Questions
I am interested in upgrading my website to WooCommerce. My POS is jewelry industry related and is called Logic Mate Jewelmate Enterprise. I am interested in the ability to integrate online and in-store.
I have a bunch of questions that I would like answered as well.
- Is it ok that the data is in a SQL database?
- Can web items also be updated directly on the web admin?
- Would Logic Mate program updates possibly interfere with the Modern Retail integrator or is it a direct database connection?
- Are there any PCI compliance security issues with having a web to in-house server connection?
- If we added 10 items inventory today and they get uploaded, is there some type of flag or status for items uploaded that need to go live.
- Also, if the POS has all the fields needed to properly categorize, cross sell, search terms/parameters, long/short descriptions etc. can those fields be linked to the appropriate WooCommerce fields? Also, we currently manually upload images, so we are used to doing that part.
Thank you for your help.
Answer
Thank you for your interest in Modern Retail. While we don’t currently have an integration with Logic Mate, we’d love to have one. The first step that usually works the best is for you to send an e-mail to Logic Mate letting them know you’re interested in working with Modern Retail to get their POS software integrated with WooCommerce. We’ll set up a meeting with Logic Mate and get our tech guys talking with their tech guys to see what can be done. While these are pretty technical meetings, you’re welcome to join if you’d like.
Regarding your questions, here's my reply:
- This is something to be worked out with Logic Mate, but what “type” of database it is shouldn’t make a difference. Ideally, we’d work with Logic Mate to create what’s called an application programming interface (API). This API would then become a standard way for our two systems to “talk” to each other. Alternatively, we can pass data back and forth using files and something called FTP. Net-net, we have lots of options around our integration and need to speak with Logic Mate to figure out which one is best.
- In general, products get sent from the POS system to WooCommerce where they are “merchandised” before going live on the website. By “merchandised,” I mean the product name is changed, a short and/or long description is added, product photography is uploaded, the item is cross sold / up sold, etc. Basically, all the “stuff” to make it look and sound good are done in WooCommerce. However, Logic Mate is still very much needed because it still controls inventory and pricing. As inventory and pricing are changed in Logic Mate, they are automatically reflected on the website.
- I’m not exactly sure what you mean. Per the first question, we’d like to have an API between our two systems, but if that’s not possible, then we can pass data back and forth using files.
- We never pass credit card information from the e-commerce platform to the POS system because, you’re right, the PCI requirements would be a nightmare. Instead, the e-commerce platform, WooCommerce in this case, is responsible for processing your cards and being compliant with PCI.
- I can’t remember what it says exactly in WooCommerce, but it is basically in WooCommerce, although not active on the website yet (e.g. it is sitting there waiting for you to upload the image and make it active). I would need to speak with someone on our WooCommerce team if you need to know exactly what it says.
- This is dependent upon on our conversation with Logic Mate.
When the integration with Logic Mate is done it is generally pretty seamless and just works in the background (most clients forget about it). However, we do have a snazzy dashboard that tells you exactly what’s going on with the integration.
Please Contact Us if you have any more questions. Thank you.