A webshop on Shopify and the administration in Odoo: that works fine, until the moment you find yourself retyping things twice a day. Exporting orders, updating stock, booking returns back in by hand. At growing webshops we consistently see the same pattern: it's not the revenue that's the problem, but the administrative tail that comes with it.
What goes back and forth
This is not a one-way export but a two-way integration. Specifically, the following flows:
- Orders — an order in Shopify becomes a sales order in Odoo, with the right customer, product lines, discounts and shipping costs.
- Customers — new customers are created, existing ones recognised, so you don't end up with duplicate contacts.
- Products and variants — including the variant structure, so size and colour mean the same thing in both systems.
- Stock — Odoo is the source, Shopify follows.
- Pricelists — you don't have to maintain prices in two places.
- Shipments and tracking — when you validate a delivery in Odoo, the fulfilment goes back to Shopify with the tracking code.
- Returns and credit notes — a refund in Shopify lands as a credit note in your accounts.
- Payments and payouts — including the payouts, so the amount on your bank account can be matched to the underlying orders.
That last one is the most underestimated. A Shopify Payments payout is a lump sum covering dozens of orders minus transaction fees. Reconciling that by hand costs you a day every month.
How to set it up
The integration runs inside Odoo, not on an external middleware server. You connect your shop with an API key, choose which objects to synchronise and in which direction, and map the fields. For the standard cases, that mapping is already in place.
What we always do first: a test synchronisation on a copy. Not because the integration is unreliable, but because webshops are rarely clean. SKUs that don't match, products that only exist in Shopify, customers with three variants of the same email address. You want to find that before you go live.
What to watch out for
- Decide who owns a field. If both Shopify and Odoo are allowed to change a price, sooner or later that price will bounce back and forth.
- Stock across multiple channels. If you also sell via a marketplace or a physical shop, agree whether the webshop sees the full stock or a reserved portion.
- VAT on exports. Shopify calculates VAT in its own way, Odoo in its own. When selling abroad, the two need to be aligned.
None of these points is a blocker, but each of them costs half an hour of thinking beforehand — or a week of cleaning up afterwards.
What it costs
At the time of writing, the Shopify integration is listed in the marketplace at €35 per month. We do the setup as part of an implementation.
How Connecta Software works, or get in touch if you want to know what it means for your webshop.
A Shopify store and your books in Odoo: that works fine, right up to the moment you are retyping data twice a day. Exporting orders, updating stock, posting returns by hand. With growing webshops we see the same pattern every time: revenue is not the problem, the administrative tail behind it is.
What moves in both directions
This is not a one-way export but a two-way integration. Concretely:
- Orders — an order in Shopify becomes a sales order in Odoo, with the right customer, lines, discounts and shipping costs.
- Customers — new ones are created, existing ones recognised, so you avoid duplicate contacts.
- Products and variants — including the variant structure, so size and colour mean the same in both systems.
- Stock — Odoo is the source, Shopify follows.
- Price lists — no need to maintain prices in two places.
- Shipments and tracking — validate a delivery in Odoo and the fulfilment goes back to Shopify with its tracking code.
- Returns and credit notes — a refund in Shopify lands as a credit note in your accounts.
- Payments and payouts — including payouts, so the amount hitting your bank can be matched to the underlying orders.
That last one is the most underestimated. A Shopify Payments payout is a lump sum covering dozens of orders minus transaction fees. Reconciling that by hand costs a day a month.
Setting it up
The integration runs inside Odoo, not on an external middleware server. You connect your store with an API key, choose which objects synchronise and in which direction, and map the fields. For standard cases that mapping is already there.
What we always do first: a test synchronisation on a copy. Not because the integration is unreliable, but because webshops are rarely clean. SKUs that do not match, products that exist only in Shopify, customers with three variations of the same email address. You want to find that before go-live, not after.
What to watch out for
- Decide which system owns a field. If both Shopify and Odoo may change a price, sooner or later that price will bounce back and forth.
- Stock across channels. If you also sell through a marketplace or a shop, agree whether the webshop sees all stock or a reserved share.
- VAT on exports. Shopify calculates VAT its own way, Odoo does it differently. Selling abroad, those two have to be aligned.
None of these is a blocker, but each costs half an hour of thinking beforehand — or a week of cleaning up afterwards.
What it costs
At the time of writing the Shopify integration is €35 per month in the marketplace. Setting it up is part of an implementation.
How Connecta Software works, or get in touch if you want to know what this means for your store.