a list of information and data objects that can be extracted from a company’s management system, and uploaded / synchronized to the Shopify store:
Update Variant Inventory/Price
Customer Information, Bill To, Ship To
Update Shopify Customer (Customer Information, Bill To, Ship To)
Update Shopify Orders (Complete, Cancel)
Create Shopify Order Fulfillment
Update/Cancel Shopify Order Fulfillment
Create Shopify Product(s)
Update Shopify Product(s)
Delete Shopify Product(s)
Create Shopify Product Image
Modify Shopify Product Image
Delete Shopify Product Image
Create Shopify Variant(s)
Update Shopify Variant(s)
Delete Shopify Variant(s)
Which information is sent the online store to ERP?
The following is a list of information and data objects that can be extracted from a Shopify store and downloaded / synchronized to the company’s management system:
Shopify Orders (Ship To, Bill to and Order details) Update
Shopify Customers (Customer Information, Bill To, Ship To)
Shopify Orders Fulfillment
Abandoned Checkouts
Inventory Level by Location
Integrate Shopify with Leading ERP Systems
As mentioned above, Shopify integration with your internal system makes it easy to manage your sales, inventory, and reports. We at EDI2XML eliminate the need for manual data entry using the Magic xpi Integration Platform, we automate the most important business processes, ensuring data exchange between Shopify and leading ERP and accounting systems.
Following is a list of the most commonly used ERP systems to integrate to Shopify:
What to consider when organizing the integration of Shopify.
Prior to kicking off a Shopify integration project between your company’s business system and the eCommerce store, it is necessary to define the business flow. Think through all the stages of working with customers, this help determine what information you need to transfer and in which direction.
What points are important to consider for integration:
1. What data should be uploaded to each side;
2. How often will the exchange take place;
3. Prepare your data for Integration based on the appropriate data format (i.e. csv, xml, json ….).
4. For the integration to be efficient and smooth, it’s important that you sanitize and clean your data; Clean all duplicate fields and customers, correct incomplete or contravening data, Product/SKU IDs on your online store, must match the Product/SKU IDs used to represent items in your accounting/ERP system. ..
5. Anticipate possible issues: lack of the right product, the possibility of doubling data and other difficulties.
The technical complexities of your integration project depend on how to decide to integrate with your software business system (i.e. accounting software, ERP or CRM system); Connecting directly with certified connectors to branded systems such as SAP, Oracle, Salesforce, is possible, but will need additional time and effort to build, test and deploy. Still integration using messages of type XML, Json or CSV are the most standard and efficient to date, and do not require any additional fees or efforts.
Shopify Integration Experts
Need an efficient Shopify ERP integration solution that automates orders and inventory between your Shopify store and your ERP system? We can help you! The e-commerce integration with ERP, CRM and EDI is our specialty and one of the strongest offerings. We setup fast and efficient synchronization bridge that works very efficiently to add value to your business.
We specialize in integrating Shopify with ERP, CRM, and other third-party systems and applications. It doesn’t matter if you are a Shopify user or just want to open a new store, or switch to Shopify from another eCom platform, we have experts who can solve all your integration challenges.
Contact our Shopify integration experts today for a free consultation!
The following is a list of additional helpful information:
https://www.edi2xml.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/EDI2XML-_-Shopify-integration-.png3501024Tatyana Vandichhttps://www.edi2xml.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/edi2xml.com-EDI2XML-company-logo.pngTatyana Vandich2020-02-18 11:30:052024-05-24 11:42:53Secrets and rules of Shopify integration with your ERP or CRM
Ecommerce (or online retail) has been a growing trend over the last few years. Due to this, online retailers are always on the lookout for efficient processes in order to better serve today’s well-connected, tech-savvy and wise online consumer. Successful brands are those that are able to find a balance between affordable prices, fast & low-cost shipping, and availability of products.
Download our Shopify Whitepaper to learn more about:
– Shopify & the e-commerce trend
– When you should integrate your Shopify store with EDI
– Integration between Shopify and an internal software management system (like ERP, CRM…)
This post was updated to reflect current trends and information.
With the evolution of eCommerce in the last few years, EDI integration is getting more and more widespread in the e-retail vertical. This trend is due to the heritage of the traditional retail businesses. Why is this happening and how EDI is helping e-commerce retail stores?
According to Statista.com, in 2016, retail e-commerce sales worldwide amounted to 1.86 trillion US dollars and e-retail revenues are projected to grow to 4.48 trillion US dollars in 2021. Online shopping is one of the most popular online activities worldwide.
Therefore, today, e-commerce sales is one of the segments of the economy with a huge development potential.
