Which Shopify ERP connector, and when you need more

A Shopify ERP connector moves products, stock, customers, orders and payments between your store and the system that runs the rest of the business. There are three kinds: the connector the ERP vendor makes, a middleware platform that joins several systems, and a custom integration built for your data. Most stores should start with the first. The question worth asking is which of your data each one can’t handle.

This covers the three kinds, what Microsoft’s and Oracle’s connectors actually do according to their own documentation, the questions to ask of any connector, and the signs that you’ve outgrown it. The ERP integration page covers how I work on these projects.

Three kinds of connector

Vendor connectors

Built and maintained by the ERP’s maker, so they keep up with its changes. They cover the common data well and are usually the cheapest to run. They assume a fairly standard business: products sold as they’re stocked, prices in the ERP, orders flowing one way.

Middleware

Integration platforms sit between the store, the ERP and other systems such as a warehouse or a PIM, with pre-built flows you configure. They’re the usual answer when there are several systems to join and each would otherwise need its own connector. They add a subscription and another system to look after.

Custom integrations

Written for your data model and rules. They cost more to build, but they do exactly what you need, including the parts no connector maps. They make sense when the business has rules that are the reason it’s profitable, and forcing them into a standard connector would lose them.

My view: the connector you can test this week

Try the vendor connector on a copy with real data before paying for anything else. You learn more about your own data from what it can’t map than from any sales call.

What the two big vendor connectors do

Microsoft and Oracle both document their Shopify connectors in detail. Here’s what each says it does.

Business Central

Microsoft’s Shopify Connector connects Business Central to one or more Shopify stores; its setup guide says the connector app is preinstalled for all new sign-ups and trials. The overview lists items and inventory across multiple Shopify locations, two-way sync of customers and B2B companies, with companies matched by tax or registration number, and orders from the online store, Shopify POS and B2B, including shipping costs, gift cards, payment terms, refunds and cancellations. It also brings in Shopify Payments payouts, and can run everything on a schedule through Business Central’s job queue.

NetSuite

Oracle’s NetSuite Connector, which grew out of FarApp, offers two kinds of product sync: price and quantity only, or the full product. Its documentation covers real-time order sync through Shopify webhooks, tracking Shopify inventory with different NetSuite locations mapped to different Shopify locations, and a payout sync that records Shopify payouts as deposits against the orders.

Other ERPs

Sage, SAP Business One, Odoo and others often connect through partner-built connectors or middleware; check what each vendor and its partners offer. The same questions apply; the answers just come from the partner’s documentation instead.

What to check before choosing

Every connector looks complete in a demo. These questions find the gaps before they reach your customers.

Which way each thing flows

Write down, for products, prices, stock, customers, orders, refunds and payouts, which system is the source of truth and which way the data moves. A connector that syncs customers both ways when you wanted the ERP to own them will overwrite someone’s edits.

How often, and how fast

Real-time order sync by webhook, as NetSuite’s connector offers, is different from a job that runs every few minutes. For stock, the gap between syncs is where overselling happens; the stock-sync apps article works through that risk.

Locations, prices and B2B

Check that every warehouse maps to the right Shopify location, that the price the ERP holds is the price the store shows, and, for trade customers, that company accounts, price lists and payment terms come across. Business Central’s connector documents B2B companies; check the specifics against how your trade customers are set up.

What happens when it fails

Ask how errors are reported, whether failed records retry, and who is told. An order that fails to reach the ERP and nobody notices is an order that doesn’t get shipped.

Who supports it

A vendor connector is supported by the vendor. A partner connector is supported by the partner. Custom code is supported by whoever wrote it. Know who you’ll call before you need to.

When you need more than a connector

The signs are usually visible before anyone admits them: spreadsheets filling the gaps, people re-keying orders, and a list of things the connector “doesn’t do”.

Several systems, not two

Once a warehouse system, a PIM, marketplaces and the ERP all need the same data, point-to-point connectors multiply and disagree. That’s the job of middleware or an order management system, with a PIM owning product data.

Rules the connector can’t map

Bundles sold as one product and stocked as several, customer-specific prices, products that exist differently in the ERP and the store, custom fields a report depends on. When the business depends on a rule and the connector can’t express it, that part needs building.

Two sources of truth

If staff edit prices in both the ERP and Shopify, or stock in both, no connector can decide who’s right. Settling which system owns each field comes before choosing any tool.

How to scope it

Whichever route you take, the same three steps keep the project honest.

• A data map first. Every field that moves, its source of truth, its direction and how often. It’s the document the whole project is built on.
• Test with real orders. On a copy, with last month’s real orders, returns and awkward customers, not a demo dataset.
• Phase the switch. Products and stock first, then orders, then payouts and B2B, checking each before adding the next.

If you’d like a second view on which route fits your systems, book a free call.