Updates to the Business Central & Shopify Connector in the 2023 Release Wave 1

Microsoft is releasing updates and enhancements to their Business Central Shopify Connector in the 2023 release wave 1. The Business Central Shopify Connector is a powerful integration that enables seamless data exchange between Shopify and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. This integration allows merchants to streamline their business operations by managing their financials, supply chain, sales, and customer service in one central location, while also providing a robust eCommerce platform with Shopify. In this blog, we’ll highlight the significant updates to the Shopify Connector, including easier price synchronization, extensibility of the connector, and improved usability.

Based on user feedback, Microsoft has released improvements related to the synchronization of product prices from Business Central to Shopify. A new Price Synchronization tab has been added to the Shopify Shop Card. The new tab has the following fields:

• Customer Price Group – Previously existed, moved from the Item/Product Synchronization tab to the Price Synchronization tab. 
• Customer Discount Group – Previously existed, moved from the Item/Product Synchronization tab to the Price Synchronization tab. 
• Allow Line Disc. – New field. Determines whether a line discount is allowed when calculating prices for Shopify. This only applies for prices on Item cards. 
• Prices Including Tax – New field. Determines whether the prices calculated for Shopify include tax. 

Additionally, the Sync Prices action has been added to the Shopify Shop Card, making it easier to start a manual update after changing settings.

Previously, the Shopify Connector has been non-extensible, meaning that Microsoft Partners and Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) could not add additional functionality to the Shopify Connector. In the 2023 release wave 1, Microsoft will begin offering a few points of extensibility. They plan to keep the number of points to a minimum to follow the rapid development on the Shopify side without introducing breaking changes. These updates will allow Microsoft partners and ISVs to customize key parts of the connector based on specific customer needs. 

In the 2023 release wave 1, Microsoft will include updates to the Shopify Connector that improve usability and address changes in the Shopify platform. These updates aim to provide a better online shopping experience for customers while streamlining business management for merchants. The key features of this update include:

• Switch from configuration templates to item and customer templates for quicker and more accurate creation of customer and item data
• Control whether to release created sales documents automatically with the new Auto Release Sales Order toggle
• Shopify actions are now available in the Item Card and Item List, allowing users to add selected items to the Shopify Shop or open the product page in the Shopify shop
• Marketing text can be added to item descriptions, which can be published on a web shop like Shopify. The Sync Item Marketing Text toggle can be enabled to synchronize marketing texts to Shopify
• Changes in the Shopify API affect how order source is displayed, with the Source Name field being replaced with App Name and Channel Name fields
• Business Central customers can now be exported to multiple Shopify shops with the new Shop ID field

If you’re interested in learning more about the recent updates to the Shopify Connector, or want to explore how these changes can benefit your business, contact us today. Rand Group is a certified Microsoft partner with expertise in implementing and optimizing Dynamics 365 Business Central and Shopify. Our team of experienced consultants can help you understand the latest features and capabilities of the platform, and work with you to develop a customized strategy for leveraging these updates to achieve your business goals.