Supplier catalogue and stock sync

A US store chain sells products from a supplier, with hundreds of items and dozens of flavour and strength variants each. I built a service that keeps catalogue and stock in sync across a Shopify store and several BigCommerce stores, each with its own markup. New products arrive as hidden drafts for review.

Client A US vape store chain
Backend
BigCommerce
Shopify

Backend · BigCommerce · Shopify

Results

A service keeps several stores' catalogue and stock in step with a supplier, every 30 minutes.

Stock in connected BigCommerce stores updates every 30 minutes instead of once a day.
A stock pass over the whole catalogue takes about a minute.
Each store keeps its own markup and settings.
A second utility aligned stock between a Shopify and a BigCommerce store by SKU, with dry-run and a scheduled job.

Problem

Nobody can copy hundreds of cards and check stock every day by hand, so products the supplier no longer had kept selling. After part of the chain moved to BigCommerce, one service had to serve several stores, each with its own prices that sync must not overwrite. It also must not flood a store with products it never sold.

Solution

One service with two entry points, a shared data layer and separate syncers for Shopify (Admin GraphQL) and BigCommerce (Catalog API v3). A daily incremental run and a weekly full run bring in products, variants, photos and prices from the supplier catalogue. A separate stock pass runs every 30 minutes. Each store is synced on its own, with dry-run mode for new stores and a protected list that blocks writes.

Key decisions

Chose a dedicated stock feed for stock, apart from the full catalogue run
Why A full run takes hours, so stores saw availability once a day. The stock pass takes about a minute, so it can run every 30 minutes.
Chose a baseline on first sync
Why Only products that appear after a store is connected are created, so no store gets hundreds of items it never sold or deleted.
Chose to create new products as hidden drafts
Why A person reviews each new item before shoppers see it.
Chose a safety net: dry-run for new stores and a protected-store list
Why A mistaken sync cannot write into a live store by accident.

Have a similar task?

Send a link and a few lines about what you need. I reply within 1 business day with questions or a fixed estimate.

Get a fixed estimate

The estimate is the priceHours and total agreed before work starts. No re-estimates.
No prepayment on small projectsProjects up to 20 hours usually need none.
30-day warrantyCritical bugs from my work get fixed free, even after that.

Results

Problem

Solution

Key decisions

Chose a dedicated stock feed for stock, apart from the full catalogue run

Chose a baseline on first sync

Chose to create new products as hidden drafts

Chose a safety net: dry-run for new stores and a protected-store list

Have a similar task?

My gift: start a Shopify store for €1 for your first month