RECAP > Octopus Bridge

The Octopus Bridge Application allows you to push inventory items and quantities to Octopus Bridge and to pull sales from Octopus Bridge that Octopus pulls from your e-commerce site (e.g., BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Wix, etc.). Pressing the Octopus Bridge RECON Application Icon will bring you to the Octopus Page.

Setting up Octopus Bridge Settings

To setup the Octopus Bridge Integration you first need to contact and get an account setup with 24 Seven Commerce the developers of Octopus Bridge. Once you have setup your account, they will send us the credentials that will allow RetailEdge to communicate with the Octopus Bridge platform. Contact us to help connect your RetailEdge system to Octopus Bridge. Once we have verified that RetailEdge is transmitting data to Octopus, 24 Seven will then help you configure your system to work with whichever e-commerce platform or online marketplace you are working with.

There are a number of settings in RetailEdge you will need to configure to make sure RetailEdge pushes up and pulls down the correct information from Octopus (and then through Octopus to your e-commerce site). These settings are listed below.

Setting up the Octopus Bridge RECAP settings

On the Octopus Bridge RECAP Page, select the Octopus page on the left hand side. This will display the Octopus Bridge Integration Settings page. You will need to enter the following information:

Octopus

Turn Octopus Bridge Integration On? Checkbox: Check this box to turn the integration on.

Octopus Bridge Merchant Name: This value is provided from 24 Seven Commerce.

Octopus Access ID: This value is provided from 24 Seven Commerce.

Octopus Location ID: Once the Merchant Name and Access ID have been entered, pressing the Get Octopus Bridge Locations button will auto populate this field.

Order Timer: This is the value in minutes RECAP uses to determine how often to check with Octopus Bridge for new orders. Before setting up information on the other tabs, you should set this value to 0 (manual mode).

Product Timer: This is the value in minutes RECAP uses to determine how often to push new product information to Octopus Bridge. Before setting up information on the other tabs, you should set this value to 0 (manual mode).

Reset Maximum Order and Product Request Last Dates? RECAP will only push/pull changes that have occurred since the last successful cycle. However there can be conditions where items or sales might be skipped (i.e., incorrect system clocks, timers running on workstations while are disconnected from the master database, etc.). This utility allows you to push back the last synch times to capture these sales or item changes.

Orders

Reg ID: The Register ID used for Octopus Bridge sales posted into RetailEdge. Typically this would be the same ID as the Workstation Setting you are using. However in order to differentiate your web sales from your in-store sales it can be useful to create a separate register in your database and use this workstation ID for sales posting.

Clerk ID: The Clerk ID assigned to the Octopus Bridge sales. You don't need to assign a Clerk ID to sales if you are not tracking clerk sales in RetailEdge, but it can be helpful for future reporting purposes.

*Note for the following SKUs: Shipping, Coupon/Discount, Tax Adjustment, and Tip Adjustment. These SKUs need to be created in RetailEdge as items before they can be used in the Octopus Bridge setup. The items should be created with a stock type of NonStock or Department SKU. Setting the item to have Prompt for Price is also valid. The Shipping SKU should be setup with a stock type of Freight. Shipping should be a Prompt for Price item.

Shipping SKU: This is the Stock Number of the item you use for shipping in RetailEdge. RetailEdge will use this Stock Number for shipping on imported Octopus Bridge sales.

Coupon/Discount SKU: This is the Stock Number of the item you use for coupons in RetailEdge. RetailEdge will use this Stock Number for coupons used on imported Octopus Bridge sales.

Tax Adjustment SKU: This is the Stock Number of the item to use when Octopus Bridge's tax totals do not match what RetailEdge is expecting. RetailEdge will use this Stock Number to adjust the sale by the difference between the amount sent by Octopus Bridge and the amount calculated by RetailEdge.

Sale Date: RetailEdge Post Date or Octopus Bridge Sale Date. This allows you to choose the sale date for the Octopus Bridge sale as it is posted into RetailEdge. You might not want to use the Octopus Bridge sale date for the RetailEdge posted date. For instance if you are not automatically downloading sales on a timer, using Octopus Bridge's sale date can bring down previous days sales. These sales might not be immediately visible in RetailEdge's Sales Manager and this can make it more difficult to track fulfillment.

