An eCommerce business usually promotes its products over several sales channels to expand its reach and make better profits. However, from a technical point of view, it also means that the strenuous job of managing eCommerce operations on all these channels has to be done regularly. Owing to these needs, eCommerce software providers actively integrate their SaaS applications with shopping platforms and marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, Etsy, WooCommerce, etc.
eCommerce integration between SaaS applications and online shopping platforms has proven to be a ground-breaking step towards effectively managing an eCommerce business while opening doors to more profits.
As per the latest B2B eCommerce trends, 40% of B2B buyers expect their suppliers to provide back-end integration with ERP, order management systems, financing and accounting systems, etc as a key feature of their software.
Quite evidently, without such an integration online store owners would have to manually update records across all such platforms, establishing individual end-point connections, which in itself is a laborious, tedious, and time-consuming process. But eCommerce integration has a lot more to offer. So, stick with us until the end to learn how it can impact your SaaS business and the options you have to facilitate the entire process.
What is eCommerce Integration?
eCommerce integration involves the process of connecting SaaS applications with shopping platforms on which an online store is running. As a result, the software can access data related to products, categories, customers, orders, etc.
Let’s understand this concept from the example of inventory management. The inventory data needs to be updated by the store owners regularly to maintain an adequate demand-supply ratio. Without eCommerce integration, the inventory management software will not have access to data from online stores which ultimately prevents it from syncing inventory across platforms.
eCommerce Integration Examples
1. Shopify Integration
Shopify is one of the most popular names in the eCommerce platforms circuit, with around 4 million businesses from 175 countries currently being supported by it. The leading countries using Shopify are the USA, UK, Brazil, Canada, and many others.
For SaaS App providers, integration with Shopify offers a pool of potential customers, extending their functionality, and expanding their market share.
However, there are several difficulties associated with this procedure. The connection with Shopify, for example, takes around a month. Also, every three months, Shopify publishes a new API version, and the changes may influence your software interaction with the platform.
2. Etsy Integration
Etsy integration is yet another promising integration opportunity for your SaaS business. According to Statista, this marketplace is used by more than 2 million vendors from 234 countries.
eCommerce integration with Etsy allows you to provide your clients who have placed their stores on this marketplace with software to manage their business from top to bottom. While helping online store owners, such an integration exposes you to an international market.
Although the Etsy API has a simple RESTful interface, integration with this platform takes 4 to 6 weeks. Therefore, it also needs the assistance of highly skilled specialists.
3. Amazon Integration
The popularity and scale at which Amazon is operating today need no introduction at all. Currently, more than 2 million store owners are promoting their products on this marketplace. Their numbers continue to grow.
eCommerce integration with Amazon benefits your clients and you by opening an entirely new market for your solutions. When your SaaS application is connected to the Amazon marketplace, you may provide your customers with a variety of features like order monitoring, product and customer management, and many more.
4. WooCommerce Integration
Another widely accepted and used eCommerce solution, WooCommerce is fast becoming the top contender for the best open-source eCommerce plugin. More than 30% of the online stores run actively on the platform. Also, it has a customer base of 4,000,000+ people in 10 countries across the globe.
There are several API versions of WooCommerce. What does this imply for you as a software vendor? First, you must update your code whenever a new version of this eCommerce platform is released. As a result, it necessitates a significant amount of time and work. Second, it’s difficult to create an integration that works with both the old and new WooCommerce APIs simultaneously.
It is, nevertheless, a must-have since e-store owners who are still utilizing older WooCommerce versions may not want to update. So, if you want to satisfy all WooCommerce e-store owners, you’ll need to establish a smooth connection with all API versions.
5. OpenCart Integration
OpenCart has more than 470,000 store owners running their stores with utmost satisfaction. Moreover, it has a wide presence in countries like the USA, Russia, and the United Kingdom.
eCommerce integration with OpenCart allows you to synchronize and retrieve important information regarding product lists, customer shipments, deliveries, etc.
6. Magento Integration
Magento covers 26% of all the online stores across the world. It means, as a SaaS vendor, you can reach out to more than 240,000 potential clients on Magento, especially from the majority of Europe.
Like every other integration, eCommerce integration with Magento gives immense exposure to your SaaS business by introducing your product to an international market.
Benefits of eCommerce Integration
eCommerce integration provides a multitude of benefits for SaaS vendors. Take a look.
- By integrating your SaaS applications with platforms like Shopify, Amazon, Magento, WooCommerce, etc., you expand your customer base as you get access to many online stores built on these platforms. Most of these stores are from international markets, meaning, you can avail an opportunity to take your business on a global level.
- Such integration allows your solution to retrieve and manage the store data. It will be able to access all the info related to products, customers, categories, orders, etc. from the shopping platforms.
- eCommerce integration can undoubtedly help you employ advanced functionality to your software and therefore pitch your services with an edge over your competitors.
Unified API for eCommerce Integration
As an eCommerce software vendor, you need to grow and keep as many new customers as possible. To accomplish so, you must be able to provide superior services to online merchants in order to assist them in refining their market operations and strengthening the assistance they provide to their consumers. As we’ve seen, integrating with many shopping platforms is essential, especially for SaaS solution providers looking to innovate in their specific industries and get access to a larger customer base.
The good news is that you don’t have to waste important time and resources on each integration since API2Cart provides a unified API for developing eCommerce integration with over 40 shopping platforms.
With an API2Cart’ API, you don’t have to establish separate integrations with all the platforms and can easily retrieve, add, and delete data from online stores.
Get in touch with us for a free consultation call to know more about how API2Cart can help you with eCommerce integration.
