How commerce connectors work
Lesson 1 of 30 7 min read
The four flows almost every storefront and marketplace project is built from, and which Document types each connector in this course offers.
This course covers more than twenty connectors, but you don't have to learn twenty different products. Underneath, nearly every commerce project is the same handful of flows wired together with Mappings. Once you can see those flows, each connector is mostly a question of which settings it offers and which defaults it picks.
By the end of this lesson you'll be able to sketch the flows for a new commerce project and know which Document types to look for when you open a connector's Configurations.
The hub and its spokes
An Integration is one connection between Supply Lens and another application. Supply Lens sits in the middle as the hub, and Mappings decide where each Document goes once it has arrived. A commerce connector is just an Integration whose far end is a shop, a marketplace, a till, a wholesale portal or a CRM.
The partner guide sums up commerce connectivity as "order import, stock sync, product and pricing data, and fulfilment return flows". In practice that gives four flows:
| Flow | Typical direction | What it achieves |
|---|---|---|
| Orders | Channel → Supply Lens → back office | Orders stop being re-keyed into the ERP or warehouse |
| Inventory | Back office → Supply Lens → channel | The channel shows stock you can actually ship |
| Shipments | Warehouse or ERP → Supply Lens → channel | Customers get despatch and tracking updates |
| Product updates and credits | Either way, depending on the connector | Catalogue changes and refunds stay in step |
Each arrow into or out of the hub is backed by a Configuration on the Integration (the Document type plus a direction), and each hop between two Integrations is one Mapping.
Send and receive are from Supply Lens's point of view
When you add a Configuration you choose Send, Receive or both. These are always from the perspective of Supply Lens. Orders coming in from a marketplace are received; stock levels going out to it are sent.
Not every connector is a storefront
The connectors in this course fall into a few families, and the family tells you what to expect:
- Storefronts such as Magento, BigCommerce, Wix and Duda. Orders come in; stock and shipments often go back.
- Marketplaces and wholesale platforms such as eBay, Etsy, Faire, Mirakl and B2B Wave. The same shape, plus extra care over tax, commission and customer details, because the marketplace owns the buyer relationship.
- Point of sale and back office such as Epos Now, Linnworks, Itsperfect, Cin7 and Business Central. These can be a source of orders, purchase orders or shipments, and sometimes a destination.
- Fulfilment-style partners such as Capacity, Coda Commerce, Costco and Lenhams, where orders go out or come in as files or over a fixed channel and shipments come back.
- CRMs such as HubSpot and Pipedrive, where the "order" is a deal in a sales pipeline.
Which Document types each connector offers
The configuration guide for each connector lists its Document types. Use this table as a map for the rest of the course:
| Connector | Document types in the configuration guide |
|---|---|
| Magento | Order, Shipment, Inventory, Credit |
| BigCommerce | Order, Inventory, Product Update, Shipment |
| B2B Wave | Order, Inventory |
| Cin7 Core | Order |
| Cin7 Omni | Order, Shipment |
| eBay | Order, Inventory, Shipment |
| Faire | Order, Inventory |
| Mirakl | Order, Inventory |
| Etsy | Order |
| Wix | Order, Shipment, Inventory |
| Duda | Order |
| Epos Now | Order |
| Linnworks | Order, Purchase Order |
| Itsperfect | Order |
| Business Central | Order, Purchase Order, Shipment |
| Capacity | Order, Shipment |
| Coda Commerce | Order, Shipment |
| Costco | Order (from SFTP) |
| Lenhams | Order, Shipment |
| HubSpot | Order (from deals) |
| Pipedrive | Order (to deals), with matching quote settings |
Tip
The list of Document types offered in the Add configuration window for the Integration is the final word. If a type you need isn't there, talk to Supply Lens Support before promising it to a customer.
Fern & Finch: a Magento shop with a 3PL
Fern & Finch sells homeware on Magento, runs Unleashed as its inventory system and uses a 3PL for picking. Their implementer sketches four Mappings before touching a setting:
- Magento Order → Unleashed (new web orders become sales orders).
- Unleashed Inventory → Magento (stock on hand updates the shop).
- 3PL Shipment → Magento (customers get their tracking).
- Magento Credit → Unleashed (refunds raised in Magento become credits).
Now she knows she needs four Configurations on the Magento Integration: Order and Credit to receive, Inventory and Shipment to send. Everything else in this course is about tuning those four.
Recap
- Almost every commerce project is built from four flows: orders in, inventory out, shipments back, and product updates or credits.
- Each flow needs a Configuration on the Integration and a Mapping between Integrations.
- Send and receive are always from Supply Lens's point of view.
- Connector families (storefront, marketplace, back office, fulfilment partner, CRM) tell you what to expect before you open the settings.
- The Document types in the Add configuration window are the definitive list.
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