This advice is for linking a new Shopify, Magento, BigCommerce or WooCommerce webstore to Retailer via Tower Web Connect (TWC).
Info
If you have an existing webstore connected to Retailer using the previous link and need to change to TWC, click HERE
Alert
Before 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 just 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 (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.  
  11. In  Resources , tick the relevant information to be sent across to the ecommerce platform.
    ( WooCommerce and Magento only )  Attributes must be ticked if there are variant products.
    Alert
    If you don't intend to use the Retailer Department and Category names on the website, don't tick Categories in the Resources, but still tick Departments. Department information is necessary for items to sync and update, and you can work around this in Shopify.
    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.
  12. ( Shopify only ) Go to the Locations tab, and under Inventory Groups, click the  Import Location button.
  13. ( Shopify and Magento only ) In the Locations tab, 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 .
  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 .

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 new webstore, skip to the next section.

If you are using Tags or Weights in your 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 our recommendation.  

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

From Tower Web Connect:

      1. Click on  Setup
      2. Click on go to Export Tag, Weights and Image Links and click  Export.
      3. A CSV file will then be downloaded. 
        NOTE:  The above step is only available for Shopify connections.  If you are using a platform other than Shopify you will need to 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 (not required)
      4. Import Tags
        Please note that importing tags here will REPLACE all your existing tags with the Tags from Shopify on matched products.    
          • In Retailer, go to  Utilities   > Import/Export Files  > Import Shopify Tags
          • Find the file you downloaded from Step 3.
          • Click on  OK.
          • The File will then import and update the Tags on items with matching barcodes from the file.
      5. Import Weights
          • In Retailer, go to  Utilities >  Import/Export Files   >   Import Shopify Weights
          • Find the file you downloaded from Step 3.  
          • Click on  OK.  
          • 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 to ensure they are correct before sending data 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.    

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 Tags

(Shopify and WooCommerce) When ticked, the list of Product Tags from Retailer will be added to the Tags field in your ecommerce platform.

Tags created from the Category names will also be added to the Tags field in your ecommerce platform.  (Shopify only)

Update Product Attributes

When ticked, Retailer will send across variant information as well as classifications to ecommerce platform.

(WooCommerce and Magento - must be ticked for variant products)  

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.  

Replace Custom Product Type With Tag
Tags prefixed with Type_ will be added to the Custom Product Type field in Shopify. This will replace the department value where the tag exists. If the Tag does not exist the Department Type or Category Type (if enabled) will continue to be used.

Update Product Weight

(Required for BigCommerce) - All stock items must have a weight value (can be 0).
When ticked, the product weight and unit field from Retailer will update the product weight field in your ecommerce platform.    
   Update Product Dimensions
(Magento and Woo Commerce only) When ticked the product dimensions from Retailer attribute will update the product shipping dimensions in your ecommerce platform
Woo Commerce: The Dimensions in your Retailer classifications must be named as LENGTH, WIDTH and HEIGHT
Magento: The Dimensions in your Retailer need to be called ts_dimensions_length, ts_dimensions_width and ts_dimensions_height

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.  

Update Product Metafield
When ticked the attribute from Retailer will be used to update the product metafield in your ecommence platform. Information on metafields for Shopify https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/metafields

Update Product Barcode

When ticked, the barcode number from Retailer will be used to update the Barcode field of the product in your ecommerce platform (mainly Shopify).            

Departments

Update Department Title  


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

Use Smart Collections 

When ticked, this will create any NEW Departments as Smart Collections in Shopify.  When enabled, the Departments will also be added to the product type to allow the filters to be created.

Please note that if you add additional criteria to your smart collection, you may inadvertently inhibit stock items allocated to this department/collection from appearing on your site.  

 

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.  

Use Department as Product Type    


When ticked, if you are not using Smart Collections, you add the Department name to the product type field. This is used in Shopify to automate adding items to a Collection, allowing an additional way of tracking products.

Department as Metafields
When ticked, department names will be used as metafields in Shopify, which are additional ways of grouping items, and can be used in filtering options on pages.

Category



Use Category As Product Type
When ticked, this will add the Category name of the product to the product type field in Shopify. This is used in Shopify to automate adding items to a Collection, allowing an additional way of tracking products.
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.|

NOTE:   IF YOU HAVE AN EXISTING SHOPIFY SITE ENABLING THIS OPTION MAY BREAK YOUR SITES NAVIGATION. PLEASE CHECK WITH YOUR SITES DEVELOPERS BEFORE USING THIS OPTION.
Category As Metafields
When ticked, category names will be used as metafields in Shopify, which are additional ways of grouping items, and can be used in filtering options on pages.

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.  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.  

Use Catalogue Price

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

Based on the timing of the weblink syncs, the catalogue pricing will potentially activate/deactivate early on your webstore, as it mainly checks the dates.
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.  


Additional settings

Click on Account setting on the left
Then Click on Data at the top
Department & Category
Use Categories As Departments
When ticked, Your categories from Retailer will be imported as departments, your Retailer departments will be ignored.
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
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.
Display Rich Text Description
The web description from retailer is usually in this format but may not be suitable for all websites. Unticking this option sets the description to use Plain Text, which has no formatting (like font types, dot points).
Remove Background Tag from Rich Text Description
When using the Rich Text description of the product, this option can remove any background effects/colours behind the text.
Remove Font Family from Rich Text Description
When using the Rich Text description of the product, 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.
Remove Font Size from Rich Text Description
When using the Rich Text description of the product, this option can remove any custom Font Sizes used in the text.

Now that we have an active connection from TWC to your ecommerce platform, we need to setup Retailer to send your web store items to TWC.    


Which items are sent to TWC are based on a set of definable conditions.  The primary conditions on each of these are that you must have WebStore enabled.  From here, you can add other conditions to refine what stock is sent to a website.  Typically, you would 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.

  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 from down the boxes 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. ( Magento only ) Ensure that Automatic Sales Export is ticked.

  9. Click on  Save .