How do I set up an integration with bol.com from RetailVista?

Starting from the spring 2022 update of RetailVIsta ERP, an integration with bol.com has been realized. This integration could only retrieve orders and send back package information (track & trace). Starting from the fall 2022 update, it is also possible to send inventory and price information to bol.com.

The current integration in RetailVista with bol.com is based on the 'version 8' specifications of bol.com. In the future, RetailVista will apply newer versions. Please contact the support desk to find out which integration version with bol.com is the most recent in RetailVista.

Licenses

To be able to use the bol.com integration, at least a 'bol.com integration' license is required. Furthermore, the 'Sales Orders Plus' license is mandatory and an additional webshop CAL must be purchased.

If delivery is not only done via the standard parcel service (PostNL or SendCloud) but also with 'Own transport', the 'Delivery Administration' license is also mandatory. The reason for this is that bol.com also wants to know the current status of such orders for own transport. By using the delivery administration, a package is created for a more or less fictitious parcel service 'Own transport' in addition to a delivery order. This package is communicated to bol.com.

General

The integration with bol.com works in two directions. RetailVista automatically retrieves all orders from bol.com. Sales orders are created from these. The selling price and (available) inventory of products are sent to bol.com, along with Track & Trace information of reservations that have been registered by RetailVista with parcel services. To make this possible, at least the webshop integration license is required, the bol.com integration license, and the Sales Orders Plus license.

Inventory and prices can be updated every half hour at most, orders can be retrieved every fifteen minutes. Bol.com is critical of the use of their resources, so it may be desirable to exchange data less frequently. If the interval times are set too high and there are many changes, there is a chance that a task will be rejected with notifications of excessive resource usage. 

Configuration

The one-time configuration of the integration between RetailVista and bol.com consists of a number of steps. First, create a webshop in RetailVista. A webshop always belongs to 1 location, where the orders come in and the inventory levels are also sent from that location. The code of the webshop doesn't really matter but is a required field. Specify 'bol.com' as the webshop type.

In the 'Integration' tab, you can set the URL of the bol.com API server. In 'Advanced settings', an ApiKey and ApiSecret must be provided. This information is obtained from the API settings at bol.com. It is possible to create a separate set of API key and secret for an application there.

Because orders from bol.com are converted into standard order messages by RetailVista, it is necessary to create and set a transport type in advanced settings. In the example below, code 'BEZ' is used as the transport type. This code must therefore exist in the transport types. The same applies to a down payment type, in the example below, down payment type 'BOL' is used. So there must be a down payment type with that code.

From RetailVista version 22.20, the functionality of this transportTypeCode has been expanded. It is now possible to make a country code part of the mapping to a transport type. The old methodology is still supported with a fixed mapping to a transport type, and can be considered as a 'Fallback'. It is now possible to assign specific transport types to certain country codes. This can be useful in situations where a shipping service is created for each country, and a specific transport type is linked to a specific shipping service for each country. This can prevent the wrong shipping service from being selected when registering a reservation in the packing application or RetailVista POS, which could result in incorrect handling of the shipping label. The syntax for indicating this transport type is:

transportTypeCode=<Country code>|<Transport type code>

Example: TransportTypeCode=BE|Delivery-BE

If a webshop order is received with a delivery address in country code 'BE' (Belgium), the order will be linked to the transport type with code 'Delivery-BE'.

In the following tab, it can be specified whether orders can be retrieved from bol.com. Every order in RetailVista requires a mandatory classification that determines its further handling behavior. This classification can be specified in the tab below.

In the tab below, it can be set whether package information (track & trace) should be sent to bol.com, and whether article information can be sent.
Please note: RetailVista does not create articles in bol.com, but only updates the selling price and stock level. This is done by looking at all webshop articles in RetailVista that are assigned to this bol.com webshop. If there are webshop articles in RetailVista that cannot be found in bol.com, they will simply be skipped.

Two other settings are SyncPrices=0 (or 1) and SyncStock=0 (or 1). These can be used to specify whether prices and/or stock should be sent. By default, both data are sent, but with this setting, it is also possible to, for example, only send the stock to bol.com.

Keep the following text up to date.

Finally, create a task plan to communicate with webshops. After this, communication can be initiated.

Reporting the status of orders

The integration with bol.com from RetailVista also supports reporting the status of orders. This works through the packages in reservations. Once a package has a Track & Trace code, it will be sent back to bol.com. It is important to activate the export of packages in the 'Export' tab in webshop maintenance.

Furthermore, it is important to provide each package service carrier code with an export code to bol.com. This code is used by bol.com to make a correct mapping for the end consumer to a Track & Trace URL. The list of possible codes is described on the API website of bol.com, at the website link below:

https://api.bol.com/retailer/public/Retailer-API/v6/functional/orders-shipments.html

The above screen shows the example for a Post NL shipment of 0-23 kg. At bol.com, it should be registered with the code 'TNT'. In the above screen, this code 'TNT' is therefore filled in under 'Export code'.

Reporting the status of orders without Track & Trace codes

There is a special handling for orders without Track & Trace codes to bol.com. This concerns orders from customers that are delivered by their own transport (or possibly picked up). There will be no registration with a Track & Trace provider, so no codes will be generated. However, it is important to report the status of these orders to bol.com., because otherwise Bol will automatically refund the money to the consumer after a few weeks, assuming that the order has not been delivered!

This can be solved by following the steps below:

1 - Create a delivery service 'Own delivery'. Do not link any type of delivery service to this delivery service, such as Post NL, SendCloud, etc. By not linking a type, no packages will be registered with this delivery service.

2 - Create a transport type 'Own delivery' and link it to the delivery service 'Own delivery'.

3 - Bol.com supports a delivery service code 'COURIER' which indicates that a delivery appointment is scheduled and therefore no Track & Trace codes will be generated. Therefore, enter this code 'COURIER' as the export code for the delivery service created in step 1.

The shipment of Track & Trace barcodes always takes place only when a reservation is sold. For a reservation to be delivered, it may take longer than the standard number of days after which bol.com automatically refunds the money, because a delivery needs to be scheduled. For this reason, when creating a reservation, if a delivery order is created, a reservation package is also created immediately.

During the maintenance of transport types, it can be set that a delivery order is automatically created for 'Own delivery'.