Direct Hardware Supply connects its Magento B2B webshop with Business Central

About Direct Hardware Supply

Direct Hardware Supply was founded in 2010 and supplies refurbished IT equipment from manufacturers such as IBM, HP, Lenovo, Dell and Cisco to data centres, service companies, system integrators and resellers in more than 40 countries.

The equipment is tested, cleaned and configured in their own test centre before it ships. Customers buy through a B2B webshop on Magento 2, with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central behind it.

The challenge

A range of used hardware changes all the time. Items come in and get sold, and the same model can exist in several conditions. The webshop has to show what is actually in stock, at the price set in Business Central, and it has to be organised so customers can find what they’re looking for.

When customers place an order, it has to reach Business Central on the right customer account without anyone keying it in. And once the order is invoiced, the webshop needs to know.

How we solved it

Business Central is where the range is maintained. Every hour Connectify sends items, prices, weight and stock to Magento. The item’s condition is part of the product, so the same model in different conditions becomes separate products in the webshop. Some items may be sold even when they’re not in stock right now. That is controlled by a flag in Business Central, which the integration passes on.

The categories in the webshop are built from manufacturer and product group in Business Central. When a new manufacturer or product group appears, the integration creates the category in Magento and places the items in it.

Orders from the webshop are sent to Business Central as sales orders every minute, with delivery address, item lines, discounts and shipping. The customer is found in Business Central by e-mail, and if the customer is new, the account is created with the address, phone number and VAT number from the order. Once the order has been transferred, it gets a status in Magento showing that it has been passed on.

When the invoice is posted in Business Central, the order in Magento is automatically marked as shipped and invoiced.

The result

The range, prices and stock in the webshop come straight from Business Central, and orders go the other way without manual work. Staff work in Business Central, and the webshop keeps up.

Do you also have a B2B webshop that needs to talk to Business Central? Read more about our Magento and Business Central integration and about B2B webshops.