Introduction
When importing an order from a webshop, it is essential to correctly handle the customer information. Without this, further processing of the order in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central may not be possible.
There are two main ways to handle customers when importing orders:
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Use a generic Customer No. for all webshop orders.
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Import the actual customer information from the webshop.
You can also use a combination of both, depending on your business needs.
Important settings when importing customers
Whether you are importing customers in bulk (when linking an existing webshop) or importing customers along with orders, the following settings are important to manage the process.
You can configure these settings in E-Commerce Setup → Customers.
Auto-numbering
In the Auto Numbering fields, you can select the appropriate No. Series that will be used when creating new customer cards in BC.
The fields under Apply Customer Template are relevant for BC versions lower than version 21. For newer versions, these settings have been moved to the Customer Templates tab.
Customer Import Field Descriptions
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Priority E-mail Check |
Define where the system should check for an existing customer match based on e-mail:
|
| Check E-mail New Customers | Define whether you want to match newly imported webshop customers with existing customers in BC based on e-mail. |
| Match New Customer |
Choose how the match should be done:
|
| Field No. Customer (18) | If matching on a Custom Field, define which field in Table 18 (Customer) should be used. |
| Field No. TINX Customer | Define which field in the TINX Customer table stores the value used for matching on the Custom Field. |
| No. of Address Checks | Define how many times a new webshop customer without an address should be imported before the system checks again if new addresses have been added. |
Assigning Customer Templates
You can define customer templates based on country/region or state/province. These templates are configured in the Extended Customer Template Setup. More info on that found here. The system will apply these templates when creating new customers during the import process.
Exporting customers to the webshop
You can export existing customers from Business Central to the webshop in bulk. In this process, a customer record and one default billing address are created. Some webshop platforms also allow you to export multiple shipping addresses.
You can manage this process using the following settings:
Requirements for exporting a customer:
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The customer must have a valid e-mail address, first name / last name, and phone number.
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A Country/Region Code must be specified on the customer card. If this field is blank, the country/region specified in the Company Information page must have an ISO Code defined.
Additional requirements for Shopify:
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The phone number must be unique. Shopify will reject duplicate phone numbers.
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The phone number must be in E.164 format. Accepted formats include:
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xxxxxxxxxx -
+xxxxxxxxxxx -
(xxx)xxx-xxxx -
+x xxx-xxx-xxxx
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Once customers are created in Shopify, you can send them invitations to activate their accounts.
Syncing customers
To send a customer to the webshop, enable the field Publish to Webshop on the Customer Card.
You can also schedule this task to run automatically.
Learn more about this in the article: Schedule Recurring Tasks.
Guest Customers
If your webshop allows customers to order as guests (without creating an account), you can define a specific Customer No. for these orders.
This can be set in E-Commerce Integration Setup → Webshop Guest Customer No.
All webshop orders where the Customer ID is empty or zero will be assigned to this guest customer.
Blocked Customers
If a customer is blocked in the Customers table in Business Central, this status will automatically apply in the Webshop Orders table.
As a result, the webshop order will not be created in BC until the customer is unblocked.