fmEcommerce Link (Shopify Edition) and Webhooks

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

We will be releasing a new version of fmEcommerce Link (Shopify Edition) in the next few days – this is our long awaited update that includes native functionality for the FileMaker v16 platform and later so you don’t need to use a plug-in anymore. This means you can use the fmEcommerce Link solution on any FileMaker client application: FileMaker Go, FileMaker Pro/Pro Advanced, FileMaker Server and FileMaker WebDirect.

As part of this update we’re also including a number of features that have been requested by our users, including support for Shopify Webhooks. Webhooks allow you to trigger an action when a specified event happens on your Shopify store. Our first webhook will be an ‘Order Creation’ webhook which will send the Order details automatically to your fmEcommerce Link file and create the Order automatically without you having to manually download the Order.

You could setup a FileMaker Server schedule that ran every x minutes that checked for new orders since a specified timestamp, but it’s much more efficient to leverage Webhooks if they are available and receive notifications when new orders are created on your store.

We’ll be releasing a free update to fmEcommerce Link (Shopify Edition) later this week which will include support for Webhooks when a new Order is created. You will need to setup a Webhook and install the supplied PHP file on your FileMaker Server (you will need to enable Custom Web Publishing/PHP in your FileMaker Server Admin Console), and once this in place anytime a new Order is received in Shopify it will automatically be pushed to the fmEcommerce Link file, typically within a few seconds. N.B. your webhook address must use HTTPS – HTTP addresses are not supported by Shopify.

You can get more information about Shopify Webhooks at the following links:

https://help.shopify.com/en/api/getting-started/webhooks

https://help.shopify.com/en/api/getting-started/webhooks#through-store-admin

Here’s a short video demonstrating this in action (you can also watch this on YouTube here). If you have any other Webhooks you would like us to support please let us know.

fmEcommerce Link (Shopify Edition) Multi-Location Inventory Update

/0 Comments/in , , /by

At this year’s Unite event Shopify announced Locations, which enables merchants to manage inventory, fulfillments, and restocks across multiple locations from the Shopify admin. Currently inventory is set and adjusted on the product variant and is not tracked by any particular location. In anticipation of multi-location inventory, Shopify have released a new Inventory API, which includes two new endpoints: Inventory Item and Inventory Level. The Inventory API will allow apps to effectively manage inventory quantities across multiple locations.

We’ve just released a free update to fmEcommerce Link (Shopify Edition) to include support for working with the new multi-location inventory features and APIs. The main changes in this update are:

  • two new tables: InventoryItems and InventoryLevels
  • the ‘inventory_quantity’ from Product Variant uploads has been disabled as this is now deprecated (use Inventory Level endpoint instead)
  • added examples for working with multi location Inventory: download Inventory Levels and upload Inventory Levels
  • Product Variants: added examples for uploading, downloading and deleting individual Product Variants without having to upload the parent Product

Shopify have announced that the new multi-location inventory features will go live on August 1, which means the API changes will also happen at the same time. The main impact for fmEcommerce Link users is that you will no longer be able to set inventory on the Product/Variant APIs and must use the new Inventory Level API instead. We recommend reading the following articles on the Shopify website to get a better understanding of these changes:

The following chart from Shopify illustrates the relationship between a Product Variant and the new Inventory Item and Inventory Level resources:

With the new multi-location inventory changes each variant is now always linked to a single InventoryItem – there is a new 1:1 relationship between a Product Variant and an Inventory Item. Each product variant includes a inventory_item_id. Each InventoryItem must be stored in at least one location at any given time. Inventory stored in each location is represented by the new InventoryLevel resource. We’ve added a new Inventory TAB in the Setup screen where you can view all Locations, InventoryItems and InventoryLevels:

When viewing a Product Variant you can now view all related Inventory Levels:

and within each Inventory Level you can set the Inventory Level for that Location, adjust the Inventory Level up/down and delete the Inventory Level from Shopify:

This is a free update to all our existing customers – you can get the full details of the changes in the release notes for fmEcommerce Link (Shopify Edition). Existing customers can download this new version using their existing download links from their original order – please contact us if you have any issues downloading this update.

The following video demonstrates how to use the new multi-location inventory features in v1.1 of fmEcommerce Link (Shopify Edition):

fmEcommerce Link (Shopify Edition) and Metafields

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

Metafields in Shopify are like custom fields – they allow you to attach additional metadata or information about a particular Shopify store resource, such as a Product or Product Variant. For example you might need to store information about washing instructions for clothing that you sell or you would like to store a manufacturer and supplier SKU for each Product Variant.

