In the fast-paced world of e-commerce, managing products efficiently across various platforms is crucial for maintaining smooth operations and ensuring customer satisfaction. BlueHub’s integration between Mintsoft and Cin7 offers a streamlined approach to managing products, ensuring that information flows seamlessly between the two systems. This blog post will guide you through the key features of this integration, focusing on product syncing and the benefits it brings to your business.
What is Mintsoft and Cin7?
Before diving into the integration, it’s important to understand the role of each platform. Mintsoft is a cloud-based warehouse and order management system, designed to handle complex e-commerce operations. It offers features such as order processing, inventory management, and shipping integrations, making it a powerful tool for businesses with large inventories.
On the other hand, Cin7 is an all-in-one inventory and order management solution. It allows businesses to manage their sales, inventory, and purchasing across multiple channels, including online stores, marketplaces, and physical stores. Cin7 acts as the central hub for all product-related information, ensuring that your data is consistent across all platforms.
One-Way Product Syncing: How It Works
The integration between Cin7 and Mintsoft allows for seamless product syncing, ensuring that the information entered into Cin7 is automatically pushed to Mintsoft. However, it’s important to note that this sync is one-way. This means that any updates made in Cin7 will be reflected in Mintsoft, but not vice versa. Therefore, Cin7 remains the source of truth for all product data.
For instance, if you update a product’s weight or dimensions in Cin7, these changes will automatically sync with Mintsoft at regular intervals. The frequency of these updates depends on your specific integration setup, with options ranging from every five minutes to hourly updates. This flexibility allows you to choose a sync frequency that aligns with your operational needs and budget.
Key Fields and Limitations
When syncing products between Cin7 and Mintsoft, several key fields are transferred, each with its own set of limitations:
- SKU (Stock Keeping Unit): This unique identifier for each product can only be 75 characters long. This limitation ensures that the SKU fits within the Mintsoft system’s constraints.
- Product Name: Similar to the SKU, the product name is also synced between the two systems. There is no maximum length for the product name, giving you the freedom to include detailed information.
- Description: The product description field in Mintsoft can handle large amounts of text, making it ideal for including comprehensive product details.
- Short Description and Internal Notes: While these fields also sync, they come with limitations. The short description is mapped to Customs descriptions in Mintsoft, and internal notes are mapped to packing instructions. It’s important to ensure that the information in these fields is concise and relevant to their new purpose.
- Barcode, HS Code, and Country of Origin: These fields are essential for international shipping and compliance. They are synced directly from Cin7 to Mintsoft, ensuring that your products meet all regulatory requirements.
Managing Weights, Dimensions, and Pricing
Updating product weights, dimensions, and pricing in Cin7 is straightforward. Once these changes are made, they automatically sync with Mintsoft, ensuring that your warehouse team has the most up-to-date information when processing orders. This live sync feature is particularly useful for businesses that frequently update their product catalogue, as it eliminates the need for manual data entry.
For example, if you change the length, width, and height of a product in Cin7, these changes will be reflected in Mintsoft within minutes, depending on your chosen sync frequency. This ensures that your warehouse team always has accurate data, reducing the risk of shipping errors.
Handling Bundled Products
In addition to regular product syncing, the integration between Cin7 and Mintsoft also supports bundled products. A bundled product in Cin7 is automatically recognised as a bundle in Mintsoft, allowing for seamless management of product assemblies.
For instance, if you have an auto-assembly product in Cin7, this will sync as a bundled item in Mintsoft. The integration also handles the breakdown of bundle components, ensuring that each item within the bundle is correctly identified in both systems.
However, there is one limitation to be aware of: the integration does not support automatic deletion of items from Mintsoft. If you remove a component from a bundle in Cin7, you will need to manually delete it from Mintsoft. This is due to a current limitation of the Mintsoft API, which does not allow for automatic deletion of items.
Costing Methods and Serial Numbers
One of the standout features of the Cin7 and Mintsoft integration is its support for various costing methods, including FIFO (First In, First Out) and batch costing. This allows businesses to accurately track the cost of their inventory, which is crucial for maintaining profitability.
However, there is a known issue with serial numbers in this integration. While Cin7 requires serial numbers for certain products, Mintsoft does not currently support the provision of serial numbers during goods receipt. This limitation can cause issues for businesses that rely on serial number tracking. If you encounter this problem, it’s recommended to contact BlueHub’s support team.
Conclusion
The integration between Cin7 and Mintsoft is a powerful tool for managing your e-commerce operations. By ensuring that product data is synced in real-time, this integration reduces manual data entry, minimizes errors, and streamlines your warehouse processes. Whether you’re managing individual products or complex bundles, the Cin7 and Mintsoft integration puts you in control of your inventory, allowing you to focus on growing your business.
If you’re interested in implementing this integration or want to learn more about how it can benefit your business, don’t hesitate to get in touch with BlueHub’s team of experts. They’re ready to help you optimise your product management processes and ensure that your e-commerce operations run smoothly.
See the video tutorial here: https://youtu.be/5UfjE_w91ds