CustID Generation. If a new customer is found on an order, RetailEdge can either create a Customer ID using a randomly generated AutoID or create one using First Name Last Name.

Note: RetailEdge can accept sales with items that are not in RetailEdge's inventory. These sale items are imported as non-stock items. RetailEdge uses the Default Margin setting to calculate the cost of the item.

Payment Methods

Payment Methods Settings: This is the value that will be applied to payments for Octopus Bridge Sales. Typically Octopus Bridge sales will be associated with a different payment method (e.g., Visa, MasterCard, etc.). This will allow you to differentiate payments between in store and web store sales. If you want to have your Octopus Bridge Payment Methods match RetailEdge's or be grouped into a few different RetailEdge payment methods, you can Add Payment Methods, and then set the Octopus Bridge Payment Label, Octopus Bridge Payment Value to be mapped this a RetailEdge Payment Method. By Default all Octopus Bridge Payments will go to one Payment Method in RetailEdge (DEFAULT, DEFAULT, RetailEdge Payment Method).

Promo Codes

Promo Code Mapping : This is the value that will be applied to promotion codes on sales that come in from Octopus Bridge and this section allows you to map an Octopus e-commerce or marketplace source and map it to a particular RetailEdge promo code. For instance you can map Walmart marketplace sales to a promo code in RetailEdge for better tracking. Some marketplaces have taxes added. If this is the case, select the Special Taxes option on the Octopus Source (not normal).

Products

The Products page allows you to map, different RetailEdge fields to various Octopus fields . Octopus allows you to synch data with multiple e-commerce sites so some may not be applicable to your integration. If you have questions about the function of the Octopus fields, you should ask Octopus during your initial setup session.

List Price: This is the RetailEdge Price field that is used for the Compare at Price in Octopus Bridge. This can allow you to highlight that you have lower prices than your competitors. You should set it to the same value as the Octopus Bridge Sale Price below if you don't want comparisons.

Price: This is the RetailEdge Price field that is used for the normal Octopus Bridge selling price. This allows you to select one of 5 different RetailEdge price fields if you want to use different pricing on the web than you use for your in-store sales.

Price Level A: This is the RetailEdge Price field that is used for the Octopus Bridge Price Level A price. This allows you to select one of 6 different RetailEdge price fields if you want to use different pricing on the web than you use for your in-store sales.

Price Level B: This is the RetailEdge Price field that is used for the Octopus Bridge Price Level B price. This allows you to select one of 6 different RetailEdge price fields if you want to use different pricing on the web than you use for your in-store sales.

Price Level C: This is the RetailEdge Price field that is used for the Octopus Bridge Price Level C price. This allows you to select one of 6 different RetailEdge price fields if you want to use different pricing on the web than you use for your in-store sales.

MSRP: This is the RetailEdge Price field that is used for the Octopus Bridge MSRP price. This allows you to select one of 5 different RetailEdge price fields if you want to use different pricing on the web than you use for your in-store sales.

Sales Price: This is the RetailEdge Price field that is used for the normal Octopus Bridge selling price. This allows you to select one of 5 different RetailEdge price fields if you want to use different pricing on the web than you use for your in-store sales.

Export Filter Field: RetailEdge uses values placed in the Export/Report Code or User Fields 1-5 to determine which items are to be uploaded to the Octopus Bridge site. You can use any one of these fields. These fields are filterable in RetailEdge's inventory Manager and reports to allow you to easily see which items in your inventory are designated to be uploaded to Octopus Bridge.

Filter Value: This is the value that you have placed in the Export Filter Field in your RetailEdge inventory above to designate it as an item to be uploaded to Octopus Bridge (i.e., WEB, SHOP-WEB, W, etc.).

Product Type: this is how it is listed on Octopus Bridge, choose to match Department, Class or both.