In our fmEcommerce Link (Shopify Edition) solution we support the downloading and uploading of Metafields for Products and Product Variants (the Shopify API allows you to attach Metafields to a number of resources – see here for the full list). Shopify unfortunately does not have an interface for store owners to view or edit the Metafields for your store – it is considered a developer/designer feature so you will need to use a Shopify App to create, edit or delete Metafields in the Shopify Admin page.

Here’s some screenshots showing the Metafields for a Product:

and a Product Variant:

Using fmEcommerce Link (Shopify Edition) you can add, edit and delete these Metafields and using a Shopify app you can also view them. Here’s a screenshot showing the Metafields using the Metafields Editor app:

Here’s some links for learning more about working with Shopify Metafields:

If you would like us to add support for Metafields elsewhere in the fmEcommerce Link (Shopify Edition) solution please let us know.

Eliminating Double Data Entry with eCommerce, FileMaker and Accounting Integration

/0 Comments/in , , , , , , , , , , , , , /by

Are you a small business that uses FileMaker to run your business (Contacts, Invoices, Suppliers, Leads etc) but also have an online store and use another accounting software? Do you find yourself re-entering online orders multiple times in your FileMaker CRM then once again in your accounting software?

There is a better way – we know as we once were in that situation ourselves. Over the past five years we’ve introduced a number of new systems into our business operations, including:

  • 2 online stores for our main Databuzz site as well as for our fmSMS product both running WooCommerce
  • switched from a  desktop accounting software to the Xero Cloud accounting platform

We also use the FileMaker platform internally to run our business and like many of our customers we suddenly found ourselves in the position where we had to enter a new sales order multiple times in different systems. The workflow for a new order became:

  1. receive notification via email of a new online order
  2. create a new order in our FileMaker CRM and copy/paste the customer and order details from the email
  3. logon to Xero and create a new Customer and Invoice and enter the Payment manually via copy/paste from FileMaker

The online order was being manually typed twice in FileMaker and our accounting software, leading to data entry errors and wasted time handling the same order multiple times. At Databuzz we like to “eat out own dogfood”  and most of our Products have been the result of a need to solve a problem within our own business that we suspected other businesses would also have. With the help of our fmAccounting Link (Xero Edition) solution as well as fmEcommerce Link (WooCommerce Edition) and the power of webhooks we’ve been able to completely eliminate all data entry for our online orders.

The new streamlined process looks like this:

  1. a new order is created in one of our online stores which triggers a WooCommerce webhook to push that new Order to our internal version of fmEcommerce Link (WooCommerce Edition).
  2. this calls a FileMaker script which then pushes the online order to our internal version of fmAccounting Link (Xero Edition). It checks to see if the customer already exists, otherwise it creates a new one.
  3. a staff member does a quick sanity check to make sure everything looks correct and then clicks a button to upload the new Invoice and Payment to Xero.

We’ve managed to reduce this business process from 5-10 minutes to 5-10 seconds –  this has freed up time to be spent on more productive tasks instead of mindless double data entry. Whether you’re using WooCommerce or Shopify for your online store and Xero or MYOB AccountRight/Essentials for your accounting it is possible to integrate all of these with FileMaker in the middle so that new online orders flow directly into FileMaker and then into your accounting software without any more double data entry.

If you would like to discuss integrating your FileMaker solution with your eCommerce system please contact us for a free initial consultation to discuss your requirements. We also have a number of FileMaker integration solutions available if you would prefer to do the integration in-house:

Databuzz 2017 End of Year Xmas Sale – 20% Off All Licenses

/0 Comments/in , , , , , , , , /by

The Databuzz End of Year Xmas Sale is now on – all Product Licenses are now 20% off, including:

The sale runs until the end of the day on the 31st December, 2017 (Australian Eastern Daylight Time). Free trial versions are available for all of our products – please contact us to request a trial version.

All our prices are in Australian dollars – if you’re purchasing from outside of Australia you’ll also get to take advantage of the low Australian dollar (1 Australian Dollar equals approximately 0.75 US Dollars).

Discounts are applied automatically – no coupons required! Click here to start shopping.

