Interfaces for e-commerce platforms

INTEGRATE built interfaces for our customer, who operates three e-commerce platforms, to ensure the automatic ordering process and minimise manual effort.

The three online shops for private and business customers were connected to two logistics centers in Switzerland and Austria using a middleware. In addition, two online sales platforms of wholesalers from Switzerland were also connected to the processing database. INTEGRATE used REST interfaces to connect the three existing online shops to the middleware (processing database), which handles data exchange between the various platforms.

If an order is received via one of the three online shops, the respective REST service forwards the request to the processing database. The database receives the customer order as a JSON file and transfers it as a text document to the logistics center, which immediately executes the order. As soon as the goods are provided and prepared for dispatch, the logistics center system sends a confirmation order to the middleware. The processing database automatically generates a confirmation email showing the customer the status of their order. The postal tracking code contained in the email allows the customer to see when the goods will arrive. Middleware in turn regularly informs the wholesalers how much stock the logistics center has. Planning reliability is therefore always guaranteed. This is necessary because instead of individual products, wholesalers order well over a hundred items at a time.

It was also important to note that the confirmation documents had to be created in the appropriate format for each platform. For example, the logistics center requires the files as text in order to print them out as a delivery note. The wholesale center requires PDF and the logistics partner needs the document as an Excel file.

 Applied technologies and working methods:

• REST API
• JSON
• SW-Engineering, Testing