Salesforce Shopify Integration: A Step-by-Step Guide

Introduction

In today’s fast-paced e-commerce landscape, syncing customer, product, and order data between platforms is essential for operational efficiency. One of the most powerful combinations is integrating Shopify, a leading e-commerce platform, with Salesforce, the world’s #1 CRM.

This blog provides a detailed, technical guide to integrating Shopify with Salesforce, enabling real-time data flow and streamlined business processes. Whether you're building a custom solution or using middleware, this guide walks you through the essentials.

Why Integrate Shopify with Salesforce?

Before jumping into the steps, let's understand why Salesforce and Shopify integration matters: 

• Unified customer view: See order history, preferences, and customer interactions in Salesforce.

• Automation: Trigger workflows, send marketing emails, or update inventory automatically.

• Improved sales cycle: Sales reps can act on e-commerce insights directly from Salesforce.

• Data consistency: Avoid manual errors and duplicated records.

• Powerful marketing: Use order history to trigger targeted emails along with loyalty campaigns from Salesforce directly.

• Better insights: With Shopify integration, you get accurate reporting and inventory visibility.

  
  

Integration Approaches

There are three main approaches to integrating Shopify with Salesforce:

1. Native Connectors (e.g., Shopify Plus + Salesforce Commerce Cloud)

2. Middleware Platforms (e.g., MuleSoft, Zapier, Workato)

3. Custom Integration using APIs

In this blog, we’ll focus on the Custom API Integration, which provides more flexibility and control.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, ensure you have:

• A Shopify Admin Account

• A Salesforce Developer or Admin Account

• Basic knowledge and experience of REST APIs

Access to Salesforce Setup and Shopify Admin setup panels/ Apps

Step 1: Set Up a Private App in Shopify

1. Log in to your Shopify Admin.

2. Go to: Apps > App and Sales Channel Settings > Develop apps

3. Click on Create an app. Provide a name, e.g., Salesforce Sync, and assign an admin contact.

4. Under Configuration, grant read and write access to:

   • Customers

   • Orders

   • Products

5. Navigate to API credentials, then click Install app.

Copy your Admin API Access Token and API Key/Secret.

You will use these to authenticate API requests.

Step 2: Create Custom Objects or Use Standard Ones in Salesforce

Salesforce has standard objects like:

• Account / Contact – for customer info

• Opportunity – for orders

• Product2 / PricebookEntry – for product catalog

  
  

OR you can also create custom objects such as:

• Shopify_Order__c

• Shopify_Customer__c

  
  

Add fields like:

• Order ID

• Total Amount

• Fulfillment Status

• Shopify Customer ID

• Tags, Notes, Order Line Items (child records)

Step 3: Create Named Credentials and Auth Provider in Salesforce

To connect Salesforce to Shopify:

1. Go to Setup > Named Credentials

2. Click New Named Credential

   • Label: Shopify_API

   • URL: https://yourstore.myshopify.com/admin/api/2023-07/

   • Authentication: Named Principal

   • Identity Type: Anonymous

   • Set Headers: X-Shopify-Access-Token = <your_token_here>

Alternatively, use Named Credentials with Custom Auth if you want a secure OAuth setup.

Step 4: Build Apex Integration Code

Use HttpRequest and HttpResponse classes in Apex to call Shopify APIs.

Example: Fetch Shopify Orders

Apex Code
public class ShopifyService {
    public static void fetchOrders() {
        HttpRequest req = new HttpRequest();
        req.setEndpoint('callout:Shopify_API/orders.json');
        req.setMethod('GET');
        
        Http http = new Http();
        HttpResponse res = http.send(req);

        if (res.getStatusCode() == 200) {
            List<Object> orders = (List<Object>) JSON.deserializeUntyped(res.getBody());
            System.debug('Orders: ' + orders);
            // Logic to insert/update into Salesforce
        } else {
            System.debug('Error: ' + res.getStatus());
        }
    }
}

Step 5: Sync Shopify Data to Salesforce

Map the Shopify fields to Salesforce fields and build data processing logic.

