Run your storefront on Shopify, run the business on Sync. The integration is two-way and apparel-native: products, variants and live inventory flow up; orders flow down as complete, pick-ready sales orders; returns, exchanges and refunds come back as return authorizations. Zero re-keying.
Most Shopify-ERP connectors are field mappers: they move data between any two systems and understand neither. Sync’s Shopify integration is built on apparel’s actual objects - styles, colorways, size runs, seasons - so a style with four colors and six sizes stays one product with a clean variant matrix, not twenty-four disconnected SKUs.
Matching survives the real world. Products are matched by Shopify product ID first, then by handle, then variants by ID, barcode or SKU. That means the integration links to a store that already exists rather than demanding a clean slate, recovers cleanly when products are deleted or recreated in Shopify, and never duplicates a catalog because an identifier changed.
Overselling is engineered out. New orders are pulled at the start of every sync cycle and again after order updates, so stock positions reflect every order Shopify has taken before availability goes back up. Combined with Sync’s single inventory position across every channel, the flash-sale weekend and the wholesale prebook stop competing for the same units blind.
And the catalog carries real product data. Product metafields, including metaobject references, publish from Sync, so size guides, fabric content, care details and fit data live on the product record once and appear on the storefront correctly.
Beyond the Shopify integrator itself, Sync exposes a general-purpose REST Integration API - products, inventory including on-hand, reserved and available-to-sell, bin locations and stock transfers - so shipping apps, custom tools and the rest of a Shopify-adjacent stack can talk to Sync directly.
Each flow runs automatically on every sync cycle, moves only what changed, and keeps an audit trail back to the run that created it.
The hardest problem in running Shopify next to wholesale is not syncing a quantity, it is deciding which quantity each channel should see. Sync virtualizes one physical pool of stock into per-channel allocations, and publishes a different inventory level to Shopify D2C and to Shopify B2B, without ever splitting the stock physically.
D2C is maximized. The storefront is sent its own D2C allocation plus any at-once wholesale inventory that is currently available, so Shopify always shows the most units the business can actually sell to consumers. If the D2C allocation sells through fast, the storefront does not stock out while sellable at-once units still exist, which is the difference between a strong drop and a strong drop that ends two days early.
Wholesale is protected. Shopify B2B, reps and wholesale accounts are sent only the wholesale allocation. A big at-once order can never quietly consume the stock the D2C plan was counting on, and the seasonal book keeps the units it was promised.
The net effect: maximum D2C revenue from every unit that is genuinely free to sell, with wholesale commitments untouched, from one pool, one warehouse count, one truth.
For most apparel brands, Shopify is the D2C system of record, and since April 2026 it is a real at-once B2B channel too: Shopify moved company accounts, customer-specific catalogs, net terms and self-serve buyer ordering from Plus-only onto every paid plan. For a brand already running Shopify D2C, that makes it the fastest way to let existing wholesale accounts reorder online and pay by card, with no second storefront to build.
What Shopify is not, at any tier, is an apparel wholesale operating system. There is no size-matrix ordering, no seasonal prebooks against inbound production, no size-curve allocation, and no retailer EDI, and non-Plus plans cap custom-priced catalogs at three. Those are the jobs Sync does natively, alongside Sync Showroom for full wholesale ordering and integrations with NuOrder, Joor and Brandboom for marketplace reach.
The division of labor is clean: Shopify owns the consumer experience and light at-once B2B; Sync owns the single inventory position, allocation, purchasing, warehousing, retailer EDI and accounting behind every channel. Our guide to Shopify B2B for apparel brands covers exactly where the native features stop and a wholesale platform starts.
This matters more than it sounds. Shopify marked its REST Admin API as legacy in October 2024 and deprecated the REST product and variant endpoints; connectors still built on them are in maintenance mode, receive no new features, and are hard-capped at 100 variants per product. Sync’s integration runs on the GraphQL Admin API, the platform Shopify is actually building on.
The variant ceiling is the apparel problem. One hundred variants sounds like plenty until you do apparel math: eight colorways across a thirteen-size run is 104 combinations, one style, over the limit. Workwear’s extended sizes get there faster. GraphQL supports up to 2,048 variants per product, so a full apparel matrix publishes as one clean product instead of being split, truncated or silently dropped.
New Shopify capability lands here first. Metafields and metaobject references, the newer B2B objects, and the higher rate limits with cheaper queries are GraphQL-side; Shopify has been explicit that GraphQL is the only API it will build new features on. An integration on the deprecated endpoints cannot follow where the platform is going.
A fair evaluation question for any Shopify-ERP connector, as of August 2026: which Shopify API is it built on, and what happens to your catalog at variant 101.
E-commerce returns are where most Shopify-ERP integrations quietly give up, and where apparel volume makes giving up expensive. Sync processes the full lifecycle: a Shopify return becomes a Sync return authorization automatically, with shipping and tax lines included, lines that can still be cancelled are cancelled, and the warehouse is notified when a return touches stock already picked.
