The challenge

Having established itself as a manufacturer and distributor of household brands to South African apparel retailers, Bolton Footwear had ambitions to expand into the B2C space via ecommerce. However, their existing setup made this transition difficult. Their ERP system, SYSPRO, contained all product and stock data, but ensuring accuracy on their WooCommerce site posed serious challenges. Without a reliable automation solution, it would have required enormous manual effort to:

• Keep stock quantities aligned between online and offline sales channels
• Avoid overselling and stock-outs
• Maintain accurate product and pricing information
• Manage multiple variations per style

They needed a partner to bridge the gap between their ERP and online storefront.

The goals

• Automated synchronisation: Eliminate the need for manual updates by syncing product data, stock quantities and pricing between SYSPRO and WooCommerce.
• Reliable order handling: Ensure online sales orders were automatically created in SYSPRO, ready for processing by the warehouse team.
• Future scalability: Implement a solution robust enough to accommodate seasonal changes, multiple warehouses and potentially future B2B and marketplace integrations.
• Operational visibility: Provide tools and reporting for warehouse and retail teams to monitor the integration and deal with data sync errors timeously.

The solutions

Bolton Footwear partnered with Stock2Shop in 2020 to integrate their SYSPRO ERP with WooCommerce and automate their ecommerce operations.

ERP-driven catalogue and stock syncing:

• A custom “sync view” was created in SYSPRO to define and flag products meant for online sales.
• Once flagged, Stock2Shop created the style and size variants on WooCommerce, using shared descriptions and category structures.
• The system allowed Bolton to centrally manage product data, ensuring WooCommerce always reflected correct availability, images and details, even as large retail clients pulled from the same inventory.

Seamless order flow:

• Orders placed on WooCommerce automatically generated sales orders in SYSPRO via Stock2Shop, in accordance with order templates supplied by the Bolton team.
• These orders flowed directly into Bolton’s standard processing workflow: picking, packing, invoicing and reconciliation—all anchored by the same WooCommerce order reference for traceability.

Operational empowerment:

• Bolton’s warehouse staff were equipped with a Stock2Shop console where they can view unprocessed online orders and product updates.
• Periodic deflagging of out-of-season or depleted stock ensured WooCommerce remained up to date.
• By integrating with Stock2Shop, Bolton Footwear achieved automation, control, and the flexibility to scale into online retail.