This advice is for linking a new Shopify, Magento, BigCommerce or WooCommerce webstore to Retailer via Tower Web Connect (TWC).
InfoIf you have an existing webstore connected to Retailer using the previous link and need to change to TWC, click HERE
AlertBefore proceeding, make sure you have updated to the newest version of Retailer. Click HERE for a guide to updating.

Configure TWC

  1. Go to www.towersystems.com.au.
  2. Log in using your Tower Advantage username and password.
  3. On your Tower Systems Dashboard, click on Tower Web Connect. The Tower Web Connect screen will then open.
  4. Click on Create New.

  5. Type in the name of your site.  This is so you can identify it easily, in case you have more then one web store.     
  6. In Weblink Group Number,  if you are setting up your first site, please pick number 15 (use 19 for a 2nd webstore).
  7. In Connection Type, please pick what ecommerce platform you are using - either Shopify, Magento, BigCommerce or WooCommerce. Then, click on the relevant link below to create the access from your website.
  8. Enter the API information you obtained using the information in the links above then click  Save .
  9. Scroll down the page and click on the Test Connection button under your API details. This will check to see if we can communicate with your website.   
  10. If this test is successful, click on Enabled and then click Save.  This will turn green indicating the link is active.
    NotesNote: If you wish to pause the Retailer web integration with your website, you can disable this setting.
  11.  Under Resources section, tick the relevant information to be sent across to the ecommerce platform.
  12. Attributes must be ticked if there are variant products.
  13. In the Locations tab:
    Alert
    These steps are necessary for additional locations to the Shopify or Magento website. This may be done in the existing TWC connection, or under a new one.
    1. ( Shopify only ) Under Inventory Groups, click the Import Location button.
    2. ( Shopify and Magento only ) Under Current Location Groups click the Edit button (If there are no locations, click Add Location Group). Click the drop-down box under External ID and select the appropriate location. Click Save .
Info
The web sync doesn't upload customer information from Retailer to websites, which means it also does not track loyalty programs or customer discount profiles or gift vouchers with websites.
Migrate existing ecommerce Tags and Weights to Retailer
Notes
Only follow this section if you have an existing webstore that was not linked to Retailer. If you are setting up a completely new webstore, skip this section.
If you use Tags or Weights in your existing ecommerce platform, you will need to import these from your website into Retailer to ensure that your site data is not inadvertently deleted when enabling the new link.  Alternatively, you can disable the link from updating these fields if you still want to control these from your ecommerce platform, however this is NOT recommended.  

Once you have completed this step it is important that you only update and manage this data in Retailer.     

From Tower Web Connect, in the connection:
  1. Click on the Setup tab.
  2. Click on Export Tag, Weights and Image Links and click Export.
  3. A CSV file will then be downloaded.
    Notes
    NOTE: The above step is only available for Shopify connections.  If you are using a different platform, contact your site's developers/administrators to create a CSV file must have the following column names:- SKU, Product Name, Tag List, Weight, Weight Unit, Images (optional)
  4. Import Tags
    1. Please note that importing tags here will REPLACE all your existing tags with the Tags from Shopify on matched products.    
    2. In Retailer, click in the top menu to go to Utilities → Import/Export Files → Import Shopify Tags
    3. Find the file you downloaded from Step 3.
    4. Click on OK.
    5. The File will then import and update the Tags on items with matching barcodes from the file.
  5. Import Weights
    1. In Retailer, click in the top menu to go to Utilities → Import/Export Files → Import Shopify Weights
    2. Find the file you downloaded from Step 3.  
    3. Click on OK.  
    4. The File will then import and update the Weights on items with matching barcodes from the file.
 

Check your Sync Settings   

Now that you have completed the first half of the setup, you need to check your sync settings. These affect which product details are sent from Retailer.

