ECommerce Integrations
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Contents |
Overview
Users of CMS most always have an eCommerce site for order taking and may in fact have multiple stores or channels. This article discusses the various options available to you in progressing levels of sophistication and efficiency gains.
Manual - For Starters (Good)
For companies with low daily volumes of web orders, you may choose to just hand enter those orders into CMS. Chances are, however, that you have enough orders coming in via your website(s) to warrant some form of automation. Here we have listed several options available to improve the efficiency of managing your orders and related data with your site(s).
File Importing (Better)
Usually, the first step for a smaller business wanting to get away from hand-entering orders is to import orders into CMS. CMS has options available for:
- importing orders and catalog requests in an XML format (included with CMS)
- order files from Yahoo stores (optional module)
- order files from Amazon (optional beta module)
In these cases, the process is simply to download a file of your orders from your site and point CMS to that file to import those orders. Contact us for additional information on our XML specification.
Integration with your Website - eCMS Module (Best)
Most companies using CMS have a significant volume of orders coming from their websites and will benefit from further automation and integration. With such integrations you'll bypass the file import method and can have CMS communicate directly with your site. These communications can include order and catalog request downloads, posting updated product information including pricing and stock availability, and uploading order status updates. We have developed a module for CMS called eCMS to address the requirements of these more robust eCommerce integrations. No files to download or sites to log into, just click of a button or configure CMS to run these automatically on a schedule.
You can purchase our eCMS Module and use one of our stock Plug-ins to connect to either CommerceV3, Magento, Volusion, or you can use our API (both described below) to build a custom Plug-in that will work with the cart/site of your choosing.
Order Importing with CMS
Orders imported into CMS, from any source (eCMS or a file), flow into the Verify Orders section of CMS. This temporary holding section for imports is used to allow an operator to review the order for completeness and accuracy before committing stock, issue drop-ship purchase orders, and/or processing payment. For most orders this is a matter of just two clicks and thus can be very efficient (unless modifications to the order are needed.)
The Verify Imports section is multi-user so if you have a large volume of orders you can have any number of operators verifying them simultaneously. CMS will maintain locks on orders that are currently being reviewed to prevent the same order from being opened by more than one operator. Also see the Automated Imports Module below for additional information on how to streamline high volumes of order imports.
Orders can remain in the Verify Imports section until any problem is resolved. Alternately, the order may be saved as a proforma (quote) or placed on Hold using any one or more of predefined and user-defined hold reasons.
CMS employs [sophisticated logic] to both determine if the imported order is for a customer already in your list and if the recipient is the purchaser. This helps CMS match orders to existing customers when it should and know when the order should be processed as a gift order.
Options for Further Efficiency Gains
CMS also offers two additional modules to improve the efficiency of your import order processing:
- [Automated Imports Module] - Setup validation checks to determine which orders should receive manual review. Those passing your checks are allowed to automatically convert to real orders and will enter your fulfillment processing.
- [Address Validation Module] - This module is used to validate the deliverability of the addresses on your orders. This is done by CMS communicating with Endicia’s web service of all USPS addresses in the United States. You can validate either manually as you enter or review orders or this can also be automated for orders as they are imported.
