Shopify + NetSuite Integration
SuiteTalk API complexity, token auth changes, and custom SuiteScript requirements demand an integration that handles the hard parts: idempotency, rate limits, and reconciliation.
Integration goals
Real-time bidirectional sync between Shopify and NetSuite for orders, inventory, customers, and financials.
- Real-time inventory sync across all locations and channels
- Automated purchase orders triggered by sales velocity
- Financial reconciliation with zero manual journal entries
- Customer data unified between commerce and ERP
- Order flow from Shopify → NetSuite without data loss
What breaks in practice
We've seen these patterns destroy integrations. Here's what to watch for:
Token expiration causes silent failures
OAuth tokens expire, TBA credentials rotate, or API keys get revoked - sync stops but no one notices until inventory is wrong by 1,000 units.
Field mapping breaks after NetSuite customization
Your team adds a custom field in NetSuite. The integration doesn't know about it. Orders start failing with cryptic SOAP errors.
Rate limits cause multi-hour sync delays
Black Friday hits. You exceed NetSuite's concurrency limits. Sync queue backs up for 6 hours. Customers see phantom inventory.
No reconciliation = silent data corruption
A webhook gets lost. An order never makes it to NetSuite. Finance discovers the mismatch 3 weeks later during month-end close.
SuiteScript requirements block go-live
You discover that your business logic requires custom SuiteScript RESTlets. Implementation timeline doubles.
How we build it
Event-driven architecture with webhook ingestion, queue-based processing, and scheduled reconciliation. NetSuite is the system of record for inventory and financials.
Technical details
- SuiteTalk REST API for modern endpoints (products, customers)
- SuiteTalk SOAP API for complex transactions (sales orders, fulfillments)
- Custom SuiteScript RESTlets for business logic that standard APIs can't handle
- Shopify webhooks for real-time order events
- Polling-based inventory sync (every 5-15 minutes) to respect rate limits
- Idempotent processing with deduplication keys stored in both systems
Sync strategy
Real-time for orders (Shopify → NetSuite), near-real-time for inventory (NetSuite → Shopify with 5-min polling), batch for customers and financials (hourly).
Conflict resolution
NetSuite wins for inventory and pricing. Shopify wins for order details. Conflicts trigger alerts to ops team.
Phased approach
We break complex integrations into manageable phases with clear milestones.
Discovery & Data Contract
1 week- Audit NetSuite data model and custom fields
- Define which subsidiaries/locations sync to Shopify
- Document current SuiteScript customizations
- Map Shopify product variants to NetSuite items and matrices
- Establish reconciliation frequency and thresholds
Core Sync (Orders & Inventory)
2 weeks- Build webhook pipeline for Shopify order events
- Implement NetSuite sales order creation with proper item fulfillment
- Set up inventory polling with rate limit handling
- Add idempotency layer (dedupe by Shopify order ID + NetSuite internal ID)
- Implement retry logic with exponential backoff
Financial Reconciliation & Edge Cases
1 week- Sync payment data and map to NetSuite deposits
- Handle refunds, cancellations, and partial fulfillments
- Build nightly reconciliation job (Shopify orders vs. NetSuite sales orders)
- Set up alerting for sync failures and data mismatches
Launch & Monitoring
1 week- Backfill historical data (orders, customers)
- Conduct UAT with finance and ops teams
- Document runbooks for common failure scenarios
- Deploy monitoring dashboards (sync lag, error rates, reconciliation status)
- Go live with 48-hour white-glove monitoring
Requirements checklist
To build this integration, we'll need access to the following:
Book a NetSuite integration consult
Let's discuss your NetSuite integration requirements. We'll walk through your current setup, pain points, and build a custom implementation plan.