A Guide to Integration with Shopping Cart Using a Unified API
Tags: webdev, tutorial, api, programming
Published: 2022-06-24 09:48:29

API Integration with shopping cart can be one of the most severe problems for your business, as well as an improvement to making the function range more diverse and appealing to the customers.

Integration with shopping carts is inevitable for [B2B SaaS software](https://api2cart.com/api-technology/apis-saas-vendors-vital-need/?utm_source=dev.to&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=apisforsaasv.k) providers whose clients are online retailers. They need to access and get the data from eCommerce stores and process it through their system. Without connecting with the different shopping cart solutions used by e-sellers to manage their stores, retrieving the data on orders, customers, products, and shipments, is impossible.

There are two ways to connect your eCommerce B2B software to more than one shopping cart, separate and unified integrations. Let's look at each of these in more detail.

## Separate Shopping Cart Integration Development

**1. Choose major platforms**

You need to determine which shopping platform integrations will be necessary for your customers. Most likely, it would be best if you chose initially popular and top shopping carts for SaaS solutions. The market leaders are Shopify, Magento, PrestaShop, WooCommerce, and Ecwid.

[Shopify](https://trends.builtwith.com/shop/Shopify) is one of the most famous solutions on this list. There are at least 3,9M active websites on Shopify. Magento is an open-source platform for online shopping that powers  735K of online stores. At present, there are 301K live stores running on the PrestaShop. Connection with these leaders in eCommerce help you attract more new customers and expand your capabilities a lot.

**2. Examine the tech information**

Each platform has its technical documentation. It describes the methods, variables, and all the logic of software. This information is essential to solutions that want to implement the API integration with shopping carts. It's for developers working on a robust shopping cart API integration who wish to understand how the system works from within.

Many platforms offer API. They have already identified the possibilities, ways of data exchange between their platform and the system that wants to connect. If the shopping cart does not provide this opportunity, documentation is still a good option. It can explain how the data is stored, used and other related information.

**3. Define integration patterns for shopping platforms and get started**

The documentation outlines the objects and how to use them for your application or system. For example, your business model will need to extract and process orders, stock and delivery info. [Build a mapping template](https://www.api2cart.com/blog/shopping-cart-data-mapping-4-steps-consider/?utm_source=dev.to&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=integrationwithshoppingcartv.k) by selecting appropriate objects and what HTTP methods (CRUDs) will take action on the resources.

After identifying where data will move, think about [authentication](https://www.api2cart.com/blog/oauth-api-integration-turn-authentication-customer-attraction/?utm_source=dev.to&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=integrationwithshoppingcartv.k) and [event notifications](https://www.api2cart.com/api2cart-webhooks-available-soon/?utm_source=dev.to&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=integrationwithshoppingcartv.k). These two processes ensure that your product is trustworthy and convenient for users by providing account security and instant notifications.

**4. Keep the connections up to date**

The platforms always update their functionality, releasing new versions from time to time. Unfortunately, this creates additional difficulties in integration with shopping carts and maintenance. If you do not have a staff programmer, you should prepare to pay freelancers or agencies an hourly rate for updates. Sometimes cart versions differ significantly, so it would mean for you as if developing a new integration.

The regular maintenance required on only three platforms could easily overload the IT department.


## Unified API Integration Development with Shopping Cart

**1. Just one connection with a unified API**

As in the first case, you need to choose the platforms you would like to connect with. In this way, there are no limits, you can pick all shopping carts that offer the iPaaS solution or request new ones. The difference is that you don't have to build a priority stream because you can connect to many platforms simultaneously.

Pros of this method: 
- only one documentation for review
- easier integration template building
- API providers carry out platforms updates and maintain the connections 
- costs are relatively low

**2. Check the API**

[Set up a test account](https://app.api2cart.com/?utm_source=dev.to&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=integrationwithshoppingcartv.k) to see what data you can work with and how the API returns such info. If the result is correct and what you need, you can add a real store to test the several API methods. Compare the data with this store for accurate results.

**3. Start the integration** 

If the test is successful, continue shopping cart integration development. The iPaaS solution usually provides technical support and guidance to customers on how to speed up the integration process. 

## To sum up

Developing integration with a shopping cart via a third-party integration solution is much easier and faster than developing it within a company. In addition, you do not need to spend time studying each eCommerce platform and its technical documentation and further support.

Integration systems support many eCommerce platforms such as Magento, Shopify, PrestaShop, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, etc. Using such a service, you'll get the stores' info and can operate orders, customers, and shipments easily.