How to Develop Marketplace Integration If You Provide an eCommerce Software

The B2B eCommerce software era is advancing with each passing day. Vendors in this industry are actively leveraging the power of marketplace integration to accelerate their business.

Marketplaces like Amazon, Etsy, eBay, etc., extend their capabilities to software developers and vendors so the latter can provide advanced functions to their clients. Therefore, if you are a software vendor providing eCommerce solution to e-retailer clients, you too need to understand the importance of marketplace integration and develop it as soon as possible.

This article will explore the meaning of such integration, its process, and how to develop it quickly with the help of a third-party service.

Marketplace Integration Meaning

By definition, marketplace integration is the process of integrating or connecting various eCommerce marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, Etsy, etc., with eCommerce software. If we talk about the eCommerce solutions that can benefit from such an integration, it can be inventory management, shipping management, warehouse management, PIM, order management solutions, etc.

Such integration allows eCommerce software to communicate with the marketplaces and retrieve the data of online shops stored on them. The integration can be established with the help of APIs. The eCommerce software connects with the API of marketplaces to facilitate the transfer of data.

eCommerce software vendors need access to their clients’ store data from marketplaces to make their software capable of performing its core functions. Without such data related to customers, products, orders, categories, etc., the software won’t have the necessary means to execute its operations. Marketplace integration enables them to do just that.

For marketplace integration, you will need to assess the needs of your clients and the platforms on which they have built their e-stores. For example, suppose your clients have their shops listed on Amazon, Etsy, and eBay. In that case, you have to get your developers to understand the architecture of each of them and the capabilities of their APIs. Then, based on their understanding, they will develop three integrations for connecting with each of these marketplaces. They also will have to study the methods used for API requests and responses and data transfer.

After integration development, you also need to take care of upgrades and maintenance that are required after marketplaces update their APIs.

The Process of Marketplace Integration Setting

Marketplace integration development allows software vendors to leverage a lot of benefits. Some of them are listed below:

1. It allows you to connect with multiple other e-retailers on the marketplaces you integrate with. For example, if your client has an e-store on Amazon, you’ll be able to connect and reach out to other e-retailers on Amazon with the help of integrations.
2. Many of the e-retailers who use marketplaces are located in different countries. They operate in several different parts of the globe. Therefore, the connection with multiple marketplaces can help you get international clients and exposure for your business.
3. More clients mean more revenue and business growth. Therefore, marketplace integration allows you to earn more profits for your software business.
4. You can access all sorts of data from the marketplace in one go. For example, data related to orders, categories, products, customers, etc., can be retrieved and managed from a single place with the help of marketplace integration.

Here’s the process of setting up marketplace integrations:

Stage 1: Exploring the peculiarities and API Docs of the marketplaces

First, you need to thoroughly understand the marketplace you’re going to integrate with. Then, go through the API documentation and the challenges associated with each of them.

Stage 2: Developing the integration between your software and API of the marketplaces

Once you know the technicalities, you can start developing integration between your eCommerce software and the marketplace. You get your developers to code these integrations.

Stage 3: Data Transfer

Here comes the primary step. You access all the data related to customers, products, categories, orders, etc., from the marketplace and manage it through your software.

Stage 4: Support and maintenance of the integration

Since the marketplaces keep updating their APIs for security reasons, you have to keep upgrading and maintaining your integration to keep them smooth and functioning.

Marketplace API

A marketplace API or application programming interface is the mediator between eCommerce software and the marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, etc.

API integration is, therefore, the process in which two applications connect with each other via APIs. It allows various businesses to connect their software with other applications that can provide them with additional functionality for their clients.

In the case of marketplaces, the eCommerce software connects with the marketplace API to access the required data from it. The eCommerce software needs such data to be able to perform its core operations and provide the automation that the e-retailers need to streamline their business operations.

API data integration also aids businesses in retaining their clients. When retailers don’t get the level of automation they need and are still forced to take help from third-party solutions, they look for a comprehensive system that can provide everything. Data integration helps you fulfill your clients’ needs via one system and never lets them go.

The Specific Features of Various Marketplace APIs

An API, in general, is the medium of communication between two applications that are willing to transfer data from one to another. It allows businesses and organizations to extend the capabilities of their software and applications by integrating them with third-party applications that perform the same functionality they need.

Following are the most popular APIs of marketplaces:

• Amazon API

Amazon API allows transferring data related to orders, listings, reports, payments, etc. With Amazon API, developers can access all the data from Amazon stores and enable their software to manage the data from one place.

Amazon features more than 310 million users on its website, with 90 million of this count actively using Amazon prime. It has a global presence and therefore helps its developer clients grow internationally.

• eBay API

eBay API allows the software vendors to access data that help the software in searching, selling, buying, and other related eCommerce activities. It gives all the available opportunities to the developers to manage their client’s eBay business.

eBay has more than 177 million users who share their passion for business and entrepreneurship.

• Walmart API

Walmart API utilized the RESTful architecture to help third-party developers accelerate their clients’ eCommerce business with their software or application. This makes the API easy to use and straightforward for sellers, developers, and other third-party businesses.

• Etsy API

Etsy API is also based on RESTful architecture that fulfills its purpose of keeping the end-users in mind and designing for them. It allows the developers to use the OAuth methods for reading and writing access to Etsy users’ public and private data.

Etsy features more than 70,000 websites and encourages handmade items and vintage products.

How to Develop Integration with Different Marketplaces Easily

Marketplace integration is a time-consuming, tedious, and expensive affair. It can consume all your time, money, and resources if you do not use the right approach towards it.

In-house integration can turn out to be complex and a complete waste of time and money because:

• You have to train and pay the developers you hire for developing integrations.
• You have to invest in the setup and infrastructure for your integrations.
• You have to look after their updates and maintenance from time to time.

The easier way to develop marketplace integration and avoid such hassles is to partner with a third-party service like  API2Cart. This unified API allows eCommerce vendors to connect their software with more than 40 eCommerce platforms and marketplaces at once. It eliminates separate integrations and therefore saves time, money, and resources for you.

With API2Cart, you just need to integrate your software with the unified API, and in turn, it will connect it with all the marketplaces you desire. It will also look after the maintenance and upgrades of your integrations.

API2Cart has more than 100 API methods for accessing and managing the data on e-store products, orders, shipping details, prices, etc.

API2Cart provides detailed API Docs, a free 30-day trial period of use, and 24/7 customer support.

Conclusion

Marketplace integration development is important for any eCommerce software business. Therefore you must invest in it with the right resources and in the partnership of the right services. To save your hard-earned time and money, you can use third-party services like API2Cart, which can help you streamline the process and make integrations a profitable affair.