LS Retail
Microsoft Dynamics NAV
AS 400
Shopify
D365 Business Central
Netsuite
D365 Finance and Operations
Blue Link ERP
Shopify EDI
CUSTOMER
Four VL OMNI customers that include:
– Global leader in specialty chemicals
– Top dentistry brands distributor in Canada
– Wholesale beauty supplier
– Baby and maternity products wholesaler
HEADQUARTERS
Wordwide
INDUSTRY
Various B2B Verticals
CONNECTORS
Shopify B2B
BUSINESSES NEEDED
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Introduction
Shopify B2B caters to Merchants selling products or services to other businesses in bulk quantities. Today, B2B eCommerce is the fastest-growing type of eCommerce merchant. It’s essential for manufacturers, distributors, and wholesalers looking to streamline their ordering processes, offer custom pricing, and manage accounts for trade customers efficiently. There are many ways to handle B2B from a platform perspective, but from a data integration standpoint, VL OMNI finds Shopify’s B2B capabilities are important because they empower merchants to create dedicated wholesale storefronts, implement complex pricing structures, and allows agile and scalable integration with backend systems like ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) or CRM (Customer Relationship Management).
VL OMNI has numerous customers leveraging Shopify B2B alongside our agile and scalable connectors to integrate with various applications in their tech stack. This case study will highlight key themes of our customers’ integration strategies on Shopify B2B, showcasing custom workflow development across multiple channels, process optimization, and streamlining, as well as addressing industry-specific challenges. VL OMNI has successfully executed solutions to enable operational efficiency and faster scaling in competitive wholesale markets for these customers.
Unlocking Operational Efficiency: Insights into Shopify B2B Data Integration and Synchronization
Several of our customers use Shopify B2B as their preferred eCommerce platform, including a global leader in specialty chemicals, fibers, resins, and films; an exclusive distributor of top dentistry brands in Canada; a wholesale beauty supplier; and a company specializing in wholesale and distribution of baby and maternity products. These businesses rely on VL OMNI for their data integration needs, ensuring seamless synchronization between Shopify and their ERP systems.
Efficient data synchronization between Shopify, SFTP, and ERPs like SAP ECC, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and BlueLink ERP is vital for seamless operations. These processes ensure smooth order management, fulfillment tracking, and inventory synchronization, contributing to improved operational efficiency and customer satisfaction across industries.
To achieve this level of integration and synchronization efficiently, Merchants like our speciality chemical distributor benefit from using VL OMNI’s integration services by leveraging XML idoc formats for GSAP integration, exporting Shopify orders to SFTP with specific field mappings and conditions, such as identifying “dealer orders” based on GSAP values. They also rely on synchronizing inventory updates and order fulfillments between Shopify and SFTP to maintain accurate inventory levels and order processing.
With VL OMNI’s integrations, our chemical distributor customer was streamline its operations effectively and maintain high standards of data accuracy in its workflows to drive operational efficiency and growth.
Custom Workflow Development: Overcoming Platform Limitations for Efficient Order Fulfillment
Even with enhanced capabilities for B2B on Shopify, many Merchants face challenges due to limitations in native eCommerce platforms. For VL OMNI’s customer, who distributes dental supplies is one such merchant that needed the development of custom bundling solutions to address complexities in order processing and fulfillment within Shopify. A standout feature of this solution is the efficient management of bundled items as a single SKU, addressing Shopify’s limitations, particularly in handling bundled item orders with discounts
Here are some key workflows that VL OMNI implemented for them. They needed their Shopify B2B store to be integrated with their ERP, Microsoft Dynamics 356 Business Central
Key Workflows:
Shopify to Business Central (Orders):
- Identify existing customers using a unique identifier crucial for streamlined order processing.
- Retrieve unique identifier from Shopify's native metafield associated with each customer's order.
- Ensure consistent presence of unique identifier in customer metafields, managed by the Clinical Dental Research team.
- Support custom mix-and-match bundle item orders with flexible customer options.
- Implement custom logic to handle bundled item orders efficiently, providing maximum customer flexibility.
Business Central to Shopify (Fulfillments)
- Manage fulfillment of bundled items, allowing partial shipments where feasible.
- Fulfill bundled item SKUs only after receiving shipments for all child SKUs within the bundle.
VL OMNI provided our customer with a integration solution that enabled them to continue to operate according to their own business rules that specifically their B2B operations, rather than trying to fit themselves into a predetermined integration box or working within the naive platform’s limitations.
By implementing this merchant tailored solution, our dental supply distributor was able to optimize their operations according to their specific needs and workflow, ensuring seamless B2B transactions. This approach highlights the importance of flexible integration solutions that adapt to individual business requirements rather than imposing rigid structures.
Unlock the full potential of your B2B operations with our exclusive resources!