We also have a similar sale on fmSMS Licenses (20% off) – click here to visit the fmSMS website for further details.

fmEcommerce Link (Shopify Edition) Update September 2017

/0 Comments/in , , , , , /by

Shopify, the leading multi-channel commerce platform, recently announced that it now powers more than 500,000 businesses in 175 countries around the world. The number of merchants of the Shopify platform is growing annually at an average rate of 74% and in the last 12 months 131 million people have bought from Shopify stores.

If you’re using Shopify for your online presence and FileMaker in your business check out fmEcommerce Link (Shopify Edition):

http://www.databuzz.com.au/fmecommerce-link-shopify-edition/

It has many examples for integrating FileMaker with Shopify, including the ability to upload Products from FileMaker and download Orders from Shopify at the click of a button – no more double data entry!

We’ve just released an update with a few minor changes, including an update to the downloading of filtered Orders by date range to now use your Shop’s timezone setting. We’ve also added a new example that allows you to delete a Product in Shopify from FileMaker. Contact us to if you have any questions or to request a free 14 day trial.

The Benefits of eCommerce Integration with your FileMaker CRM

/1 Comment/in , , , , , , , , , , /by

 

In Australia and other parts of the world this week marks the start of a new financial year, which is a great time to review your business processes and eliminate any inefficiencies that is costing your business time and money.

One of the most common businesses processes we see in many small- medium sized businesses is the double data entry of orders from online eCommerce systems into the FileMaker custom business application (and sometimes once more into the Accounting software). We work with many small businesses that have an online presence, selling products and services using online platforms such as WooCommerce and Shopify. Many of them are unaware they it is possible to automate the exchange of data between eCommerce systems and FileMaker using APIs (an API is an Application Programming Interface that a company makes available to other software developers to allow you to get your software – FileMaker in this case – talking to their software).

If you’re using FileMaker as your CRM (Customer relationship management) application to track your customers, sales, invoices and payments there are a number of advantages of integrating it with your eCommerce software, including:

  • no more double data entry in FileMaker. The order and customer details have already been entered by the customer in the eCommerce system – with the click of a button the order details can be downloaded to your FileMaker custom application in a few seconds
  • no more double data entry of Product details in your eCommerce system. If you’re using your FileMaker application as the central repository of product data you can push/upload data from FileMaker to your eCommerce system (including images) at the click of a button
  • less errors between your eCommerce system and your FileMaker custom application. Being able to download and upload data between your eCommerce system and your FileMaker application means there is less likelihood of data entry errors between the 2 systems
  • free up staff time for more productive work. Rather than having staff spend countless hours each week doing double data entry they can be freed up for more productive (and enjoyable) work, such as following up on sales leads, customer service, marketing etc.
  • it also allows staff to upload and download data to the eCommerce software without giving them direct access to the eCommerce software

We’ve helped customers save between 1-2 hours of time each day for staff that were previously manually entering online orders into their FileMaker application. Now they download all the orders in the morning for the previous day and the whole process takes under a minute. We’ve even helped some customers use the power of Webhooks to have new orders pushed directly to their FileMaker Server so they don’t have to download any new orders – they instantly appear seconds after being placed online.

If you would like to discuss integrating your FileMaker solution with your eCommerce system please contact us for a free initial consultation to discuss your requirements. We also have a number of products which allow you or your in-house/external FileMaker developer to do the integration yourself with the WooCommerce and Shopify eCommerce platforms:

Databuzz releases fmEcommerce Link (Shopify Edition) – Integrate FileMaker Pro and Shopify

/0 Comments/in , , , , , , /by

Sydney, Australia – June 13, 2017 – Databuzz today announced fmEcommerce Link (Shopify Edition), a FileMaker solution that integrates with the Shopify eCommerce platform.

fmEcommerce Link (Shopify Edition) allows you to upload and download data between your FileMaker solution and Shopify, the leading cloud-based, multi-channel commerce platform designed for small and medium-sized businesses. Shopify currently powers hundreds of thousands of businesses in approximately 175 countries and is trusted by brands such as Tesla, Nestle, GE, Red Bull, Kylie Cosmetics, and many more.

fmEcommerce Link (Shopify Edition) removes double data entry and human errors saving your company significant time, money and hassle by automating the exchange of data between FileMaker and Shopify. fmEcommerce Link (Shopify Edition) is completely unlocked allowing you to integrate it into your FileMaker solution. You can copy and paste examples showing you how to authenticate with the Shopify API and download Customers, Orders, Products, Collections and more at the click of a button.