  1. Go to www.towersystems.com.au  
  2. Log in using your Tower Advantage username and password.
  3. On your Tower Systems Dashboard, click on Tower Web Connect .
  4. Click on the link for your website and then the Preferences tab. 
Some settings affect all ecommerce platforms, while some are specific. The specific settings will be explained in each tab further below, after the general settings.

Setting

What’s Updated

Product

Update Product Title

When ticked, the Description from Retailer will update Product Name/Title in your ecommerce platform.  

Update Product Description

When ticked, the Web Description from Retailer will be used to update Description in your ecommerce platform.  

Update Product Price

When ticked, the chosen price from Retailer (see inventory and pricing below) will be used to update the product price in your ecommerce platform.  

Departments

Update Department Title

When ticked, the Department Name from Retailer will be used to update the corresponding Collection/Category in your ecommerce platform.  

Inventory and Pricing

Update Product Inventory Levels  

When ticked, the Stock on Hand value from Retailer will be used as the inventory level in your ecommerce platform.  

TWC Track Product Inventory Levels

When ticked, it will check ecommerce sales when updating inventory quantity from Retailer (in case sales have happened that have yet to import to Retailer).                                 

Round Down QOH To Whole Number

When ticked,  the Stock on Hand value will be rounded down to next whole number (no decimals).

Required for Shopify and WooCommerce if Retailer has decimal quantities

Use Web Price

When ticked, the Retailer Web Price will be used as the sell price of the item online. If unticked, the system will use the Retailer Retail Price.

If you are using the web price, and it is inadvertently set to zero, the Retail price will be used.

If you do not have different pricing for your products between in-store and online, you should leave this unticked.

Use Catalogue Price

When ticked, the Retailer Stock Item Catalogue price will be used as the Retail Price on your eCommerce website. The regular price, whether web or retail, will be set as the Compare At price (Shopify). Specials in 'Officesmart' catalogues will be ignored.

Info
The only catalogue discount type that works with your website is Stock Item with a quantity set to 1. All other catalogue discount types are exclusive to the Retailer software only.
Notes
Based on the timing of the weblink syncs, the catalogue pricing will potentially activate/deactivate early on your webstore, as it's based on Date only.
It cannot follow the time as set in Retailer so you can set dates a day later, and do a Full Weblink Sync in the morning.

Out Of Stock Quantity

The Quantity entered here will be used as Out of Stock quantity. Any quantity below this value will be marked as Out of Stock on your ecommerce platform.  

Unpublish Out of Stock

When ticked, products with chosen inventory will be unpublished or unavailable for purchase on your ecommerce platform.  

Blog Posts

Send Blog Posts

When ticked, the Blog posts created in Retailer against stock items will be uploaded to Shopify.  

Shopify Preferences
WooCommerce Preferences
Magento Preferences
BigCommerce Preferences
Shopify Preferences
Product
  1. Update Product Tags - When ticked, the list of Product Tags from Retailer will be added to the Tags field in Shopify.
    Notes
    Note: this overwrites any existing Tags
  2. Update Product Vendor - Tags prefixed with Brand_ will be added to the Vendor field in Shopify. (not case sensitive)
    E.G. a tag of BRAND_Apple will be removed from your tag list and Apple will be added to Vendor.
  3. Update Product Weight - When ticked, the product weight and unit field from Retailer will update the product weight field in Shopify.
  4. Update Product Metafield - When ticked the attribute from Retailer will be used to update the product metafield in your Shopify. Information on metafields for Shopify https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/metafields
  5. Update Product Type with what data? - The link can sync Departments, or Categories as product type metafields in Shopify and assign it to Collections.
    If you have migrated from TALink to TWC, then this setting will not affect any pre-existing Collections.  It only applies to new Departments/Collections that you are adding to your store.
    Options available:
    1. Don't Sync - Don't use metafields for Departments and Categories. 
    2. Sync Tagged Product Type Only - Uses product tags from Retailer to assign Product Type, and collection in Shopify
    3. Sync Tagged Product Type then Department Name - Uses product tags from Retailer to assign Product Type, and collection in Shopify, then updates Product Type with Retailer Departments
    4. Sync Tagged Product Type then Category Name - Uses product tags from Retailer to assign Product Type, and collection in Shopify, then updates Product Type with Retailer Categories
  6. Update Product Barcode - When ticked, the barcode number from Retailer will be used to update the Barcode field of the product in Shopify

