Artisan seamlessly works with popular online shopping stores: Shopify, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce. This article gives you a great overview of our options and what might work best for your situation.
Signing Up
We highly recommend speaking with our Sales department before signing up for a webstore. We’ll work with you to recommend a solution that fits your needs. If you’re ready to sign up, please click the link for your corresponding eCommerce platform.
Shopify | BigCommerce | WooCommerce
Which Platform is Right for You?
When choosing an eCommerce solution, it’s important to consider a few factors.
Shopify
- Great for users who are completely new to having an online store or want something more simplified.
- The most user-friendly option when it comes to editing your webstore. There are both free and paid website themes (preset designs that you can customize) to get you started.
- Shopify offers an App Store with plenty of features to add to your site. However, not all of them are free. If you want to deeply customize the look of your online store or the shopping cart (check out) experience, BigCommerce or WooCommerce might be the option for you.
BigCommerce
- Ideal for those who have made a webstore before or want something with more bells and whistles.
- Also offers free and paid themes.
- More in-depth reports through BigCommerce’s online portal. Learn about your store’s performance with customer reports, SEO details, abandon cart reports, and more. Most BigCommerce plans include these reports, while not every Shopify plan includes reports.
WooCommerce
- The most advanced website designer on our list. Offers free and paid themes.
- WooCommerce works alongside WordPress, so having knowledge of this platform is key. You will need to purchase a domain name and set up your WordPress account before you begin with WooCommerce. Requires advanced knowledge of website maintenance, like installing and updating plugins, and other technical aspects.
- Thousands of add-ons and plug-ins are available.
How it Works
No matter the option you choose, Artisan uses two key components to set up and communicate with your store: the Internet Store Tab and the Artisan Task Manager.
Expand “The Basics” to learn more.
• The Artisan Task Manager uploads products and categories and downloads store orders.
• The Artisan Task Manager synchronizes products, categories, and sales on a schedule – and can do this as frequently as every 15 minutes.
• You do not need to enter products or categories onto your webstore, since Artisan will take your inventory and upload them – no need to enter data twice.
• Inventory changes are reflected on your online store, preventing customers from ordering items you don’t actually have. Out-of-stock items can optionally automatically be removed (out of sight from customers).
• Artisan creates customer records for your online shoppers. If there are any matching records, such as first or last name, Artisan will find them and match their purchase history.
• Only want to upload some of your online-enabled items? Easily exclude specific categories from the upload. This is great for when you have items that aren’t quite ready to be revealed on your store, like for an upcoming holiday collection.
• You may also reserve an amount that you don’t want included in your Internet Store — which will be subtracted from the Internet Store’s quantity on hand.
Item Record Internet Store Tab
Choose which products and categories are included in your webstore. This tab is where you’ll input Start by learning how Item and Category Records come into play with your Internet Store.
- Get familiar with the Internet Store tab
- Learn how Category Records can be integrated with an online store
- Click here for more common terminology and processes we’ll be using in these articles
Artisan and Online Stores
Learn about how Artisan works with Internet stores.
- Artisan utilizes the Artisan Task Manager to connect to your online store. Click here to learn about how to open the Task Manager
- Learn more about the Artisan Task Manager
Select Your Internet Store
Read the following tutorials for your specific Internet Store provider (Shopify, WooCommerce, etc.)
Shopify
Woo Commerce
BigCommerce
Delivering Pending Orders
Once you have your store set up, you’ll want to review how to deliver pending orders from your online store into Artisan.