Connecting PrestaShop to Your ERP: Integration Patterns That Actually Work

Connecting your PrestaShop store to an ERP system is one of those projects that sounds straightforward — "just sync the products and orders" — but quickly becomes the most complex part of your e-commerce stack. After integrating dozens of stores with various ERP systems, here are the patterns that work and the mistakes to avoid.

Choose Your Sync Direction

Before writing a single line of code, decide who owns what data:

• ERP → PrestaShop: Products, prices, stock levels, categories (ERP is the master)
• PrestaShop → ERP: Orders, customers, returns (the store generates this data)
• Bidirectional: Avoid this when possible — it creates conflict resolution nightmares

Most successful integrations follow the pattern: ERP owns product data, PrestaShop owns order data. The ERP pushes catalog updates to the store, and the store pushes completed orders back to the ERP.

Sync Strategies

1. Batch Sync (Scheduled)

The simplest and most robust approach. A cron job runs every N minutes, queries changes since the last sync, and processes them in bulk.

• Pros: Simple to implement, easy to debug, handles failures gracefully
• Cons: Not real-time — stock can be out of date between syncs
• Best for: Most stores with fewer than 50,000 SKUs and moderate order volume

2. Event-Driven (Webhooks)

Changes trigger immediate sync via webhooks or message queues (RabbitMQ, Redis Streams).

• Pros: Near real-time data consistency
• Cons: More complex error handling, requires queue infrastructure
• Best for: High-volume stores or those with rapidly changing stock

3. Middleware Layer

An intermediate service (like MuleSoft, Zapier, or custom middleware) handles data transformation between systems.

• Pros: Decouples systems, handles data mapping complexity
• Cons: Additional infrastructure and potential point of failure
• Best for: Complex enterprises with multiple data sources

Critical Design Decisions

Use External IDs

Always store the ERP's item ID alongside PrestaShop's id_product. Add a column like erp_reference to your mapping table. Never rely on matching by name or SKU alone — they change.

Implement Idempotency

Every sync operation should be safe to retry. If you process the same order twice, the second attempt should be a no-op. Use sync tokens or timestamps to track what has been processed.

Log Everything

Create a sync log table that records every operation — item synced, direction, result, timestamp. When (not if) something goes wrong, this log is your lifeline.

Stock Sync: The Hard Problem

Stock synchronization deserves special attention because incorrect stock data directly causes overselling or lost sales. The recommended approach:

1. ERP pushes full stock snapshots periodically (every 5-15 minutes)
2. PrestaShop decrements stock on order placement immediately
3. A reconciliation process compares actual ERP stock vs. PrestaShop stock daily
4. Discrepancies trigger alerts, not automatic corrections

The biggest mistake teams make is treating ERP integration as a one-time project. It is an ongoing operational concern — build monitoring, alerting, and easy reprocessing into your solution from day one.