E-commerce and Third-Party Integration in China

QPSoftware, a digital agency founded in 2009 and based in Shanghai, connects online stores and WeChat Mini Programs in China with the systems a brand already runs: ERP, CRM, payments, logistics and booking engines. We built the middleware between the WeChat Mini Program of Huttopia in China and its existing system in France, one of more than 200 projects. E-commerce integration in China lets orders, stock and customer data move between your systems without manual work.

What third-party integration connects

Third-party integration automates your processes by connecting your e-commerce website, in China or worldwide, with other software: e-commerce platforms, accounting software and other business tools. Tasks such as importing orders then run on their own. We connect:

• Order and warehouse management. Orders, stock levels and shipments stay in sync between your store and your order management and warehouse management systems.
• ERP and accounting. For Schneider Electric, we automated the imports from SAP into ZEST, the productivity tool we built. For Baby International Blu, the store exchanges data with OpenERP.
• CRM and marketing automation. Customer and order data reach your CRM and your campaign tools.
• Payments. WeChat Pay, Alipay, UnionPay and cross-border payment platforms, with our China payment gateway integration. For Ma France, we built the API between its WeChat Mini Program and the GoAllPay platform, with automatic currency conversion.
• Delivery tracking and logistics. The WeChat Mini Program server APIs include logistics, instant delivery and order shipping management services that a store can connect to.
• Marketplaces and social commerce. Your own website, JD, Tmall, a WeChat Mini Program or store, and Xiaohongshu (also known as the Little Red Book), connected to one back office.

Why integrate your e-commerce store with your other systems

Third-party integration is an investment. Once it is in place, it helps you:

• reduce your costs;
• increase the productivity of your departments;
• analyze your sales orders better;
• automate your campaign management;
• connect your different online stores, such as JD and Tmall in China;
• keep your online stores and your CRM in sync;
• reach your customers more easily;
• keep your sales and accounting teams working together.

Other advantages will be specific to your business and your objectives. Overall, integration reduces the time spent on each task and increases the efficiency and performance of your business.

How we build an integration: standard connectors or custom APIs

Once you know which software must work together, there are two main options: the standard connectors that exist for the best-known tools, or custom development.

What is an API?

API stands for Application Programming Interface: software that lets two applications exchange information. Think of it as a messenger that delivers your request to a provider and brings back its response.

When the APIs already exist, we choose the ones that make the connection simplest to build and maintain. When they do not, we build the connection ourselves. Our projects follow our agile methodology:

1. Mapping. The systems involved, the data each one owns and the events that trigger an exchange, such as a new order, a payment or a shipment.
2. Access and coordination. API access and documentation from each provider, and regular work with every team involved. For Go City, we worked with the marketing team in Singapore, the booking engine team in the UK and a payment provider in Southeast Asia.
3. Middleware development. A layer that translates and routes data between systems. For Huttopia, the middleware creates and updates orders through Huttopia’s APIs, and handles the user identifiers and signatures that WeChat Pay requires.
4. Testing. Automated tests and continuous integration, as for the Go City middleware, so each release is checked before it goes live.
5. Error handling and maintenance. A system that catches and sorts errors and shows clear messages to users, as in the Go City Mini Program.

E-commerce integration in China: what is different

China has its own platforms, and each one comes with its own APIs and rules.

• Many sales channels. A brand may sell on its own website, on JD and Tmall, in a WeChat Mini Program and on Xiaohongshu. Integration lets you run all of them from one platform.
• Local tools that differ. The CRM, order management, delivery tracking, accounting, warehouse and marketing automation tools used in China often differ from one company to the next, so many connections need a custom API.
• The WeChat ecosystem. Mini Programs and WeChat Pay have their own server APIs, login and payment signature rules, which the middleware must follow.
• Data that crosses the border. When orders and customer data from China reach a system abroad, personal information leaves China. The 2024 provisions on cross-border data flows of the Cyberspace Administration of China set when a security assessment, a standard contract or a certification is needed, and exempt some transfers, such as those needed for cross-border shopping.
• Speed on both sides of the border. For Go City, we optimized performance and built middleware with fast loading in mind for users on both sides of the Great Firewall.

Integration projects we delivered

• Huttopia. Middleware between the WeChat Mini Program in China and the brand’s existing system in France, WeChat Pay and WeChat Login, and a booking interface that sends dates and guests to the Huttosoft API and displays the matching rooms.
• Go City. A WeChat Mini Program for attraction passes, with the official WeChat Pay SDK, one-click refunds from the back end, conversion of other currencies into Chinese yuan and the Linkhaitao affiliate marketing platform.
• Ma France. A cross-border Mini Program store connected to the GoAllPay platform, which receives payments from WeChat Wallet and transfers them to the company’s bank account in France, with a back office that manages stock with WooCommerce.

For the bigger picture, read about the top 5 solutions for an omni-channel customer journey and how to choose the right CRM to operate in China.