What are the most popular e-commerce platforms in 2019?
Plenty of e-commerce platforms are available on the Internet, but the most popular and most effective in 2019 market are the following:
If you look at the comparative table in Google trends, you will see that Shopify is the leader in terms of how many businesses use this platform for their own eCommerce, versus how many they show interest in the other e-commerce platforms.
How many Stores are using Shopify?
Launched in 2004 Shopify is one of the leading Canadian e-commerce platforms, trusted by over 500,000 businesses worldwide. As new shops are signing up every day, the real exact number is higher. For more information abut shopify, you can visit their website.
Fully Managed Shopify Integration Service
We at EDI2XML eliminate the need for manual data entry using Magic xpi Integration Platform, we automate the most important business processes, ensuring data exchange between Shopify/Shopify Plus and leading ERP and accounting systems. LEARN MORE>
Boost your company’s productivity with EDI
Business owners, including e-commerce store owners, are all always looking for a better way to improve efficiency, and customer service in a very well connected digital world.
In that direction, the Drop-ship concept has emerged to become one of the top delivery model adopted with major ecommerce retailers. With this concept, consumers have access to a large inventory of goods, delivered directly from the manufacturer (most of the time). This is delivering a smooth shopping experience that is secure, convenient and comfortable.
In order for the ecommerce owners to compete in this new reality, their offerings of products and services, should be built in such an efficient way, where their items’ prices, stock and inventory availability, are all up-to-date right from their manufacturer’s system, in near real-time.
Their delivery schedules are also a factor: eCommerce stores should be equipped with real-time calculation of delivery cost and ETD, again right from the shipping or transport company.
EDI integration between an eCommerce platform and the manufacturers, in the drop-ship world, is one of the best options to accomplish the above objectives. EDI helps streamline the Supply-chain management and improve efficiency.
It’s no secret to anyone that the traditional methods of document management are outdated, they are quite costly and can impede the interaction between trading partners. This becomes especially noticeable when the business grows.
EDI interchange has existed for more than 30 years. Over the years, EDI has been tested and proven to work, in North America and Europe. EDI has repeatedly and most importantly demonstrated its effectiveness in reducing human errors and improving quality of information.
EDI is a major helper for online stores
EDI service translates into electronic format (or messages), the entire interaction between the eCommerce store, the supplier and the consumer – from the order to the signature of delivery documents.
The exchange of information takes place directly between the systems of trading partners, therefore, the influence of the human factor, and errors are at its minimum.
If you want to know more about EDI2XML translation, read this article on our website
EDI significantly simplifies and speeds up the logistics work: ordering, packaging, shipping and delivery.
Comparing eCommerce store to a traditional outlet store, the latter will have more constraints and limitations on stock availability and delivery methods: with an online store having EDI integration in place, this problem does not exist. All availabilities are up-to date right from the supplier’s system. An eCommerce store owner, with integration capabilities will not worry about having an “empty shelf”…he does not have to worry about hiring more employees to answer customer service calls.
EDI integration, empowers eCommerce online stores with the capability to reduce their costs, increase efficiency, improve stock availability and customer service.
If you are interested to learn more about this topic or any EDI integration related issue, don’t hesitate to Contact us for a free Consultation and we will be more than happy to answer your concerns and questions.
https://www.edi2xml.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/edi2xml.com-EDI2XML-company-logo.png00Tatyana Vandichhttps://www.edi2xml.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/edi2xml.com-EDI2XML-company-logo.pngTatyana Vandich2017-10-18 15:59:542023-09-11 11:43:24How EDI integration can boost your eCommerce Store
This post was updated to reflect current trends and information.
In short, Shopify is one of the leading Canadian eCommerce platforms offered to businesses and individuals, based on a monthly subscription fee. Anyone can subscribe and then begin to showcase their products online, to sell directly to the public. For more information about Shopify, you can visit their website here.
Who Uses Shopify?
Shopify is a popular e-commerce platform that can be used by individuals and businesses of all sizes to create and manage their online stores. Here are some of the types of people who use Shopify:
Small business owners: Shopify is an excellent platform for small business owners who want to sell products online without having to deal with the technical aspects of building an e-commerce website.
Entrepreneurs: Many entrepreneurs use Shopify to create and sell their own products online, whether it be clothing, beauty products, or digital downloads.
Large businesses: Shopify’s scalability makes it a popular choice for larger businesses that need a platform that can handle high levels of traffic and sales.
Dropshippers: Shopify’s integrations with popular dropshipping apps and tools make it an attractive option for dropshippers who want to sell products without having to hold inventory.
