Connecting Shopify to Odoo ERP

Is your business looking to connect your Odoo ERP solution to your Shopify website, but you’re not sure how to go about it? There is a wide variety of connector options available. Still, before diving in, it’s essential to ask several questions to ensure that the solution you settle on meets all the needs of your business.

It’s vital to consider how the connector features will work with your business model. What data can be imported, exported, or both? What data will need to be transferred, and what will trigger those transfers? Some connectors will only import data from Shopify to Odoo, while others will also export some data back up the pipe. Therefore, it’s essential to determine what your business needs and what the connector supports.

Connector Setup Options

Installing a connector is a straightforward process, although it can sometimes be time-consuming. However, with some careful configuration, you should have an established link all set. The setup, as well as the set of features, will depend on whether you’re getting the connector from the Odoo or Shopify marketplace.

Shopify App Store Options

The Shopify-based connector setup is divided into two parts: the Odoo configuration and the default configuration for the actual data mapping. For the first part, enter the Odoo URL, select the desired version, and provide the necessary credentials. For the second part, you’ll need to select the data you want to sync, including orders in draft state, order invoices, order shipments, new products, new collections, and/or new customers. Once your configurations are set, you’ll need to sync and verify the mappings for products, collections, customers, orders, payments, taxes, and currency. The only bidirectional sync in this option is the inventory; everything else will flow from Shopify to Odoo only.

Odoo App Store Options

For Odoo-based connectors, all you’ll need to do on the Shopify side is create a new private app for your store and grant it all the necessary permissions. The rest of the setup is done on the Odoo side in the connector module. There’s a wide range of settings that allow you to specify exactly what data you want to be imported/exported/updated and under which conditions. It’s essential to carefully consider every option and ensure it’ll behave in the exact way that makes the most sense for your business model. This may take some time to set up, but any mistakes here can potentially lead to incomplete data or faulty functionality, so it’s essential to take your time and thoroughly consider the details.

Customized Connector Considerations

The implementations between various providers vary widely, and it’s possible that even after doing all the configuration work, you’ll discover that there were some critical situations that the connector doesn’t cover. Taking the time to carefully evaluate a solution before getting started can save you from wasting time and money on an insufficient implementation. Here are just a few situations and functions that you may want to consider:

Order management

If a new customer calls to place an order, do you enter it into Odoo or the Shopify website? Depending on which you pick, how does it get synced? What if it’s an existing customer?
Do order confirmations get generated in Odoo or Shopify? What about for phone orders?
Where do you edit existing orders? Do those changes sync in a way that allows the customer to see the changes reflected in their order?
Where do you change tax rates or add new taxable locations?
How would you add a new shipping option?

Catalog synchronization

How safe is it to provide catalog editing capabilities to your team? Is data synchronization a simple process?
Does it matter which system you add a new product to? What if you add it to the wrong one first?
Where would you change product images, descriptions, or other media? How are media deletes managed?
Where would you add new attributes or variants for existing products? Do you update existing entries or add new ones? How does this affect order history?
How would you edit the availability status of a single variant of a product?

Do the legwork

Making assumptions about the functionality of a connector could lead to trouble after implementation. Confirm your business needs and then compare them against the questions listed above. See if any of the products you evaluate can check off all the boxes, or if you’ll need to involve a technical resource to ensure that your integration fulfills your needs.

If no connector is right

If you find that none of the connectors you found between Odoo ERP and the Shopify website are sufficient, consider the Steersman E-Commerce solution for Odoo. Working as a module and microservice for Odoo means there’s no need to port or integrate data from one platform to another. You can manage everything in Odoo to provide your visitors with the most modern, UX-optimized, high-performance online store. Read more about Steersman’s E-Commerce package for Odoo, or see how great an Odoo site can be in our list of live Odoo sites. Want to learn more? Contact us.