fmEcommerce Link (Shopify Edition) features include:

  • works with FileMaker Pro v12, v13, v14, v15 and v16
  • works with Macintosh and Windows
  • completely unlocked for you to integrate into your own FileMaker solution
  • can be hosted by FileMaker Pro or FileMaker Server

“Many of our customers use FileMaker Pro to run their business and Shopify for their eCommerce platform,” said Andrew Duncan, CEO of Databuzz. “They don’t want to have to manually re-enter Customers and Orders in FileMaker, so we built fmEcommerce Link (Shopify Edition) to streamline their business processes. With fmEcommerce Link (Shopify Edition) you can push and pull data between FileMaker and Shopify at the click of a button.”

fmEcommerce Link (Shopify Edition) includes examples for the following Shopify API endpoints:

  • Customers: download and upload Customers
  • Customers: download and upload Customers
  • Products: download and upload Products (including Options, Variants, Images and Metafields)
  • Orders: download Orders from Shopify (including Order line items)
  • Price Rules: download and upload Price Rules (Discounts)
  • Custom Collections: download and upload Custom Collections
  • Smart Collections: download and upload Smart Collections
  • Shipping Countries: download Shipping Countries from Shopify
  • Locations: download Locations from Shopify

Availability, Pricing, and Compatibility

fmEcommerce Link (Shopify Edition) is available in a number of licenses: Company, Vertical Solution and Developer. It is available now from the Databuzz website at http://www.databuzz.com.au/fmecommerce-link-shopify-edition/. Company Licenses start at AUD $495.00. fmEcommerce Link (Shopify Edition) requires FileMaker Pro v12, v13, v14, v15 or v16.

Media/Customer Contact:

Andrew Duncan

Phone: +61 418 468 103

sales@databuzz.com.au

About Databuzz: Databuzz is a long-standing member of the FileMaker Business Alliance. We have been developing and deploying FileMaker solutions for clients in Australia and internationally since 1999. Our clients are individuals, small-medium businesses, government agencies and multi-national corporations. Databuzz was founded by Andrew Duncan, a Certified FileMaker 15 Developer. For more information please visit our website at http://www.databuzz.com.au.

###

FileMaker is a trademark of FileMaker, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Coming Soon – fmEcommerce Link (Shopify Edition)

/0 Comments/in , , , , , , /by

Just over four months ago we released fmEcommerce Link (WooCommerce Edition), a FileMaker solution for integrating with WooCommerce. WooCommerce is a popular plugin for WordPress that powers over 39% of all online stores, including both the Databuzz Shop and the fmSMS Shop (you can read about how we came to develop fmEcommerce Link out of necessity here).

There are a number of other popular ecommerce platforms apart from WooCommerce, and we’ve had a number of requests to create a version of fmEcommerce Link for some of the more popular alternatives. Most of the requests were for a solution that integrates with Shopify, a leading cloud-based, multi-channel commerce platform designed for small and medium-sized businesses that is also popular with FileMaker users. Shopify currently powers over 400,000 businesses in approximately 175 countries and is trusted by brands such as Tesla, Red Bull, Nestle, GE, Kylie Cosmetics, and many more.

Shopify also has an established API that was suitable for integration with FileMaker, so it made sense for the next edition of fmEcommerce Link to work with Shopify. We’re in the final stages of development and testing but wanted to share some details of our latest product: fmEcommerce Link (Shopify Edition). You can subscribe to our newsletter to be notified when it’s released.

The initial release of fmEcommerce Link (Shopify Edition) will have the following features:

  • download Customers, Products, Orders, Shipping Countries, Locations and Discounts from Shopify
  • update existing Customer, Product and Order records from Shopify to FileMaker
  • download Orders between 2 dates
  • create/update a Customer record from FileMaker to Shopify
  • create/update a Product record from FileMaker to Shopify

Like our other products it will also have these features:

  • will work with FileMaker Pro v12, 13, 14, 15 and 16
  • can be hosted by FileMaker Pro or FileMaker Server
  • works with Macintosh and Windows
  • 100% unlocked for you to integrate into your own FileMaker solution

Here’s some more screenshots showing Customers and Orders downloaded from Shopify and the details for an individual Order:

We’ve put together a short preview video showing fmEcommerce Link (Shopify Edition) in action downloading Customers and Orders from Shopify to FileMaker. You can watch this below or via this link on YouTube: