Dropshipping Integration

Dropshipping Integration

Overview

A dropshipping integration routes customer orders automatically to supplier warehouses, syncs supplier inventory to your storefront, and tracks your margin on every sale. Done right, customers receive their products on time without you ever touching physical inventory. Done poorly, oversells and fulfillment failures destroy your reputation.

This skill walks through setting up dropshipping on your platform using the right tools, then covers custom/headless implementations for those building from scratch.

When to Use This Skill

• When launching a store without physical inventory by routing orders directly to supplier warehouses
• When adding a dropship-fulfilled product category alongside your own inventory
• When building a multi-supplier routing engine that picks the best supplier per order based on price, stock, or location
• When you need to keep your storefront inventory in sync with supplier availability feeds (CSV, EDI, API)
• When tracking dropship margins for accounting and vendor performance reporting

Core Instructions

Step 1: Determine your platform and choose the right integration approach

Step 2: Set up inventory sync

Keeping your storefront stock levels in sync with supplier availability is the most critical piece — oversells damage customer trust immediately.

Shopify

Using DSers (AliExpress dropshipping):

1. Install DSers from the Shopify App Store
2. Connect your AliExpress account in DSers settings
3. Import products from AliExpress via DSers → Products → Import
4. DSers syncs stock levels automatically every few hours
5. Enable "Auto-update inventory" in DSers → Settings → Supplier to push supplier stock to Shopify inventory

Using Spocket (US/EU suppliers):

1. Install Spocket from the Shopify App Store
2. Browse the Spocket marketplace and import products to Shopify
3. Spocket syncs inventory changes automatically — no manual configuration needed
4. Enable "Auto-fulfill orders" in Spocket settings to route new Shopify orders to suppliers automatically

Using AutoDS (multi-supplier):

1. Install AutoDS from the Shopify App Store
2. Add suppliers (AliExpress, Amazon, Walmart, etc.) and import their products
3. AutoDS monitors supplier prices and stock, updating your Shopify listings automatically
4. Configure price rules in AutoDS → Settings → Price Rules to set your markup automatically

WooCommerce

Using AliDropship plugin:

1. Purchase and install the AliDropship plugin
2. Use the Chrome extension to import products from AliExpress directly into WooCommerce
3. Enable automatic price and inventory updates in AliDropship → Settings → Auto-update
4. For order routing: AliDropship auto-places orders on AliExpress when you approve them in the plugin dashboard

For non-AliExpress suppliers:

1. Install the WooCommerce Zapier extension or use n8n (free, self-hosted) to connect WooCommerce order webhooks to supplier systems
2. Go to WooCommerce → Settings → Advanced → Webhooks, create a webhook for "Order created" events
3. Point the webhook URL at your automation workflow (Zapier/n8n) that formats and forwards the order to your supplier
4. For inventory sync, schedule a daily WP-Cron job to pull the supplier's CSV feed and update WooCommerce stock via the REST API

BigCommerce

Using Modalyst:

1. Install Modalyst from the BigCommerce App Marketplace
2. Browse Modalyst's supplier catalog and import products to BigCommerce
3. Modalyst handles inventory sync and order routing automatically once connected

Using Spocket:

1. Install Spocket from the BigCommerce App Marketplace
2. Import products and enable auto-fulfillment in Spocket settings
3. New orders with Spocket products are routed to suppliers automatically

Custom / Headless

For headless storefronts, build a supplier integration layer:

// Supplier product and inventory schema
interface SupplierProduct {
  supplierId: string;
  supplierSku: string;       // supplier's own SKU
  internalProductId: string; // your product ID
  costPriceCents: number;    // what you pay the supplier
  stockQty: number;
  lastSyncedAt: Date;
}

// Route an order line to the best available supplier
async function selectBestSupplier(
  productId: string,
  requiredQty: number
): Promise<SupplierProduct | null> {
  // Pick the cheapest in-stock supplier with enough quantity
  return db.supplierProducts.findOne({
    internal_product_id: productId,
    stock_qty: { gte: requiredQty },
    is_active: true,
  }, { orderBy: ['cost_price_cents', 'asc'] });
}

