How can I integrate a third party supplier app with my online store?

[Maygin_Theresa]

I'm a reseller for a company that isn't big enough to have an app 😆
I want it to do essentially the same thing the print on demand app does: Sync inventory, variants, and shipping. The site provided by the supplier is bare bones, but they provide database access in html, excel, or xml. But I don't know how to integrate that into my Shopify shop. 

I haven't had luck finding an app that can work with a random third party (they're all made specifically for sites like Etsy, Amazon, etc). Part of the reason I think I am having trouble finding anything is because I'm not fully sure what to call what I'm looking for. So any help at all here would be amazing. TIA!

[JoesIdeas]

It sounds like building a custom app would be the move. I remember a custom app we built a couple years ago for a client that needed to have their orders uploaded to a shared dropbox at the end of each day, and the supplier grabbed the orders from the dropbox.

To know what to build, you'd have to get the documentation from the supplier on how to connect to their database.

Then you would create a private app in your store (basically just gets you API keys to use for an app to communicate with your store). Then you'd build a custom app that connects to the supplier and your Shopify store and handles those syncing tasks.

If you don't have the budget for a custom app from scratch, you could ask your supplier if they would accept other methods, like:
- Email with order details
- CSV with order details, either per order or daily
- Daily email or csv from them with inventory / pricing numbers, then have your store assistant update those

Just depends whether you want to spend time or money on a solution. If you're budget is low, I would try and automate as much as you can, then create SOPs and utilize an assistant to handle the manual parts, then when you get further ahead or scale more, hire the fully automated solution.

Another thing you could do, if your supplier works with multiple Shopify stores, you could pitch them building the app to help increase sales for them all (because less time handling these tasks costs time and money)... and if they don't want to, you could see if all their clients would be willing to split the cost to develop it (not sure if that's logical with your setup, just brainstorming).

I'm not aware of an app that can universally connect like that, because if it's a proprietary system, you'd have to integrate some custom coding.

If you decide to go the custom app route and want to work with an experienced agency, feel free to give a shout at https://orderautomator.com/contact.

If you are shopping around for developers, just make sure to ask for live examples of apps they've built, check the reviews.

[Kalen_Jordan]

What does the excel database access look like? Is it like they dump a CSV file somewhere for you to import? 

[Maygin_Theresa]

Does this image tell you what you're asking? 

[Kalen_Jordan]

Yes thanks. And how do they provide that to you? Is it a CSV file you can download? Do they FTP it to you? We have some workflow automation templates that could apply here, such as this one:
Update Shopify inventory levels from a CSV file on an FTP server

[Maygin_Theresa]

Pretty much this is what's provided. This link on my main control panel and that link gives me these 3 links.

 

 

 

[Kalen_Jordan]

Ah gotcha. So you have to download them manually.

[YOD_Solutions]

If your supplier provides a spreadsheet for shipping rate, we can help you setup the rates on your store using our app, JsRates. JsRates has free demo plan; install it and reach out to our support team for free setup service.

To sync inventory from a database, you might find Stock Sync app handy: https://apps.shopify.com/stock-sync

To upload products to your store, Matrixify app might be useful: https://apps.shopify.com/excel-export-import

[Maygin_Theresa]

Will your app continuously sync with the supplier to keep inventory, price, and shipping up-to-date?

[YOD_Solutions]

Our app, JsRates, can only be used for the shipping rate. It does not sync inventory and price to your store - you can use the other apps I recommended for syncing inventory and price. However, you can use the inventory and price information in your supplier database when calculating the shipping rate in our app. You can read the live database with our app when calculating shipping rate (for example, the XML data) - but it depends how large the database is. You will also need third-party carrier-calculated-rate activated on your store to use JsRates on your checkout page.  If you are keen with the shipping rate part, I can check this for you (install the app and reach out via "Contact support" in the app).