Zalando is a German multi-national E-commerce company with a presence spread across 20+ countries. Following a platform approach, Zalando offers fashion and lifestyle products to customers in European markets. It uses a connected retail tool to help retailers sell from their offline shops to their online platforms.
Connected Retail uses a REST API / Webhooks to provide an integration point for clients to Zalando. Using Connected Retail, stores can send stock updates, and price updates to Zalando and receive order updates from Zalando.
Having considerable experience in dealing with the EU market and Odoo ERP Development, we at Aktiv thought of developing a Zalando Odoo Retail connector to enhance inventory and stock management. If you have your business running on Zalando, this connector could help you connect your seller panel with Odoo’s stock and order management functionality, enabling smooth store operations.
How does Odoo- Zalando Fashion API Connector work?
The connector works both ways- Odoo will send stock updates to Zalando (Fashion Connector Importer) and fetch order details from Zalando (Order Events API).
Sending Stock Updates to Zalando with Odoo ERP Development
Odoo Retail Connector uses a REST API to provide an integration point for users to connect to the Zalando platform. Users will receive stock updates periodically from the store’s POS/ERP or other inventory management systems. It would typically contain information about the stock and price of the articles sold by the store.
The REST API uploads a stock update file to the Connected Retail backend, where it is consumed and processed to fit the data schema in Connected Retail’s backend services. It is possible to use any programming language or REST client to integrate with the connector.
For faster stock updates, we have set specific requirements from Odoo ERP development:
- Data is processed through specified encoding.
- The stock update file will be in CSV format with a specified size limit and columns generated automatically at specific intervals.
- Manage separate stock files for each store.
- Users are required to provide hourly stock-price updates.
- The Retail Connector will always use the latest update file provided so that a new file will reset stocks and prices in case of system failures.
- The Zalando Fashion Connector Importer automatically removes the stock which has not been received for more than 24 hours.
Further, the stock/price update CSV file goes for validation.
The stock validation is made through the URL request, containing the API key, stock file names, and client id. If the file upload is successful, a backend process will pick up the task shortly and perform the updates if the file format and encoding are correct.
Odoo retrieves product info from Zalando to show in the Connected Retail tool.
To avoid stock update orders on an article, from the time the order is received for an article until the order is complete, the system will deduct the stock by the quantity specified. Whenever the order is complete, and we receive a new stock feed updating the stock, we will update the stock with further stock information.
Fetching Order Details from Zalando
Order Event API provides visibility into order state changes that happen inside the retail connector and enables integration with Odoo ERP.
Let’s consider that a customer places an order on the Zalando website. OEA initiates an “assigned” event as soon as the order is made visible to the store’s ERP(Odoo) via the retail connector. Each order contains items that stores might pick or cancel. When items are picked, packed, and completed in Odoo, OEA initiates a “fulfilled” event.
Due to the webhook URL and API key in the connected retail tool, Odoo will receive a notification to acknowledge any store operations and order updates:
- Reservation
- Book In/Out to/from POS
- BI reports
- Reconciliation
If you are using Zalando and want to know more about how Odoo will connect with your store operations, you can request a demo with our consultants.
However, if you are using any other retail connector or platform, we can assist you with end-to-end Odoo ERP development for faster store operations. All you need to do is connect with our functional experts and discuss your business requirements.
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