The Business Challenge
The client operates both:
- A franchisee purchasing portal for store operators purchasing products for resale
- A consumer-facing e-commerce store for customers purchasing products shipped directly to their homes
Initially, the client evaluated Shopify because of the native connector available within Business Central. However, after reviewing operational requirements and long-term scalability needs, they determined that Cart.com provided a stronger fit for their business model.
That decision introduced a new challenge: there was no native integration available between Business Central and Cart.com.
Instead of forcing workflows into a rigid connector, the project became an opportunity to build an integration tailored specifically to the client’s operational needs.
Defining the Integration Strategy
Before development began, the first phase focused heavily on requirements gathering and process mapping.
The project team worked closely with stakeholders to answer several critical questions:
- Which system should own inventory data?
- Where should customer records originate?
- How should orders flow through the business?
- What information needed to sync in real time?
- How should franchisee transactions differ from public ecommerce transactions?
From these discussions, a clear integration architecture emerged...
Business Central as the Source of Truth
Business Central would manage:
- Items
- Inventory
- Item categories
- On-hand quantities
- Financial processing
Cart.com as the e-commerce Engine
Cart.com would manage:
- Ecommerce storefronts
- Customer checkout experiences
- Order origination
- Payment capture
This separation ensured that each platform handled the functions it was best suited for.
Automating Product & Inventory Synchronization
One of the most important requirements was maintaining accurate inventory visibility across both e-commerce experiences.
The custom integration automatically synchronizes the following from Business Central into Cart.com:
- New items
- Item updates
- Item categories
- Available inventory quantities
This means the ERP system remains the authoritative source for operational data while e-commerce customers and franchisees always see accurate product availability online.
The automation also significantly reduced manual maintenance work and eliminated the risk of inventory discrepancies between systems.
Intelligent Order Processing
Orders originate in Cart.com and are automatically pushed into Business Central once payment is confirmed.
During the synchronization process, the integration intelligently determines whether the customer already exists inside Business Central.
Existing Customer?
The order is linked to the existing customer record.
New Customer?
The integration automatically creates a new customer account before generating the sales order.
To further streamline reporting and operational clarity, the implementation introduced separate numbering structures (No. Series) for:
- Franchisee customers and orders
- Public ecommerce customers and orders
This distinction gives accounting and operations teams cleaner visibility into sales channels without requiring manual categorization.
Shipping Visibility & Customer Notifications
Modern e-commerce customers expect real-time visibility into their orders.
To support this expectation, a series of automated Business Central Job Queues were configured to continuously sync the following back into Cart.com:
- Shipment quantities
- Fulfillment updates
- Tracking information
This allows customers to receive accurate shipping notifications while giving the client full operational transparency across the fulfillment process.
Automating Financial Reconciliation
As the project evolved, the client identified another opportunity for automation: payment reconciliation.
Rather than manually importing or applying customer payments, the integration was expanded to synchronize payments directly from Cart.com into Business Central.
Here’s how the process works:
- Payments are imported into Business Central as Cash Receipt Journal lines
- An automated Job Queue posts the journal entries
- A second Job Queue automatically applies payments against:
- Posted Sales Invoices
- Customer Ledger Entries
This eliminated repetitive accounting tasks while improving financial accuracy and reducing processing time.
Why Custom Integrations Matter
Many organizations assume that native connectors are always the best option. In reality, out-of-the-box integrations often struggle when businesses have unique workflows or operational complexity.
This project demonstrates the value of a custom integration approach.
By building a tailored solution between Business Central and Cart.com, the client gained:
- Complete control over synchronization behavior
- Flexibility to support evolving business requirements
- Clear separation between franchise and consumer operations
- Automated fulfillment visibility
- Streamlined financial processing
- Reduced manual effort across departments
Most importantly, the integration was designed around the client’s business - not the limitations of a prebuilt connector.
The Final Result
The completed solution delivers a fully automated integration ecosystem between Business Central and Cart.com that supports both B2B franchise purchasing and direct-to-consumer e-commerce operations.
With Business Central managing operational and financial data, and Cart.com powering the e-commerce experience, the client now has a scalable platform capable of supporting continued franchise growth while maintaining efficiency and visibility across the organization.
For businesses evaluating e-commerce and ERP integration strategies, this project highlights an important lesson:
The best solution is not always the one with the native connector - it’s the one designed to fit your business processes today and scale with your needs tomorrow.