Your online store is live. Your production system doesn't know it exists.
Every order taken online has to be typed into your production system by hand. Every day. The cost in time, mistakes, and missed deadlines adds up fast, and most businesses have stopped noticing it. I fix eCommerce integration issues like this for print and embroidery businesses.
25 polos, logo embroidered left chest Paid online · 09:14
Paid
No link · retyped by hand
Production › This weekFLOOR
Production schedule
To schedule
1042Not received
1038Club hoodies
In production
1035Staff polos
1036Event tees
Ready
1031Hi-vis vests
Paid online. Unknown on the floor.
decodedops.co.uk · DO-ART-966 · Rev 01
The symptoms
The signs.
Online orders are typed into your production system by hand
There's a gap between an order being placed and it reaching production
Personalisation details arrive separately from the order
Customers keep chasing their order because you can't see where it is
Your web team and your production team are always arguing
Stock sold online doesn't update in real time
You have two different records for every order
Why it happens
Where this actually comes from
Most versions of this problem trace back to the same handful of causes. Knowing which one you have changes what fixing it costs.
01
The connection was never planned before the platform was picked
The website was chosen on features and price. Both vendors said 'yes, we can connect them', and that was treated as a plan. It isn't. It's a conversation starter.
02
The connection only works for part of the system
Many systems in this sector only connect for certain modules, versions, or data. You find that out after the contracts are signed.
03
Personalisation data does not line up
The way the website captures names and logos rarely matches the way production needs them. Bridging that gap needs both systems to bend. Usually one of them won't.
04
The platform does not fit the business model
Most websites are built for businesses that sell finished stock, not ones that decorate and personalise to order. If the platform can't describe your products properly, no connection will fix it.
How I help
What happens when you call
To fix eCommerce integration issues, I look at both systems, both sets of data, and the gap between them. Then I tell you what your options really are: a proper connection using what's already there, a middle layer to translate between the two, or accepting that the website platform is wrong for your business and finding a better fit. You get a clear view of cost, time, and risk for each option. Not a sales pitch.
The first call is free.
The first call is free. 60 minutes. No sales pitch, just a direct conversation about your situation.
Shopify ERP integration in a decoration business tends to go wrong in the same four places. These are the ones I see most.
01
Orders re-keyed into the ERP
The order lands in Shopify, someone reads it and types it into the ERP. That works until you get busy, and then a mistyped quantity or a missed line turns into a reprint.
02
Personalisation fields lost in transit
Names, numbers and logo position sit in line item properties or a free text note. Most connections pass the product and the quantity and drop the rest.
03
Artwork arriving separately from the order
The customer uploads a logo at checkout or emails it afterwards. The order and the artwork end up in two places, and someone has to match them up before the job can start.
04
Stock not reflecting what's committed to production
Shopify shows what's on the shelf. It doesn't know the blanks are already allocated to jobs on the floor, so you end up selling what you've promised to someone else.
Decoded Works publishes a product feed to Shopify, and Magento feeds too. Hanicks has its catalogue flowing into its own storefront and channels. The order side is where the re-keying sits, so that's what I map first, and then you get your options: connect the two, merge them, or replace one.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce order sync
Getting WooCommerce order sync right matters more in a decoration business than in a shop selling finished stock, because the order carries the instructions for the job.
01
Order status back to the customer
When production marks an order as printed, embroidered or shipped, does the customer see it in WooCommerce? If someone updates it by hand, customers chase, and that's the email volume you can see.
02
Decoration data carried on the order
Check where the names, numbers, logo position and artwork reference actually sit on the WooCommerce order, and whether they reach whoever produces the job intact.
03
Where the re-keying happens today
Trace one order from checkout to the production schedule and note every point someone types it in again. That list is your scope.
04
What Decoded Works already does
Decoded Works keeps WooCommerce product and category data in sync on a schedule, with a log you can read. Orders aren't part of that. The order side is what an audit maps and fixes.
Your options · DO-ART-948
The worked example · connect, merge or replace
Migration, new storefront, back into the ERP.
The scope is written down first. Everything on the market goes on the table beside it,
priced, and the decision stays yours.
decodedops.co.uk · DO-ART-948 · Rev 01
SCOPESC-01 · Full rebuild · written first
Storefront rebuild
three parts · one written scope
01Migrate products, customers, order historyEXPORTED
Often, yes, but it depends on what your ERP exposes and what data has to move. Decoded Works publishes a product feed to Shopify. Orders going the other way is the part I'd map first, because that's where the re-keying usually is. From there I'll lay out whether to connect, merge or replace.
Why do our WooCommerce orders need re-keying?
Usually because the order doesn't carry the decoration detail in a form your production system can read, or because nothing has been built to pass orders across. Someone ends up typing them in. Tracing one order from checkout to the schedule shows exactly where.
Do we need to replace our ecommerce platform?
Not necessarily. Sometimes what you have can be connected, sometimes it needs a layer on top, and occasionally the platform is the wrong fit. I'll set out those options for your business and you decide.
Get this fixed
eCommerce integration programme
Connect your online store or B2B portal directly with your ERP, stock, and despatch, no spreadsheet middleware.
