The Software as a Service (SaaS) model has been successful in helping businesses manage their operations. Approximately 38% of companies rely heavily on SaaS for their business operations. But SaaS alone is not enough to meet business needs. SaaS providers used to refer their customers to third-party vendors to fill functionality gaps. Today, most companies are looking forward to adding SaaS integration capabilities to their own systems.

As SaaS companies upgrade their software capabilities, they compete with you. If you want to surpass your competitors, you must be better. SaaS integration enables you to gain many features while reducing the need for other development companies.

If your SaaS company serves the eCommerce industry, it will require integration with shopping platforms and marketplaces. Let’s look at how eCommerce integration affects B2B SaaS companies and how to easily implement SaaS integration with shopping platforms and marketplaces.

Why eCommerce Integration is Critical for B2B SaaS Companies

B2B software companies benefit from integrating their applications with shopping platforms, as this allows them to offer basic software functions to online store owners. It also gives them access to additional features that streamline their business processes.

Here is a list of some of the most common SaaS solutions and their features that can be implemented through integration with eCommerce platforms.

Shipping management software

Online store owners use shipping software to select, pack, and send orders to customers. In addition to this, shipping software also manages inventory control, order status updates, and shipment tracking.

Some features of shipping software, however, depend on the online store data of eCommerce platforms, which can be accessed only through shopping cart integration. It connects shipping software with eCommerce platforms and allows them to receive information from all required platforms in order to provide essential features.

The shipping software also provides other features, including the ability to print labels and track packages directly from the dashboard of an online store. By integrating your software with various shopping platforms, you may gain an advantage over other shipping software vendors.

Inventory management software

Inventory management systems are essential for businesses of any size, whether they have a physical presence or only sell products online. It allows sellers to monitor all orders, inventory levels, deliveries, and sales.

Retailers use the data from their inventory management software to process and ship orders, update their inventory lists, and manage their inventories. It also helps to prevent store owners from running out of stock or having too much stock on hand, which can negatively impact their reputation.

All inventory management software operations are based on data from eCommerce platforms which can be accessed through an integration with them.

eCommerce integration not only simplifies the system's basic functionality but also enables it to perform a variety of tasks, such as:

• import and track orders from several different platforms;
• manage all your online sales channels in one place;
• sync inventory across several platforms;
• keep your customers informed of changes to the status of their orders;
• create reports.

Marketing automation system

Marketing automation software is a digital tool that helps businesses communicate with customers throughout the buying cycle. Retailers can't communicate with all of their customers on a face-to-face basis, so they rely on automated and customized marketing messages that are sent across the customer base.

Email marketing automation software automatically sends emails to customers regarding new items, discounts, and special prices. The software also allows you to keep customers up to date on order status, build segmented lists of contacts, import contacts from stores, and detect and track abandoned-cart owners for incomplete purchase actions. The system sends cart owners a message asking them to complete their purchases.

Marketing automation software can carry out these functions by accessing eCommerce platforms' data on orders, products, and customers. The eCommerce integration feature enables the software to connect to shopping carts and perform necessary functions.

Price optimization software

Repricing systems have made it easier for merchants to alter the prices of their products. They can quickly track price changes in competitors’ stores and adjust their own prices accordingly.

The repricing system offers a variety of features, including updated prices, the ability to produce standard and custom reports, tracking products, and creating coupons.

Store data enables the software to perform these functions which can be accessed through eCommerce integration. It allows them to work with data on products, customers, orders, and categories.

Integration can also accomplish the following features:

• Synchronize prices across all sales channels
• Import product lists along with prices, descriptions, images, and more
• Order history access
• Create coupons
• Get a list of contacts from stores and create segmented lists
• Generate reports with accurate data

Integration Issues

Integrating B2B solutions with shopping platforms is a challenging but necessary task. However, the process can be complicated if it's done in-house. Here are some examples:

• Integration development takes a lot of time. It generally takes 4–12 weeks to implement integration and longer if you want to connect with more than one eCommerce platform. Hiring a development team to manage in-house integration is also a necessity. Moreover, you’ll need to train them, so it will increase the length of time it takes to complete the project.

• Saas integration can be a complicated process. Each eCommerce platform has a different architecture and API. Advanced programmers will be needed to code the integration and set up an infrastructure that makes the process easier. Furthermore, eCommerce platforms frequently update their APIs; therefore, you must frequently update your integration with each new version of their shopping cart.

• Integrations are expensive. The cost includes up to $4,000 per integration, plus ongoing maintenance and upgrade expenses related to hiring, training, employing, and paying advanced developers, setting up infrastructure, and overseeing upgrades and care throughout the lifecycle. In order to reach more customers, you’ll need to build integration with more than one eCommerce platform. You should consider a less complicated and more cost-efficient approach to integrating your software with shopping carts. What are some possible approaches?

A Unified eCommerce Strategy

With a unified approach, you can easily, quickly, and cost-effectively integrate your SaaS solutions with eCommerce platforms. API2Cart provides a unified API that allows eCommerce software to connect with 40+ shopping platforms and marketplaces at once. It provides 100+ API methods to work with orders, products, customers, shipments, etc.

A unified API approach allows you to save time, money, and development resources. So, start a free 30-day trial period to see how API2Cart can help you implement your business needs.