Non-profits: Shopify offers special pricing and features for non-profits, making it an excellent platform for charities and other non-profit organizations to sell merchandise and raise funds online.
Overall, Shopify is a flexible platform that can be used by a wide range of people and businesses to create and manage their online stores.
A Word on Drop-Shipping
One important thing to emphasize here is that with the emergence of the online retail (or eCommerce) market, companies selling products through the Internet on platforms such as Shopify, are not necessarily carrying inventory of their products anymore.
More and more, once a company receives an online order from a customer (through the Shopify platform), these orders are then transferred to the manufacturing business partner(s) for shipping and delivery of the bought item(s), where they are told the “white label” the delivery package. This concept is called “Drop-Ship” (or Drop Shipping) in the retail and eCommerce world. Basically, the seller receives orders from their online retail store and is paid via the Internet (through PayPal or credit card) and then forwards the order to the manufacturer to then ship directly to the client. For many, there is now no need to hold inventory in a local warehouse.
What Does EDI Have To Do With eCommerce?
For those who aren’t very familiar with EDI (or Electronic Data Interchange), it is a set of standards and processes to exchange business documents electronically between Business (or Trading) Partners. Common business documents include Purchase Orders, Invoices, ASNs (Advance Ship Notice), Inventory Inquiry/Advice and more. This data exchange can happen in both directions – incoming and outgoing.
In the context of online sales over the Internet, on an eCommerce platform like Shopify as well as with the introduction of drop-shipping, EDI comes into play for several reasons;
1. Most major manufacturing and distribution companies will require a system-to-system integration through some sort of EDI. This speeds up processes and allows for greater efficiency in partner communication.
2. Shipping companies also require integration via EDI.
3. Today, consumers are very well educated and require to be informed on the status of their orders at every step of the way during the shipping process.
As you may notice, all of the above requires system-to-system integration between so many unrelated or diverse systems and platforms. At this point in time, most major companies and retailers are well equipped with EDI platforms and standards in which they have been investing in for many years now. Companies are now finding more ways to use their EDI to increase efficiency and are truly seeing returns on their investments.
Top 3 Reasons Why You Need EDI Integration With Shopify
The reasons may seem obvious to you at this point, but I will re-iterate the top 3 reasons for EDI integration with your Shopify store or any other eCommerce platform;
If you are in the Drop-Ship business and you are selling online through Amazon, Wal-Mart, Cabela’s or Target, for example, chances are that these retailers will impose certain rules, and require that you go on EDI. If you are dealing with suppliers, they will also impose similar rules and require the use of EDI.
If you are selling online through your own store via Shopify, and you have a high volume of clients that expect to the informed of their orders at any given moment, this is another big reason why you should have EDI integrated with your Shopify store.
If you are dealing with shipping companies like FedEx, Purolator, UPS, etc., and you have a high volume of shipments on a daily basis, then you need to integrate your management systems AND Shopify with EDI.
The above are the main reasons for EDI integration but there are tons of other ways EDI can improve your processes and reasons to talk with an EDI consultant today.
How Can I Integrate My Shopify Store with EDI?
This integration is very feasible however you will most definitely need a team of system integrators with a high knowledge and expertise in EDI. With the right team like the EDI2XML team, there is no going wrong.
If you are interested in learning more about this topic or any other issue related to EDI integration projects, please contact us today and receive your free consultation.
https://www.edi2xml.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/EDI2XML-Shopify-edi-integration-1.png6751200Tatyana Vandichhttps://www.edi2xml.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/edi2xml.com-EDI2XML-company-logo.pngTatyana Vandich2017-05-27 16:05:452023-05-08 15:04:53Top 3 Reasons For EDI Integration With Shopify
This post was updated to reflect current trends and information.
ECommerce (or online retail) has been a growing trend over the last few years. Due to this, business partners, retailers and suppliers have been transforming their flows and processes in order to better serve today’s well-connected, tech-savvy and wise consumer, who is constantly plugged in to the latest technologies. Read more
https://www.edi2xml.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/edi2xml.com-EDI2XML-company-logo.png00Tatyana Vandichhttps://www.edi2xml.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/edi2xml.com-EDI2XML-company-logo.pngTatyana Vandich2016-06-06 11:30:572022-07-26 10:37:55How to solve Shopify eCommerce integration with EDI
If you are in the Drop-Ship business and you are selling online through Amazon, Wal-Mart, Cabela’s or Target, for example, chances are that these retailers will impose certain rules, and require that you go on EDI. If you are dealing with suppliers, they will also impose similar rules and require the use of EDI.
