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"We need a Shopify developer with ERP integration experience."
You post this requirement. Half the applicants claim they have it. But when you dig deeper, most fumble. They've connected a few APIs or synced some inventory data, but they've never built a production ERP integration that manufacturers rely on daily.
The problem: "ERP integration experience" means wildly different things. One developer's experience might be a simple n8n workflow. Another's might be complex bidirectional sync handling thousands of SKUs, custom pricing rules, and real-time inventory across multiple warehouses.
For B2B manufacturers, hiring the wrong developer is expensive. Your business runs on accurate data flow between Shopify and your ERP (Business Central, NetSuite, SAP, Epicor). Get it wrong, and you face inventory discrepancies, pricing errors, and manual data entry that defeats the purpose of integration.
This guide breaks down what ERP integration experience actually means and how to identify developers with genuine production experience.
Most Shopify developers work on consumer brands building themes, optimizing checkouts, and integrating marketing tools. These skills don't translate to ERP integration work.
"Connected APIs" developer might have:
Genuine ERP integration experience includes:
The difference: experience with complexity, scale, and production reliability.
Converting data between ERP and Shopify formats. Different field names, data types, and structures.
Example: ERP stores ITEM-1000-A, Shopify SKUs should be 1000-A. Variant codes in ERP are RED but Shopify displays Red. Pricing per-unit in ERP becomes per-variant in Shopify.
Ask: "How do you handle SKU format differences? What happens when ERP has variants but Shopify product doesn't? How do you map custom ERP fields to metafields?"
Strong answer: Specific examples, mapping tables/configuration files, awareness of data type mismatches, transformation logic.
Red flag: "We just sync the data" without acknowledging complexity.
Keeping stock accurate across systems in near-real-time, across multiple warehouses.
Ask: "How do you prevent overselling when sync isn't real-time? What if sync fails for 2 hours? How do you handle reserved vs. available inventory across multiple locations?"
Strong answer: Sync frequency discussion, safety stock strategies, webhook-based updates vs. polling, Shopify Inventory API specifics.
Red flag: Assumes simple one-way sync without edge cases.
Orders from Shopify must reach ERP with all data for fulfillment, invoicing, and accounting.
Ask: "What Shopify order data is critical for ERP? How do you handle failed syncs? How do you map line item properties to ERP fields? What if orders are edited after syncing?"
Strong answer: Order webhooks and timing, status/fulfillment states, error queues and retry mechanisms, idempotency (preventing duplicates), handling refunds/edits.
Red flag: Thinks order sync is just "send order JSON to API."
Ensuring Shopify displays correct prices based on ERP rules and contracts.
Ask: "How do you handle customer-specific pricing? Can you explain Shopify B2B catalogs and ERP price mapping? How do you keep pricing synced? How do you handle volume discounts?"
Strong answer: Knowledge of Shopify B2B features (companies, catalogs, payment terms), price sync frequency, currency handling, discount structures.
Red flag: Suggests building custom pricing engine instead of using Shopify B2B.
Syncing descriptions, images, specs, categories, variants, and attributes from ERP to Shopify.
Ask: "How do you handle variants? What's your image sync strategy? How do you manage attributes and specifications? How do you handle categories or collections?"
Strong answer: Variant mapping strategies, image optimization, metafields for specs, collection automation, handling discontinued items.
Red flag: Plans manual product creation instead of automated sync.
Resilient integrations that handle failures gracefully with visibility into sync status.
Ask: "What happens when API calls fail? How do you handle rate limits? How do you monitor integration health? How do you alert stakeholders when sync breaks?"
Strong answer: Retry logic with exponential backoff, error queuing, logging/monitoring (DataDog, Sentry), rate limit handling (Shopify's leaky bucket), health checks, alerting (Slack, email).
Red flag: No monitoring or error handling plan.
Integrations that perform well at scale without overwhelming APIs.
Ask: "How do you optimize bulk syncs? How do you avoid API rate limits? How do you handle large catalogs? How do you test performance?"
Strong answer: Batch processing, delta syncs (only changed data), background job queues, caching, pagination, API rate management, database indexing.
Red flag: Hasn't considered performance or scale.
Different ERPs have different challenges. Ask platform-specific questions:
Business Central: "Have you worked with Business Central's OData API? How do you handle Item vs. Product mapping?"
