How the Systems Are Synchronized
The Translator application synchronizes information between Retail Express and the chosen type of E-Commerce site. It works by accessing each system separately (through their API’s) and setting up a number of synchronization procedures in the middle to update the products’ prices and inventory levels from the POS system and orders from online sales.
It is very important to understand the concept of the Retail Express System being the “Master” holder of the truth, whilst the E-commerce site is the receiver of this information.
The Translator software will attain from Retail Express product information, including price and quantity and synchronize these in the E-Commerce site. This means that product changes must be made within Retail Express and not your E-Commerce site to avoid issues. Only image variations and detailed product descriptions are added to the E-commerce site before the product is made visible on the online store.
Orders from the E-Commerce site will be shipped back to Retail Express to keep both system’s quantity levels synchronized.
For the two systems to communicate all products must have identical SKU’s in both systems as a unique key. When preparing for an integration, if the E-Commerce site already has products, they will be manually checked to see if the two systems have matching SKU’s and can actually be synchronized. If they aren’t then a process to correct this needs to be undertaken before anything can be linked.
You can find detail information for setting up your Retail Express system for the integration to your eCommerce store attached.