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What breaks first when an online store outgrows its accounting
- ✓Stock counts disagree between the storefront, the warehouse and the books, and overselling becomes a weekly customer service problem.
- ✓Payouts arrive net of fees, refunds and chargebacks, and matching them to orders takes someone most of a day.
- ✓Cost of goods sold is estimated from a spreadsheet, so product margins are guesses until year end.
- ✓Wholesale accounts, marketplaces and the direct store each keep their own customer and price data.
- ✓Purchase orders to overseas suppliers are tracked in email, and landed cost never reaches the product.
How each sales channel connects to the ledger
Shopify connector
Microsoft's own connector syncs products, prices, stock levels and customers with Shopify, and imports orders, refunds and returns as Business Central documents. Several Shopify stores can link to one company.
- ✓Order import on a schedule
- ✓Stock pushed by location
- ✓B2B company records for Shopify Plus
- ✓Refunds turned into credit memos
Amazon and others
Marketplace orders and settlements come in through AppSource connectors or an integration platform. The settlement report is what finance actually needs, not just the orders.
- ✓Order and fee import
- ✓Settlement reconciliation
- ✓FBA stock visibility
- ✓Tax collected by the marketplace
Point of sale
Business Central has no till software of its own. Retailers with physical stores use a POS add-on built on Business Central, or a separate POS that posts daily summaries.
- ✓Retail POS built on Business Central
- ✓Daily sales summary postings
- ✓Store replenishment by transfer order
- ✓Gift card and loyalty handled in POS
Variants, assortments and the product catalog
A retailer with fifty styles in six sizes and four colors does not want twelve hundred separate item cards. Business Central handles that with item variants: one item for the style, with variant codes for each size and color combination. Stock, sales and purchases are tracked by variant, and the Shopify connector maps variants to Shopify's own product options.
Where it gets harder is rich product content. Business Central is not a product information system. Long descriptions, image galleries and SEO copy usually stay in Shopify or a dedicated PIM, while Business Central owns the SKU, cost, price and stock. Deciding that split early saves a lot of sync arguments later.
Retail needs and how Business Central covers them
Retail and ecommerce questions we hear
Does the Shopify connector cost extra?
The connector itself is built by Microsoft and included with Business Central online, so there is no separate connector subscription from Microsoft. You still need your Business Central and Shopify plans. The setup work is in mapping locations, taxes, shipping charges and payment methods, which is where most of the thinking goes.
Should every web order become a Business Central sales order?
Not always. Low-value, high-volume stores sometimes import orders and post them straight to invoices, or summarize them, to keep the database lean. Brands with a warehouse picking from Business Central need each order as a document. We decide based on who ships the goods and how finance reconciles payouts.
Can Business Central run our physical stores?
Only with a point of sale product added. Some retail POS systems are built on Business Central, so store sales post directly to the same items and ledger. Others run separately and send daily totals. For one or two stores, a separate POS with a daily summary is often enough.
How do we handle a 3PL warehouse?
The 3PL is set up as a location. Shipments are sent to the 3PL through their API or files, and shipment confirmations and stock adjustments come back to Business Central. A regular stock comparison between the 3PL's report and Business Central catches drift before it becomes a write-off.
Can we sell wholesale to other retailers from the same system?
Yes. Wholesale customers get their own price lists, payment terms and credit limits, while direct-to-consumer orders flow from the webstore. Margin reports can split the two channels. If big-box retailers require EDI, plan for an EDI add-on.
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