NetSuite: "How do you handle NetSuite's subsidiary structure? Have you used SuiteScript?"
SAP Business One: "Have you used SAP B1's Service Layer? How do you handle price list structure?"
Epicor: "Have you worked with Epicor's REST API or BAQs? How do you handle pricing matrices?"
Acumatica: "How do you work with Acumatica's contract-based API? How do you handle stock vs. non-stock items?"
Integration approach: "Would you build direct API connections or use middleware? Why?"
Strong answer: Understands trade-offs. Mentions middleware (Celigo, Jitterbit, custom Node.js). Explains when direct makes sense (simple, real-time) vs. middleware (complex transformations, multiple systems, audit trails).
Sync strategy: "Real-time, scheduled batch, or hybrid for inventory?"
Strong answer: Considers business requirements, API limits, performance. Discusses event-driven (webhooks) vs. polling, delta syncs, cost implications.
Conflict resolution: "If order is edited in both systems, how do you handle it?"
Strong answer: Establishes source of truth per data type, timestamp-based resolution, manual review queues, business rules, audit trails.
Q1: "What's the difference between a Shopify product and variant? How does that map to ERP items?"
Q2: "How do Shopify API rate limits work? How do you handle them in bulk sync?"
Q3: "What's a Shopify inventory item ID vs. variant ID?"
Q4: "How would you sync a discontinued ERP product that has active Shopify orders?"
Q5: "How do you handle partial order fulfillments from ERP to Shopify?"
Q6: "How would you debug an order with wrong pricing?"
Give finalists a 2-4 hour paid assessment.
Scenario: "We use [Your ERP]. When Shopify order is placed:
Design system architecture, explain approach, write pseudocode for critical path."
Evaluates: Webhook understanding, error handling, data validation, queue/retry mechanisms, communication clarity.
Scenario: "ERP has items with Size (SM, MD, LG) and Color (BLK, WHT, GRN). SKUs: ITEM-SIZE-COLOR (e.g., 1000-SM-BLK). Shopify needs clean SKUs like 1000-SM-BLK, variants display as 'Small - Black', metafields store ERP item numbers.
Write code to transform ERP data to Shopify format."
Evaluates: Data transformation, Shopify product/variant structure understanding, code quality, metafield usage.
Scenario: "3 ERP warehouses, 3 Shopify locations. Hourly sync. Design system and write pseudocode for:
Evaluates: Bulk operations, location mapping, error handling, performance considerations.
🚩 No production ERP integration portfolio
🚩 Can't name specific ERPs worked with
🚩 Suggests building everything custom
🚩 No error handling or monitoring plan
🚩 Doesn't ask about business processes
🚩 Promises "real-time" everything
🚩 Can't explain data mapping complexity
🚩 No experience with your specific ERP
🚩 Defensive when questioned technically
🚩 Can't provide client references for ERP work
✅ Portfolio includes 3+ production ERP integrations
✅ Experience with your specific ERP platform
✅ Asks detailed questions about data flow and processes
✅ Discusses trade-offs between approaches
✅ Mentions specific integration challenges and solutions
✅ Has monitoring and alerting strategy
✅ Explains data mapping complexity clearly
✅ Can speak to both Shopify and ERP APIs specifically
✅ Provides realistic timelines based on scope
✅ Client references confirm ERP integration quality
True ERP integration experience means:
When a developer claims ERP integration experience, dig deeper. Ask for specific examples, review code, verify with references. The wrong hire creates compounding technical debt. The right hire builds reliable infrastructure that scales.
ERP integration experience isn't just connecting APIs. It's understanding data models, business logic, error handling, scale, and production reliability across Shopify and your ERP.
Most Shopify developers don't have genuine ERP integration experience. They can build storefronts but struggle with data complexity and business logic B2B manufacturers require.
Dig deep into actual experience. Ask platform-specific questions. Review real code. Verify with references. The right developer saves months of headaches and expensive rework.
The wrong developer builds integrations that work in testing but fail in production, creating inventory discrepancies, pricing errors, and manual workarounds that defeat integration's purpose.
Invest time in thorough vetting. Your business runs on accurate data flow. Get the integration right from the start.
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