The Shopware eCommerce platform is gaining popularity, especially among SMBs. One of its selling points is its open, API-driven architecture that allows for integrations with third-party systems, particularly ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software. Integrating Shopware with your ERP has numerous benefits, including improved operational efficiency and enhanced customer experience. In this guide, the Shopware experts at Atwix break down the Shopware ERP integration process, describing what it can do for your business and how to overcome common integration challenges to ensure a successful launch.
Why Integrate Shopware with Your ERP
Integrating Shopware with your ERP helps improve operational efficiency by centralizing and syncing data between systems and automating several key processes. The benefits of a Shopware ERP integration include:
Real-Time Data Synchronization
Without an integration, data from your ERP must be manually entered into Shopware and vice versa, which is inefficient and prone to errors. Integrating Shopware with your ERP ensures that key data about inventory levels, product information, and customer data are synced between the two platforms in real time, eliminating manual data entry and ensuring customers always have access to up-to-date information.
Business Process Automation
Shopware ERP integration automates multiple business processes, including inventory management, accounting, and order fulfillment. For example, after a customer places an order in Shopware, the ERP can automatically create the PO, update inventory levels, and generate shipping labels in mere moments, significantly improving business efficiency.
Data Consistency
An ERP integration with Shopware ensures that data like product information, pricing, and availability are accurate and consistent across all sales channels, including online stores, marketplaces, and physical stores.
Enhanced Customer Experience
A Shopware ERP integration ensures that customers always have access to real-time information about product availability and order status, improving the shopping experience. The integration also accelerates the order fulfillment and delivery process, so customers get their products faster for increased customer satisfaction.
Improved Scalability
Integrating Shopware with your ERP enables future growth. The system can easily handle increased order volume, inventory, and customer data as your business demands rise. ERPs can handle large volumes of data and transactions, ensuring your operations can scale without performance bottlenecks.
Shopware ERP Integration Capabilities
What exactly can an integration do for your business? Some of the most common capabilities and automations are listed below:
| Integration Capability | Description |
| Customer account creation and updates | Sync customer data between systems to automatically create and update customer accounts from Shopware ordering data. |
| Order processing | Automatically process orders from Shopware to your ERP, such as customer billing and shipping details, delivery method, payment method, quantity ordered, and product code. |
| Order status updates | Automatically update Shopware with sales order statuses pulled from your ERP. |
| Incoming AR invoices and payments | Automatically generate Accounts Receivable invoices and process payments. |
| Inventory and pricing updates | Automatically update inventory and price changes in Shopware from your ERP in real-time. |
| Automatic product updates | Automatically update product details and availability inventory levels in real-time between your ERP and Shopware. |
| Additional automated workflows | Other automations include transaction error checking, PO creation, pick list creation, dispatch notes, and shipping notifications. |
How to Overcome Shopware ERP Integration Challenges
Whether you’re buying a pre-made Shopware ERP connector or building a custom integration, it’s important to have a plan in place to ensure success while avoiding common stumbling blocks. Here are some tips to help you create your integration plan.
- Define your goals. Determine the exact capabilities you want to unlock with the integration. Beginning with this step will help you prioritize the features you need while avoiding unnecessary complications.
- Identify the processes you need to connect. Map your goals to actual processes with the ERP system and Shopware. Some commonly connected processes include inventory management, order processing, shipping, and accounting.
- Use reliable integrations. If you’re using a ready-made integration, take time to research the available tools first to ensure reliability and security. Leverage sites like Reddit to find real customer reviews and any posted security vulnerabilities.
- Work with an experienced partner. Shopware ERP integrations can be complicated, so if you’re going the custom-built route, it’s highly recommended that you work with an experienced Shopware partner to ensure success while reducing hassle. For example, Atwix has 111 Shopware 6 certifications, proving that they have the expertise to quickly build custom integrations that deliver the exact functionality you need.
- Keep data secure. A poorly implemented integration can be a major security vulnerability in your systems, so it’s critical that you secure data with controls like SSL/TLS encryption, VPNs, and two-factor authentication.Â
- Test data before launch. Before going live, you should robustly test the Shopware ERP integration for data accuracy between systems, error-free workflow automation, and overall performance.
How Atwix Ensures a Successful Shopware ERP Integration
Atwix offers comprehensive Shopware integration services to help you seamlessly connect your software solutions. We follow a proven integration process to guarantee you get the exact functionality you need to take your business to the next level.
The Shopware ERP integration experts at Atwix can help you maximize business efficiency to improve revenue and the customer experience. Reach out today for a consultation.