Example Mappings:

Shopify Field	Salesforce Field
order_number	Order_ID__c
total_price	Total_Amount__c
customer.first_name	First_Name__c
created_at	Order_Date__c

Use Upsert to prevent duplicates, and always check for data (address, email, currency) integrity.

Step 6: Sync Salesforce Data to Shopify (Optional)

Do you want to create or place orders in Shopify? 

You can also create or update customers and orders in Shopify using POST/PUT calls.

Example: Create Customer

apex
public static void createShopifyCustomer(String email, String firstName) {
    HttpRequest req = new HttpRequest();
    req.setEndpoint('callout:Shopify_API/customers.json');
    req.setMethod('POST');
    req.setHeader('Content-Type', 'application/json');
    
    String body = JSON.serialize(new Map<String, Object>{
        'customer' => new Map<String, Object>{
            'first_name' => firstName,
            'email' => email
        }
    });
    
    req.setBody(body);
    Http http = new Http();
    HttpResponse res = http.send(req);
    
    System.debug('Create response: ' + res.getBody());
}

Step 7: Schedule, Monitor, and Maintain the Integration

• Use Scheduled Apex to run sync jobs hourly/daily.

• Set up Platform Events or Change Data Capture (CDC) if near-real-time updates are required.

• Use Custom Metadata to control configuration (e.g., last synced timestamp).

• Keep track of:

Shopify rate limits (2 req/sec) with retry logic

Salesforce limits and batching

Failed syncs with alerts and retry plans

Read Also: Amazon Connect Integration with Salesforce

Additional Integrations to Consider

Once you have the core Shopify-Salesforce connection working, consider adding the below to make your setup solid, scaalble and truly production ready:

1. Real Time vs Batch Sync

• Batc Sync updates every hour or day. It’s easy to set up and is efficient for low-urgency data updates.

• Real-time sync, which combines Shopify webhooks with Salesforce, changes happen instantly. It uses Change Data Capture (CDC) or Platform Events, which ensures instant updates that are ideal for live chat prompts.

2. Conflict Resolution & Data Governance

• Choose a “system of record”: typically Shopify for order data, Salesforce for customer profiles.

• Use simple rules like “last update wins” to decide what to keep when both systems change the same record.

3. Clean Your Data

Before records go into Salesforce:

• Format addresses and names properly

• Ensures email addresses are valid

• Convert currencies (Rs, Dollar, Euro…) consistently

This helps keep your CRM tidy and usable.

4. Monitor and Alert

Watch for errors like failed syncs or rate-limit issues:

• Build simple dashboards in Salesforce

• Have Slack messages or email alerts for failures, so you get your issues fixed fast

5. Handle Shopify’s API Limits

Shopify generally allows 40 calls in one burst, then refills at 2 calls per second.

To avoid hitting limits:

• Check the X-Shopify-Shop-Api-Call-Limit returned header

• Wait and retry if you are close to the limit

• Send large updates in small batches

Troubleshooting Tips

Issue	Solution
403 Unauthorized	Check token, endpoint, and permissions
Missing data	Validate API response and field mappings
Governor Limits hit	Use batching, limit processing per run
Shopify rate limits (2 req/sec)	Add retry logic and delay using Limits API

Conclusion

Integrating Shopify with Salesforce brings loads of value to sales, marketing, and support teams by unifying data and automating processes. While tools like MuleSoft or Zapier can simplify this, a custom API-based integration gives you the most flexibility and control.

At Cloud Science Labs, we help organizations build robust Salesforce integrations tailored to their business needs. We specialize in integrating Salesforce with Shopify, HubSpot, and other platforms. If you are looking to:

• Smooth syncing of orders, customers, and products in real time

• Create data-driven marketing workflows

• Ensure accurate data governance and hassle-free maintenance

• Scale your integration with confidence at any volume

CSL is your Salesforce integration partner for Shopify and other E-commerce platforms.

FAQs

1. Can we sync Shopify discounts?

Yes of course. You simply need to pull price_rule_id and map to a Salesforce field, using webhooks.

2. How to handle returns or cancellations?

You can handle this via webhooks, check financial_status or cancelled_at, and update Salesforce accordingly.