Download our B2B Shopify Infosheet to explore all our streamlined workflows designed for your B2B integration needs. Plus, dive into our case study, “B2B Success: How Multiple Customers Excelled with Shopify B2B Integration and VL OMNI,” and discover real-client success stories.
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Maximizing B2B Efficiency: Syncing Shopify Orders with Blue Link ERP
VL OMNI provided our customer with an integration solution that enabled them to continue to operate according to their own business rules that specifically their B2B operations, rather than trying to fit themselves into a predetermined integration box or working within the naive platform’s limitations.
By implementing this merchant-tailored solution, our dental supply distributor was able to optimize their operations according to their specific needs and workflow, ensuring seamless B2B transactions. This approach highlights the importance of flexible integration solutions that adapt to individual business requirements rather than imposing rigid structures.
Their B2B workflows include:
- Inventory Management: Updating inventory from Shopify to ensure accurate stock levels.
- Price Adjustments: Maintaining pricing consistency across platforms by updating prices between Blue Link and Shopify.
- Product Tag Synchronization: Syncing product tags (e.g., clearance, new arrival, sale) between Shopify and Blue Link ERP
- Order Processing: Integrating Shopify orders for fulfillment and managing fulfillment tasks in Shopify, including marking orders as paid.
- Customer Creation: Creating and updating customer profiles, including company details as necessary. This involves setting up customer accounts, establishing company profiles, linking customers to specific companies and locations, managing company-specific metadata, and configuring ordering permissions, crucial for their B2B operations.
VL OMNI’s comprehensive approach encompasses both the initial setup and ongoing updates of customer and company data to ensure accuracy and consistency across their two eCommerce platforms and Blue Link ERP system.
VL OMNI's comprehensive approach encompasses both the initial setup and ongoing updates of customer and company data to ensure accuracy and consistency across Kid Central's two eCommerce platforms and Blue Link ERP system.
Elevate your B2B eCommerce game with VL OMNI.
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Industry-Specific Challenges and Solutions:
Each industry faces unique challenges related to eCommerce integration, such as complex order handling or multi-location inventory management. Strategically managed integrations address these challenges to meet industry-specific needs and improve overall business operations.
These integrated workflows and processes emphasize the significance of effective data synchronization solutions, and streamlined operations to enhance order management, fulfillment tracking, and inventory synchronization across different industries utilizing Shopify B2B. Each company’s approach reflects tailored strategies to overcome industry-specific challenges and optimize scalability for improved customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.
Customer-Centric Focus: Irrespective of Business Model
VL OMNI’s B2B Merchants implement integration strategies, like scheduled intervals and procedures, to maintain continuous data synchronization. This ensures that inventory, pricing, and product information are updated dynamically and flow daily. These strategies guarantee that merchants using Shopify as their B2B eCommerce platform can show real-time inventory levels, pricing, and product details. By adopting continuous data synchronization through integration with VL OMNI, our customers streamline operational workflows and enhance their customers’ experiences.
Through our managed data integration services, our Shopify B2B merchants, spanning various industries such as specialty chemicals, dental supplies, beauty products, and baby/maternity items, can focus on enhancing and maintaining customer expectations while delivering a seamless brand experience. Whether the merchant operates in B2B, B2C, or both realms, consistency in customer experience remains paramount.
Customers maintain their shopping habits and behaviors regardless of the brand they choose to purchase from, underscoring the importance of maintaining a uniform experience across all touchpoints.
In today’s competitive landscape, shaped by high expectations set by companies like Amazon, customers prioritize functionality throughout their brand interactions and quickly notice any deviations from their expected experience.
Regardless of whether it’s B2B or B2C, the customer experience reigns supreme, and it starts with a well-organized backend. There are no second chances to win a customer over just because it’s B2B; the customer experience remains paramount.
Conclusion
Shopify B2B is emerging as a competent and feature rich platform empowering merchants to establish dedicated wholesale storefronts, implement intricate pricing models, and seamlessly integrate with managed services like VL OMNI into backend applications like ERPs, 3PL’s and return platforms.
As more and more merchants need omnichannel and multichannel integrations commerce capabilities, VL OMNI recognizes the significance of the need for B2B integration capabilities embedded in native platforms.
Through our agile and scalable connectors, VL OMNI has facilitated numerous successful integrations with Shopify B2B for a diverse range of customers, we know first hand the transformative impact of custom workflow development, process optimization, and industry-specific solutions. By enabling operational efficiency and facilitating rapid scalability, VL OMNI has helped our customers navigate and thrive in competitive wholesale markets.
Looking ahead, VL OMNI remains committed to supporting merchants in harnessing the full potential of Shopify B2B, empowering them to unlock new opportunities, drive growth, and deliver exceptional customer experiences.
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