Connect your online store, stock and orders without creating a second job
Define which system owns stock, how orders reserve items and what happens when a connection fails. A practical integration brief for merchants.
Alphabite · Ecommerce design and development team ·
Start by deciding which system owns each piece of information. “Sync everything” is not a specification: stock, reservations, prices and delivery statuses may come from different places.
Give each value one clear owner.
Suppose you sell the same products online and in a physical shop. The warehouse system may own physical stock, while the online store creates reservations for new orders. Agree how those reservations affect the quantity shoppers can buy. This is an example architecture, not a rule for every business.
| Information | Owner | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| Product code and physical stock | Warehouse / ERP | Warehouse → store |
| Order and reserved quantity | Store, under agreed reservation rules | Store → warehouse |
| Parcel and delivery status | Carrier | Carrier → order record |
| Wholesale price | Agreed price list | Price list → eligible customer account |
An illustrative data map
Product code and physical stock
- Owner
- Warehouse / ERP
- Direction
- Warehouse → store
Order and reserved quantity
- Owner
- Store, under agreed reservation rules
- Direction
- Store → warehouse
Parcel and delivery status
- Owner
- Carrier
- Direction
- Carrier → order record
Wholesale price
- Owner
- Agreed price list
- Direction
- Price list → eligible customer account
Test the awkward order, not just the successful one.
A customer orders the last item while a shop assistant sells it at the counter. Another cancels after a label is created. A third pays while the warehouse connection is unavailable. Write down what should happen in each case before development.
Repeated notifications must not create duplicate orders or labels. Failed updates need a visible queue or alert, a retry policy and someone responsible for reviewing them. “Real time” is not a useful promise without an agreed delay and recovery process.
Follow one order all the way to dispatch.
Select the orders ready for packing, prepare a combined pick list, confirm the items and create the shipping labels. Delivery updates then return to the order record. Each handover should remove duplicate entry rather than introduce another dashboard staff must monitor.
For Bulgarian delivery, check the exact account and required services with Econt, Speedy or BOX NOW. A carrier name on a features list does not settle parcel options, pickup points or the merchant’s commercial terms.
Bring sample data, not only software names.
A useful first conversation includes a sample product export, several anonymised orders and the systems your team uses today. Show which fields staff copy and how often a mismatch occurs. This lets us distinguish configuration, a supported connector and custom integration work.