Exchanges follow the order: replacement items join the sales order automatically, and returns apps are supported, including Loop, whose exchange orders arrive and are picked like any other order. Refunds are handled on your policy: process them only once payment has actually settled, or earlier for pending refunds if speed matters more, and restocking can follow Shopify’s restock flags or your own rules.
Multi-store and multi-location are native: each Shopify store runs on its own configuration, and return authorizations are raised against the warehouse that actually fulfilled the order, so a return in Europe never puts stock back in California. Cutover is protected too: refunds and returns recorded before your go-live date never replay into the ERP, and tax-inclusive stores have refund amounts and sales tax handled correctly on the return authorization.
Selling into Nordstrom, Macy’s or Saks means EDI compliance. Sync includes full native EDI - so there is no SPS Commerce subscription and no per-document metering stacked on top of your ERP.
Sync tracks every unit by style, color and size across locations - with allocation, pre-season availability and reorder flags that generic SKU systems can’t express.
| COLOR | XS | S | M | L | XL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black | 42 | 12 | 3 | 38 | 56 |
| Navy | 30 | 44 | 9 | 51 | 28 |
| Sand | 0 | 22 | 37 | 19 | 7 |
We selected Sync based on their highly efficient, finely tuned system that is apparel industry specific. Sync has provided the platform we required to grow our brands in the global arena.
We are in a 1000% better place now than we were with the old system. Sync has given us access to more data visibility and reporting than ever before.
Sync revolutionized our operations. Transitioning from a manual system was a game-changer… the team at Sync values our brand and treats us like a true partner.
Deeply, and in both directions: products, variants, imagery, metafields and live inventory flow up to Shopify; orders flow down as complete, pick-ready sales orders; returns, exchanges and refunds come back as return authorizations; fulfillment status flows up to the storefront. Apparel-native - built on styles, colorways and size runs, not generic field mapping.
Two mechanisms working together. Orders are pulled at the start of every sync cycle and again after order updates, so the stock position reflects every order Shopify has taken before availability is published back. And Shopify draws from the same single Sync inventory position as wholesale, B2B and marketplace channels, so a flash sale and a wholesale prebook can never commit the same units independently.
Yes, that is the point of the architecture. Sync holds one inventory position per warehouse; Shopify D2C, Shopify B2B, Sync Showroom, NuOrder, Joor, Brandboom and retailer EDI all read from and write to it. Channel allocations and reservations are set in Sync, so you decide how much of the pool each channel can see.
Yes, and this is one of the integration’s biggest advantages. Sync virtualizes one physical pool into per-channel allocations: Shopify D2C is sent its own allocation plus any at-once wholesale inventory currently available, maximizing what consumers can buy and preventing premature stockouts, while Shopify B2B and wholesale channels are sent only the wholesale allocation, so accounts and reps never consume stock the D2C plan was counting on.
Yes. Shopify B2B orders arrive in Sync like any other Shopify order and convert into complete sales orders. Shopify B2B suits at-once reorders and card payment from accounts you already serve; for size-matrix ordering, seasonal prebooks against inbound production and retailer EDI, brands run Sync Showroom or a marketplace integration alongside it, on the same stock pool.
Yes. Returns created natively in Shopify become Sync return authorizations automatically, with shipping and tax lines included. Returns processed through Loop are supported too: Loop’s exchange orders arrive as regular orders and are picked like any other, and refunds can be processed only once payment settles or earlier for pending refunds, per your configuration.
No. The integration matches to what exists: products by Shopify product ID or handle, variants by ID, barcode or SKU. An established store links to Sync without a re-import, and whether Sync updates existing Shopify product content is your choice - some brands push everything from Sync, others keep storefront copy managed in Shopify and sync commerce data only.
Yes. Each store runs on its own configuration - its own catalog scope, warehouse mapping, and returns and refund policy - against the same central inventory and order book. A US store and an EU store can fulfill from different warehouses, and a return is always raised against the warehouse that actually shipped the order.
No. The integration works with Shopify's standard plans as well as Plus. Since April 2026 Shopify's foundational B2B features are available on every paid plan, so plan choice is about Shopify-side capability - unlimited catalogs, deposits and checkout customization are Plus territory - not about whether Sync connects.
The GraphQL Admin API, which is Shopify’s current platform. Shopify marked the REST Admin API as legacy in October 2024 and deprecated the REST product and variant endpoints; connectors still on them are in maintenance mode and capped at 100 variants per product, a ceiling a single apparel style can exceed. GraphQL supports up to 2,048 variants and is where Shopify ships new capability, including metaobjects and the newer B2B features.
No generic slides. Bring a real product range and we’ll show Sync running your styles, your size matrix, your channels - design to delivery.