Collections
  1. Default Collection Sorting Order - This will set the default sorting of products in new collections created in Shopify, based on different orders that Shopify have e.g. alphabetically, lowest to highest price
  2. Update Collection Title - When ticked, the Department Name from Retailer will be used to update the corresponding Collection in Shopify.
  3. Prefix Category Tags - If this option is selected then the Category Tags will be prefixed with CAT_. This allows easier designation between product tags and category tags Which is useful when creating navigation.
    Warning
    IF YOU HAVE AN EXISTING SHOPIFY SITE, ENABLING THIS OPTION MAY BREAK YOUR SITES NAVIGATION. PLEASE CHECK WITH YOUR SITE'S DEVELOPERS BEFORE USING THIS OPTION.


WooCommerce Preferences
Product
  1. Update Product Tags - When ticked, the list of Product Tags from Retailer will be added to the Tags field in WooCommerce.
    Notes
    Note: this overwrites any existing Tags
  2. Update Product Attributes - When ticked, Retailer will send across variant information as well as classifications to ecommerce platform. Required for variant products.
  3. Update Product Weight - When ticked, the product weight and unit field from Retailer will update the product weight field in WooCommerce.
  4. Update Product Dimensions - When ticked the product dimensions from Retailer attribute will update the product shipping dimensions in WooCommerce. The Dimensions in your Retailer classifications must be named as LENGTH, WIDTH and HEIGHT.
  5. Update Product Categories - When ticked, Departments and Categories will update to the website as Categories and Sub-Categories.
  6. Use Talink Variant SKU - When ticked, this uses the legacy way of tracking SKU for main variant products on the website, using sku-1 instead of sku_1.
    Warning
    Do NOT tick this unless you are migrating from legacy Talink.
Category
Update Category Title - When ticked, the Category Name from Retailer will be used to update the corresponding Category in WooCommerce.

Magento Preferences
Product
  1. Update Product Attributes - When ticked, Retailer will send across variant information as well as classifications to Magento. Required for variant products.
  2. Update Product Weight - When ticked, the product weight and unit field from Retailer will update the product weight field in Magento.
  3. Update Product Dimensions - When ticked the product dimensions from Retailer attribute will update the product shipping dimensions in Magento. The Dimensions in your Retailer need to be called ts_dimensions_length, ts_dimensions_width and ts_dimensions_height.
  4. Update Product Categories - When ticked, Departments and Categories will update to the website as Categories and Sub-Categories.
Category
Update Category Title - When ticked, the Category Name from Retailer will be used to update the corresponding Category in your Magento.

BigCommerce Preferences
Product
  1. Update Product Brand - Tags prefixed with Brand_ will be added to product Brand on BigCommerce.
    E.G. a tag of BRAND_Apple will be removed from your tag list and Apple will be added to Brand.
  2. Update Product Dimensions - When ticked the product dimensions from Retailer attribute will update the product shipping dimensions in BigCommerce. 
  3. Update Product Categories - When ticked, Departments and Categories will update to the website as Categories and Sub-Categories.
  4. Use Talink Variant SKU - When ticked, this uses the legacy way of tracking SKU for main variant products on the website, using sku-1 instead of sku_1.
  5. Update Custom Fields - When ticked the attribute from Retailer (classifications) will update to custom fields setup in BigCommerce.
  6. Update Product Metafield - When ticked the attribute from Retailer will be used to update the product metafield in BigCommerce.
BigCommerce products automatically update product weight from Retailer (required). A weight of 0 is fine.

