eCommerce is to sell products online and at the same time maintain diversity in every aspect of the product. It is a diverse platform where each product has its own properties, namely size, color, price, etc. Everything needs to be fixed for clients’ preferences.
For owners of online shops, large or small, it is impossible to manage all this information and the state of stocks in the inventory manually. In addition, if the product is not available, it should be added in time to prevent clients from going to another site.
But how is it possible if the manager is not informed about the stock status? This is where synchronizing stock between all online stores is important. It is responsible for maintaining the optimum amount of resources in all stores.
In this article, you will learn about the simple way for different B2B SaaS systems to synchronize stock across multiple eCommerce channels.
Process of Inventory Synchronization in Different Software
Inventory management software
These systems are able to track sold goods in all online stores. Any retail seller will benefit from the inventory management system. The first one would not have to worry if the goods were sold out in one online shop and still available in others. This information is part of the inventory synchronization process itself.
ERP systems
ERP solutions also allow merchants to synchronize stock levels automatically and maintain stocks’ accuracy and relevance on multiple channels. When a customer buys a product, such a system immediately changes the calculation of inventories. With automatic inventory updates, online store owners can minimize orders, prevent customers from becoming disappointed, and build trust and confidence among their clients.
Warehouse management systems
One of the most prominent features of WMS is the ability to track and control inventories through multiple channels. All sales channels automatically display any actual stock updates through correct stock synchronization. WMS is very similar to the inventory management system, although it has some additional advantages.
Dropshipping automation software
Online store owners create their stores on different eCommerce platforms and typically distribute products on marketplaces like Amazon or eBay. In addition, they cooperate with different suppliers. In this case, dropshipping automation software allows to solve many of the problems associated with dropshipping. For example, this type of software automatically synchronizes stock with vendors and stores or eCommerce platforms.
Multi-channel software
Another system that allows store owners to synchronize stock is multi-channel software. This system sellers to adjust inventory and automatically update them, preventing situations when the items are not enough in stock and for resale.
What is the Inventory Synchronization Workflow?
Typically, B2B eCommerce solutions synchronize stock every few minutes or sometimes in real-time mode. Here’s how the inventory synchronization process works:
- Merchants manually enter the number of products and distribute this info across various platforms.
- The orders are placed on one of the channels on which online store owners sell, such as Wix or eBay.
- Orders are “imported” into B2B eCommerce solution, which automatically adjusts the inventory.
- Once the system counts the inventory, it automatically updates the info on different sales channels.
With these B2B SaaS solutions, retailers can track regular sales and know what products are needed to replenish inventories.
To synchronize stock across multiple sales channels, these types of systems need to be integrated with eCommerce platforms.
However, integration with each eCommerce is difficult manually. Moreover, this is a rather difficult task when several platforms are being considered. Therefore, any integration is a complex process and requires an expert for perfect execution. In addition, it is labor-intensive and expensive.
eCommerce Integration Difficulties
When B2B SaaS choose individual integration with eCommerce platforms, they will face the following challenges:
- Complicated process. Each shopping platform has its own specific architecture and logic, which study needs time and skills.
- The need of a qualified specialist. In the case of B2B applications for eCommerce, many users rely on integration. Therefore, a poorly developed API can cause significant problems and customer losses.
- Integration requires time. Development of one integration takes at least a month. Each integration, as we said above, is unique. So you can multiply that time by the number of platforms you want to integrate with.
- Integration is expensive. Each integration costs at least several thousand dollars.
- Integration services. When you finish integration, it is not the end of history. It needs further modernization and maintenance. Again, it will take time and resources because of the need for it personnel to support integration.
As a result, it will lead to loss of time and money. Finding a pre-integrated solution to connect to different shopping carts will certainly help.
How to Easily Sync Stock across Multiple Sales Channels?
Having a firm intention to expand its business and save money, system providers begin to surf the Internet in search of the right solution. API2Cart is a unified API solution that helps to make shopping platform integrations simple and easy. To start using this solution you should:
- Register your API2Cart account.
- Add your store.
- When an order is placed in a store, you receive an order notification via the order.add event webhook or receive new orders using the order.list method.
- Update the inventory quantity on all sales channels using product.update with increase_quantity and decrease_quantity options.
Instead of integrating with each eCommerce platform separately, the best solution is to use a unified API. For example, API2Cart provides integration with more than 40 shopping platforms simultaneously. The service is integrated with such favorite and widely used shopping carts as WooCommerce, Shopify, BigCommerce, X-Cart, OpenCart and other top platforms.
In addition, the service offers all needed API methods that allows you to provide a stock synchronization feature for online store owners. You can also receive, add, update, and delete information about orders, products, customers, shipments, categories, etc.
If you need more information about our service, please contact us or schedule a call with our expert. Or even better create a trial account to see how API2Cart is right for your solution and can help to boost your business.