Sub-Description 1: This is the RetailEdge field that is used for the Octopus Bridge Sub-Description 1 field. This allows you to select different RetailEdge fields that you might want to use for a sub-description on your website (e.g., notes, user fields, etc.).

Sub-Description 2: This is the RetailEdge field that is used for the Octopus Bridge Sub-Description 2 field. This allows you to select different RetailEdge fields that you might want to use for a sub-description on your website (e.g., notes, user fields, etc.).

Sub-Description 3: This is the RetailEdge field that is used for the Octopus Bridge Sub-Description 3 field. This allows you to select different RetailEdge fields that you might want to use for a sub-description on your website (e.g., notes, user fields, etc.).

Tags Field: Octopus Bridge allows you to associate tags with items for better categorization on the web. This allows you to manage these tags in RetailEdge and change them as necessary. Multiple Tags should be separated by commas.

Inventory Management: This field tells Octopus Bridge whether to track Quantity on RetailEdge's Non-Stock Items on the site. RetailEdge does not track quantities on non-stock items. This can be helpful and used in conjunction with the When Sold Out setting below to better manage what items you can continue selling when out of stock.

When Sold Out: This field tells Octopus Bridge whether to Stop Selling items when they are out of stock or continue selling them.

Key Mapping Field: This field tells the integrator which field to use as the key field in Octopus Bridge. The Key Mapping Field is by default Stock Number and will populate the Octopus Bridge SKU field. These two fields must match in order for the changes to go to RetailEdge. Some customers prefer using other unique identifiers in RetailEdge for this mapping (ItemID, UPC1, UPC2). If an item is put on the Octopus Bridge site and the value that identifies and links the information in RetailEdge to Octopus Bridge is the Stock Number field, care should be taken when changing stock numbers in RetailEdge and SKU values on Octopus Bridge after items are on the site, as this can break the link.

Barcode Field: Octopus Bridge uses a barcode field to store UPC values so that product can be pushed to other on-line marketplaces (e.g., Amazon). The default for this field is the UPC1 field. However some customers have UPC values as their stock number and so you could choose Stock Number as your barcode value.

Note: Once the initial inventory has been posted to Octopus Bridge, only certain values are re-posted to Octopus Bridge on subsequent posts. These include weight, price and quantity, taxable status, inventory management, and UPC tags. Other item fields can be modified in either place and do not get replaced (i.e., description, product type, vendor, etc.).

Product Locations

This allows you to select which locations in a multi-location business are going to be used for inventory quantities on Octopus Bridge. Many times users will use all quantities from all locations on their e-commerce site. Other times they will show only the location where fulfillment will be done to make it easier to fulfill the orders.

Running the Octopus Bridge Integration

The buttons on the Home RECAP Octopus Bridge page, allow you to manually Import Octopus Bridge Orders into RetailEdge, Export RetailEdge items to Octopus Bridge, Import Orders AND Export Items, and Return to the RECAP Control Center. The integration will also run automatically based on the values entered in the Order and Product timer settings.

Viewing Error Logs and Warnings

Each RetailEdge request and Octopus Bridge response are logged. These logs can be useful for troubleshooting problems. The Logs can be viewed by choosing the Error Log or Warnings menu items on the RECAP Octopus Bridge page. In General:

Errors will:

•Prevent items from being sent to Octopus Bridge

•Create notifications via RED recap text and error in Octopus Bridge tile in RECAP.

Errors could be problems in your Settings configuration, on Octopus Bridge product/variant, or in the RetailEdge inventory item.

Warnings:

•Prevent items from being sent to Octopus Bridge

•Will not create notifications via RED recap text and error in Octopus Bridge tile.

You should view these logs if you think there is a problem with an item on Octopus Bridge or something is not working as expected. Many warnings require no action. Warnings usually identify problems in your Octopus Bridge data.

Note: To use this application you must be subscribed to a Silver (updates plan) or Gold (Support and Updates plan) and there is a monthly fee for the integration. In addition we can provide you with additional training and setup if you would like. Please contact us to get additional details on pricing.