APIs - mechanisms that allow two software components to communicate with each other using a set of definitions and protocols. They act as an intermediary, allowing developers to create new automatic interactions between the various applications that individuals and businesses use on a daily basis.
Auto-order - automatic synchronisation of product prices and quantities
Droplo Importer - a unique feature of the Droplo app that allows you to upload the products of any external supplier to your account, as long as they make their offer available as an XML link. You can find the Importer in the Add your own supplier tab.
Dropshipping - this is one of the e-commerce business models. It allows you to sell online without having your own warehouse of products. If you already have your own online shop or a seller account on one of the marketplace sites - you are ready to go.
E-commerce (electronic commerce) - trading goods and services online.
GTIN / EAN - An EAN code is a type of barcode that contains an item number. Since 2009, EAN codes have been used to encode GTINs - Global Trading Unit Numbers.
Integration - is the act of combining smaller components or information stored in different subsystems into a whole functioning entity.
In the case of e-commerce businesses, the term often refers to software or systems integration, which means combining multiple IT business systems to work as a cohesive whole.
Sales channel - usually understood as the path a company takes to reach its end customers in order to sell them a product or service, either directly or indirectly.
In the case of Droplo, by sales channel we mean an online shop based on one of the available integrations for external sites (e.g. RedCart, Shopify, WooCommerce).
Marketplace - an online platform that facilitates the exchange of goods between buyers and sellers (e.g. Temu, Ebay, Amazon, Allegro).
Price mark-up - indicates by how much the company's selling price is higher than the amount the product costs the company. For example, a 50 per cent price mark-up means that the selling price is 50 per cent higher than the cost of buying the product from the supplier.
E-commerce platform - software that allows an online shop to be managed online.
XML/CSV file - a link or file that contains a markup language (similar to HTML, which is used to format web pages) that describes the stored data for the entire offer and individual product parameters.
If a supplier has the ability to integrate their offer into an online shop, then they should be able to provide the offer in XML or CSV format.
IMPORTANT: Each XML may be designed slightly differently. Some cannot be successfully imported because they must first be activated by the supplier, or authorisation data is needed to access the offer (login/password).
Token / URL - identification code for each online shop (to be obtained from the e-commerce platform), also known as API or WEB API.