// Sync supplier inventory from CSV feed
async function syncSupplierInventoryFromCsv(
  supplierId: string,
  csvContent: string
): Promise<void> {
  const rows = parseCsv(csvContent); // [{sku, qty, cost}]
  for (const row of rows) {
    await db.supplierProducts.upsert({
      supplier_id: supplierId,
      supplier_sku: row.sku,
      stock_qty: parseInt(row.qty),
      cost_price_cents: Math.round(parseFloat(row.cost) * 100),
      last_synced_at: new Date(),
    });
  }
  // Zero out SKUs not in the feed (discontinued)
  const activeSKUs = new Set(rows.map(r => r.sku));
  const allProducts = await db.supplierProducts.findBySupplierId(supplierId);
  for (const sp of allProducts) {
    if (!activeSKUs.has(sp.supplier_sku)) {
      await db.supplierProducts.update(sp.id, { stock_qty: 0 });
    }
  }
}

// Submit a dropship order to a supplier API
async function submitDropshipOrder(params: {
  supplierApiEndpoint: string;
  supplierApiKey: string;
  orderReference: string;
  shippingAddress: Address;
  items: { supplierSku: string; quantity: number }[];
}): Promise<string> {
  const response = await fetch(params.supplierApiEndpoint + '/orders', {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: {
      'Authorization': `Bearer ${params.supplierApiKey}`,
      'Content-Type': 'application/json',
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({
      reference: params.orderReference,
      ship_to: params.shippingAddress,
      items: params.items,
    }),
  });
  if (!response.ok) throw new Error(`Supplier API error: ${response.status}`);
  const result = await response.json();
  return result.order_id; // supplier's order reference
}

Step 3: Configure automated order routing

Shopify

• DSers: Go to DSers → Settings → Automatic Actions and enable "Auto-sync tracking number to Shopify" and "Auto-fulfill Shopify orders"
• AutoDS: Enable Auto-Orders in AutoDS → Settings. Orders paid in Shopify are automatically placed with the supplier, and tracking numbers sync back to Shopify fulfillments
• If a supplier order fails (out of stock), DSers and AutoDS alert you via email so you can manually reroute

WooCommerce

• For AliDropship: approved orders in the AliDropship dashboard are auto-placed. Go to AliDropship → Orders and confirm pending orders, or enable full automation in settings
• For custom supplier integrations: use the WooCommerce webhook to trigger your supplier order submission, then use a second webhook or polling to receive tracking numbers and mark orders fulfilled via the WooCommerce REST API (POST /wp-json/wc/v3/orders/{id})

BigCommerce

• Modalyst and Spocket both handle order routing automatically. Monitor BigCommerce → Orders and check the "Fulfillment" column — orders routed to suppliers show the supplier name
• For tracking numbers: both apps sync tracking back to BigCommerce orders automatically and trigger BigCommerce's built-in shipment notification emails

Step 4: Track dropship margins

Margin tracking is critical — your cost price can drift from your selling price without you noticing.

Shopify

• Use the Shopify Analytics → Profit report (requires entering your costs in Shopify admin)
• Go to each product's variant in Shopify admin and enter the "Cost per item" — Shopify calculates margin automatically
• For multi-supplier tracking: export orders and costs from DSers/AutoDS and use a Google Sheet or QuickBooks to calculate margin per order

WooCommerce

• Install the WooCommerce Cost of Goods plugin (SkyVerge) to track per-product costs and automatically calculate margin in WooCommerce reports
• AliDropship shows cost vs. selling price in its analytics dashboard

BigCommerce

• Enter cost prices on each product variant in BigCommerce admin → Products → [Product] → Variants → Cost
• BigCommerce's built-in Insights report (available on Plus and above) shows margin by product

Best Practices

• Sync inventory at least every 4 hours — supplier stock changes frequently; for high-velocity SKUs, sync every hour if the supplier's API allows it
• Keep a stock buffer — don't sell the last 3–5 units per supplier; stock can change between sync cycles and your "in stock" data may be stale
• Store the supplier's order reference — always save the supplier's order confirmation number so customer service can contact the supplier directly about specific shipments
• Track lead times per supplier — different suppliers have different fulfillment speeds; display accurate delivery estimates by using each supplier's lead time, not a generic estimate
• Send tracking numbers to customers as soon as the supplier ships — most supplier apps sync tracking automatically; enable this in your app settings and test it with a sample order
• Reconcile supplier invoices monthly — compare what you were charged against what you recorded at order time; pricing discrepancies accumulate into meaningful losses

Common Pitfalls

Related Skills

• @order-fulfillment-workflow
• @vendor-management
• @shipment-tracking
• @multi-channel-selling
• @order-management-system