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DEAR Systems

1. Introduction

DEAR systems is a leading ERP system that’s designed for manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors. From inventory and stock, order management, right through to fulfilment, DEAR Systems lets you automate all your eCommerce operations. You can learn more about DEAR Systems here.

2. How it works

The DEAR Systems integration for SparkLayer is available for all Shopify merchants that already use DEAR Systems and allows you to bring B2B Customers and B2B pricing to your Shopify store: The integration works in the following ways ways:
Item
Details
Customers
DEAR Systems becomes the 'master' of your B2B customer data, and any changes to tagged customer records will automatically be synchronised to Shopify and SparkLayer.
Orders
Orders placed via SparkLayer are synchronised from Shopify into DEAR systems using your existing DEAR Systems integration (such as this integration). Prices that show on orders will be the special B2B pricing as set up in DEAR Systems.
Product Pricing
Price lists and product prices are imported into SparkLayer via pricing rules you set up in DEAR Systems.

3. Configuring on SparkLayer

Creating an API Key

To get started using DEAR Systems on SparkLayer, you'll first need to create an API key within DEAR Systems:
  • Within your DEAR Systems account, go to this page to generate an API key
  • When prompted, create a new application called "SparkLayer"
  • This will then generate an Account ID and Key which will be used within SparkLayer (see below)

Activating within SparkLayer

Within the SparkLayer Dashboard, go to the Configuration section, click Integrations, and then click the Partner integrations tab. Under Multi-channel management, click the toggle on the right to activate the DEAR Systems integration.
You'll then be prompted to enter your DEAR Systems Account ID and Key (as created above). In addition to this, you can also specify:
  • Which customer types pull through to SparkLayer; this works by specifying 'tags'. In most cases, this will simple be your B2B customers who are likely tagged already with b2b
  • Which tax codes in DEAR Systems will set the customers in Shopify as tax exempt (if you require this)

4. Configuring Customers

SparkLayer is configured to synchronise customer data every 4 hours from DEAR Systems to Shopify and only customers that are specified in the step above (i.e with a specific tag) will be synchronised.
In addition to this, you can also configure customers within DEAR Systems to automatically map Customer Groups within SparkLayer. This works by using the Name set within SparkLayer and adding this to the Tags section within the customer record in DEAR Systems.
In our example below, we've created a new customer group called VIP and simply added a tag of VIP to DEAR Systems. When this customer signs in to the Shopify store, they'll then inherit rules such as minimum order amounts and payment methods.
Set up within SparkLayer Customer Groups
Set up within DEAR systems - a specific customer record

Customer mapping

Customers are mapped between the systems based on the default contact email set within DEAR Systems. Once this is mapped, SparkLayer will then synchronise the following data into Shopify.
Dear
Shopify / Spark Layer
Address
Shows against customer record in Shopify
Primary Telephone
Shows against customer record in Shopify
First / Last Name
Shows against customer record in Shopify
Company Name
Shown via metafields in Shopify
Customer Group
Shown via metafields in Shopify (see above)
Credit Limit / On hold
Shown via metafields in Shopify
Tax Codes (using the mapping in config)
Shows against customer record in Shopify
DEAR systems Price List Tier / Customer specific prices
Shown via metafields in Shopify to show the correct pricing for the customer
Please note, all customer data is managed via DEAR Systems and any changes made directly in Shopify will not synchronise back to DEAR Systems.

Adding new B2B customers

Any new customers created in DEAR Systems that are tagged correctly will automatically be imported into Shopify. When new customer records are added in this way into Shopify, they will by default be added as Pending customer accounts and receive an automatic email to enable their account by setting a password. This uses the Customer account invite notification email which can be edited in the Notifications section within Shopify.
Example email sent from Shopify
When performing your initial setup, we recommend tagging at least one example customer to test with before proceeding to enable all other customers.

5. Configuring Product Pricing

SparkLayer is configured to synchronise product pricing every 4 hours from DEAR Systems and this will update pricing within SparkLayer (which subsequently will show on your Shopify store). This includes up to 10 pricing tiers within DEAR Systems as well as any customer-specific pricing you may have set up.

6. Known limitations

Please note the following:
  • Default addresses in DEAR Systems will be mapped to Shipping and Billing address in Shopify (Shopify doesn't support independent addresses).
  • A customer that is removed by removing the tag will not be disabled within Shopify.
  • Addresses are a 1-way sync from DEAR Systems into Shopify. It's recommended to not allow address editing in SparkLayer otherwise new addresses added won't appear in DEAR Systems and will be replaced on next integration run.
  • The integration only supports the use of a base currency of the store, not additional currencies
  • Only the default contact is pulled across per customer, there is no "sub-account" support currently.

7. Requirements

Item
Notes
Plan
Merchants must be signed up to the Professional or Enterprise plan
eCommerce Platform
Merchants must be using Shopify or Shopify Plus (all Plans)