Category
Update Category Title - When ticked, the Category Name from Retailer will be used to update the corresponding Sub-Category in BigCommerce

 
Additional settings
These settings allow changing the format of data going to your ecommerce platform, and should only be used after consulting the Support team. These will also apply to all web connections setup here.
  1. In the TWC screen.
  2. Click on Account settings on the left.
  3. Then click on Data at the top.
  4. Settings here are grouped, based on whether they control the Department/Category names, or the product names.
Department & Category:
  1. Use Categories As Departments - When ticked, Your categories from Retailer will be imported as departments, your Retailer departments will be ignored.
  2. Use Title Case - Often Retailer sends Department and Category Titles in UPPER CASE. Enabling this option will change the case of the Department and Category Titles to Title Case. For example, HOME AND BUSINESS SUPPLIES would be changed to Home And Business Supplies

Product:
  1. Use Title Case - Often Retailer sends the product name in UPPER CASE. Enabling this option will change the case of the product names to Title Case. For example, CAT AND FIDDLE ORNAMENT would be changed to Cat And Fiddle Ornament.
  2. Display Rich Text Description - The web description from Retailer is usually in this format but may not be suitable for all websites. Unticking this sets the description to use Plain Text, which has no formatting (like font types, dot points).
  3. Remove Background Tag from Rich Text Description - When using the Rich Text product description, this option can remove any background effects/colours behind the text.
  4. Remove Font Family from Rich Text Description - When using the Rich Text product description, this option can remove any Font Types used in the text.
    This may be useful if copying descriptions from various sources that use different Font Types like Times New Roman, Calibri, etc.
  5. Remove Font Size from Rich Text Description - When using the Rich Text product description, this option can remove any custom Font Sizes used in the text.

 

Installing Weblink

  1. From the desktop of the Main computer, click on Retailer Backup, the Blue R on the desktop.
  2. On the left, click on Settings  and Database settings .
  3. Tick Run Random on Startup.
  4. Click on Install WebLink Service.
    You should get a popup that says Weblink Service Started.
  5. Click Ok .
  6. Untick Run Random on Startup .

Setup Weblink in Retailer

This section will setup Retailer to send your web store items to TWC.

Items sent to TWC are based on a set of definable conditions.  The primary conditions on each of these are that you must have WebStore ticked on items. From here, you can add other conditions to refine what stock is sent to a website.  You should only need to add other conditions if you’re sending product to two or more websites.     

  1. From the main screen of Retailer, click on Stock Maintenance  >  Group Management.
    Note: If the Group Management option is not available or the Group Management screen doesn't open, contact Tower Support
  2. On the grid on the left-hand side, select the TWC Group 15 (or Group 19 for the 2nd store).  
    NOTE:  If you don't see TWC Group here wait 10mins and reopen Group Management
  3. Click on  Add .   
  4. This will prefill your first condition.  If you want to send all stock that is enabled for webstore then this is all you need to do and you can click on  Save .   Otherwise, click and drag from the top buttons down into the lines to set conditions. 
  5. This will then perform your first sync to the new platform. This may take up to 10 mins to complete. 
      


Sales

  1. Go back to Tower Web Connect
  2. Click on Sales tab.
  3. The Sales Screen should then appear.
  4. Under  Register,  please pick the terminal name you want to import sales under.
  5. In  Payments , please select the payment type you want sales for this website imported under.
  6. Under  Fulfilment , this should be already pre- filled , however if it isn’t, please select the store you want to  fulfil  the orders from.
  7. In  Staff Initials , please enter in the Staff members initials that you want sales to be processed under.
  8. ( Shopify and BigCommerce only ) Under Test webhook for order creation, click the button 'Test webhook connection'. This will display a box showing 'Webhook successfully connected', if it works. This option configures the link in Shopify and BigCommerce to allow web sales to import to Retailer.
    If you see the box showing 'This hook already exists. Please use a different scope or destination', that means this configuration already exists for this link to your website.
  9. ( Magento only ) Ensure that Automatic Sales Export is ticked.
  10. Click on Save .