Why connect WooCommerce
Lesson 1 of 12 5 min read
What a WooCommerce Integration moves between your store and the rest of your systems, in which direction and how quickly.
If your team copies WooCommerce orders into your inventory system by hand, uploads stock levels from a spreadsheet, or types tracking numbers back into the store, a WooCommerce Integration takes that work away. By the end of this lesson you'll know exactly what data it moves, which way, and how fast, so you can plan the rest of your setup.
What the Integration does
A WooCommerce Integration connects your store to Supply Lens. Supply Lens then passes each piece of data on to your other connected systems (an inventory system such as Unleashed, a warehouse, or a finance system) using Mappings. You learned about Integrations and Mappings in the Connecting your systems course; this course applies them to WooCommerce.
Once it's connected, you no longer need manual CSV uploads, and the store and your other systems stay in step.
The data that moves
| Products | WooCommerce and Supply Lens, in both directions. Near real-time. |
|---|---|
| Inventory | Supply Lens to WooCommerce by default, so the store shows the stock your inventory system holds. Near real-time. |
| Orders | WooCommerce to Supply Lens, in real time using webhooks. |
| Fulfilments and tracking | Supply Lens and WooCommerce, near real-time. Needs the WooCommerce Shipment Tracking extension to be enabled in your store. |
| Credits (refunds) | WooCommerce to Supply Lens, in real time using webhooks. |
A webhook is a message WooCommerce sends the moment something happens, such as a new order being placed. It means Supply Lens doesn't have to wait for its next scheduled check to find out.
How it fits together
The most common pattern pairs WooCommerce with an inventory system. Orders flow in from the store; stock and shipping information flow back.
Every arrow out of Supply Lens is controlled by a Mapping, and every arrow in or out of WooCommerce is controlled by a configuration on the WooCommerce Integration. You'll set both up in the next module.
Fernbrook Botanicals
Fernbrook Botanicals sells handmade skincare through a WooCommerce store and manages stock in Unleashed. Every morning, Priya in operations re-keys the previous day's orders into Unleashed, and once a week she exports stock levels to update the website. Twice last month the store sold out-of-stock items.
With a WooCommerce Integration, paid orders arrive in Supply Lens as soon as they are placed and are passed to Unleashed. Stock changes in Unleashed are pushed back to the store in near real time, and when Unleashed records a shipment, the tracking number appears on the customer's WooCommerce order. Priya follows this course to set it up.
Why WooCommerce needs a little extra care
WooCommerce stores vary a lot. Plugins add their own order data (called metadata), tax plugins can present tax differently, and variable products need their own SKU for every variation. Supply Lens has settings for all of these, which is why this course spends two modules on the settings. The more plugins your store uses, the more carefully you'll want to work through them.
Recap
- A WooCommerce Integration syncs products, inventory, orders, fulfilments and credits.
- Orders and credits arrive in real time through webhooks; inventory goes to the store by default.
- Tracking needs the WooCommerce Shipment Tracking extension.
- Mappings pass the data on to your other systems; configurations control what the Integration sends and receives.
- Plugin-heavy stores need extra attention to metadata, tax and variation SKUs.
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