Shopify connector is now available in Dynamics 365 Business Central
Microsoft partnered with Shopify to build a connector between Dynamics 365 Business Central and Shopify’s eCommerce platform to help businesses create better online shopping experiences. This new connector was released during the 2022 release wave 1 of Business Central. Shopify provides merchants with an easy-to-use eCommerce solution, and Business Central offers comprehensive business management across finance, sales, service, and operations teams in a single application. Seamless connection between the two systems will synchronize order, stock, and customer information to ensure that merchants can fulfill orders faster and better serve their customers.
What is Shopify?
Shopify is an all-in-one, user-friendly eCommerce platform that enables businesses to build an online store and sell online through a streamlined dashboard. Merchants can easily create an online store and sell on social media sites, seller marketplaces, or in-person with its built-in point-of-sale (POS) for retail stores. Shopify is a subscription-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) sales platform that offers a variety of subscription plans that support a branded online store and a full array of in-person and online selling tools.
Benefits of connecting Business Central & Shopify
Business Central is a robust yet affordable enterprise resource planning (ERP) for small to mid-size businesses. Up until now, there was no easy way to integrate Business Central with an eCommerce platform or POS system without custom integrations or third-party add-ons. The new Shopify Connector opens the door to a complete solution for companies needing strong ERP and eCommerce and POS functionality.
By connecting Business Central and Shopify, businesses will be able to:
- Connect data across online stores and business operations
- Rapidly respond to consumer demands to adjust product pricing and merchandising
- Support multitier pricing structures and multiple currencies, companies, and entities
- Improve visibility into stock, pricing, customers, order history, and more
- Eliminate manual processes and improve accuracy
- Expand your online presence while minimizing overhead
- Automate synchronization between systems for price changes, product updates, and customers
- Ensure accurate financial reporting and tax reporting required by local legislation
Shopify Business Central Connector Features
The Business Central Shopify Connector was designed to help organizations maximize business productivity and manage and view insights from your business and Shopify store as one unit. This connector includes several robust features designed to help organizations adapt faster, work smarter, and perform better.
Support of multiple Shopify stores
Users can manage multiple shops that are all seamlessly connected to Business Central. Each shop can be set up separately and include their own collection of products, locations, inventory, and price lists.
Bidirectional synchronization of customers
With this connector, users can easily create individual Shopify customers or use a default customer for all transactions. When an order is imported from Shopify, information about the customer is also synchronized for further processing in Business Central. With this connector, users can leverage country-specific templates when creating customers to ensure that tax settings are accurate. Additionally, users can smart-map customers by phone and email.
Bidirectional synchronization of items/products
Easily synch images, item variants, barcodes, vendor item numbers, texts, and tags from Business Central to Shopify to ensure consistency and data accuracy. Additionally, you can export your item attributes directly to Shopify. Managers can determine whether items can be created automatically or if only updates of existing products in the system will be synced.
Synchronization of inventory levels from Business Central to Shopify
To track the quantity on hand for inventory, users can leverage this connector and automatically synchronize inventory levels from Business Central to Shopify. User can specify which locations in Business Central they want inventory to show as available for sale. Inventory levels can also be updated on multiple locations in Shopify.
Import of Orders from Shopify to Business Central
The Shopify Business Central connector allows businesses to seamlessly import orders from Shopify into Business Central. This import can include orders created in multiple channels such as Shopify POS, online, or Amazon. Order details such as shipping costs, gift cards, tips, shipping and payment methods, transactions, risk of fraud, and more can all be imported into Business Central.
Import of fulfillment Information from Business Central to Shopify
If fulfillment is completed within Business Central, users will have the opportunity to choose to integrate item tracking information back into Shopify. Once an order is fulfilled and synchronized to Shopify, the customer will automatically receive a shipment notice and tracking information if available.
Setup the Shopify Business Central Connector
The Shopify Business Central Connector was released to general availability on May 11, 2022, and is available out-of-the-box at no additional cost. If you are interested in utilizing the Shopify Business Central Connector, you can reference these step by step instructions or work with a certified Microsoft partner. The right Dynamics 365 Business Central partner can provide additional support with the connector to ensure all features are configured to meet your unique requirements.
