As competition in the eCommerce market grows more intense, so does demand for extra software functionality. With enhanced features, business owners can have greater sales and thus a better place on the market.
It means that eCommerce software vendors - multichannel, shipping management systems, marketing automation tools, and so on - work very hard to improve their software. The best way to catch up in this competition is likely through an integration between eCommerce software and platforms such as Shopify. It facilitates working with Shopify customer data and other such information.
The compatibility with various platforms means that the software providers can get all the data they need to provide a basic function. In addition, it's a means to add more customers and increase their satisfaction.
In this article we are going to look at why accessing eCommerce platforms 'customer data is so important for software providers. Moreover, we will teach you to make Shopify customer API integration.
Why do eCommerce Software Need to Work with e-stores’ Customer Data?
You'll know how to integrate with Shopify and work with Shopify customer data, but before that, you need to understand why your eCommerce software needs to access and work with e-store customer data.
The data relating to customers is stored in clients’ e-shops built on eCommerce platforms like Shopify, Magento, BigCommerce, etc. The eCommerce software needs such data for several cases.
For example, shipping management systems need data related to customers, including customer name, address, email, phone number, etc., to create shipping labels.
Similarly, marketing automation systems need such data so they can send automated emails to online store customers.The access to customer data allows marketing software to notify e-store clients about discounts, new products, offers, and order status changes.
However, in order for these eCommerce software to pull customer data from shopping platforms such as Shopify, they must develop an integration between their systems and the Shopify customer API. Without such integration, software vendors will not be able to access customer data from e-shops and propose their solutions to e-merchants.
The integration helps connect the software to the shopping platforms where the e-retailers have their stores. This enables seamless data transfer from eCommerce platforms to the software. So, being integrated with shopping platforms, software solutions can directly access, edit, modify and delete customer data from them.
Development of the Integration with Shopify
In order for software vendors to develop an integration between their software and Shopify, you need to connect your software to the Shopify API.
The Shopify API is an intermediary tool between the software and the shopping platform. It allows getting access to data from Shopify-based customer online stores. The API enables the direct transfer of data between connected systems.
Shopify API accepts both data formats - JSON and XML. Also, it works with such types of HTTP requests as GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE. Shopify API supports methods like Category, Customer, Order, Product, etc. So, the software vendors can easily retrieve all the data they want. For Shopify customer data, the vendors need to work with Shopify customer API.
Shopify Customer resource stores data related to the e-shops’ customers. It includes the info on customer contact numbers, email addresses, names, and everything related to their order history. It also contains information about whether or not the customer has agreed to receive automated emails from the shopping platform. The Shopify customer API also stores a customer’s account status.
Usage of Shopify API allows you to add, delete, modify customer details along with getting a list of all the customers from the e-stores.
All you need is to connect your software with Shopify API. After that, its customer resource will let you retrieve all the Shopify customer data. Such integration can be done in-house or with the help of third-party services.
While in-house integration development is expensive, time-consuming, and resource-consuming, third-party integration development is a profitable deal.
Shopify Customer API Integration: How to Retrieve Customer Data From This Shopping Platform
API2Cart is your go-to solution for easy Shopify customer API integration development. It is a unified API that can connect your eCommerce software to 40+ shopping platforms and marketplaces at once. There is no need to build separate integrations for each platform you need.
In addition, the one-go integration saves a lot of time, money, and resources for software vendors who spend months and a lot of money developing a single integration. Multiply that by the number of integrations required, and you can see which option is viable.
Also, Shopify and other eCommerce platforms update their API frequently. Therefore, you need to be aware of when the API is relevant and you can access Shopify customer data. If you don't, the integration may fail, resulting in software functionality errors. To avoid this situation, API2Cart also takes care of regular integration updates and maintenance. So that you don't have to repeat the entire integration process every time there is a new API update.
There are certain API2Cart API methods that allow you to retrieve data from Shopify customer API and use it for your needs. They include:
- customer.count - this method allows your software to count the number of customers in a store
- customer.list - this method enables the software to retrieve a complete list of customers from the stores built on Shopify
- customer.info - this method makes it possible for the software to get important information about a particular customer
- customer.add - this method allows the software to add new customers to the online stores on Shopify
- customer.find - this method allows the software to search for specific customers from e-stores.
You can test all of these API2Cart API methods by registering your free account. After the registration, you be able to add your clients' stores based on Shopify and get customer data.
Conclusion
Shopify customer data and other information plays a big role for various eCommerce software providers. Without such data, neither the e-retailers can manage their eCommerce activities nor the software vendors can suggest their solutions to them. The software solutions need customer data to perform their necessary functions.
The best of all available options is a third-party service provider like API2Cart, which can offer cost-effective and efficient solutions to your integration needs. This unified API connects to the Shopify customer API and 40+ other platforms to retrieve data at once. Using API2Cart also allows you to not worry about integration support and updating. API2Cart provides detailed API Docs, full tech support and is available for you 24/7. Book a consultation call with us to start your free 30-day trial of API2Cart.
