¶ External configurator integration - catalog and cart
Hummerce's integration with an external configurator lets you sell products configured in a supplier's tool, without rewriting the configurator and without moving orders by hand. The store imports the supplier's product catalog, shows its configurator on the product page, and accepts the finished configuration into the cart with its price and attributes, from where it goes on to the offer, the order and the ERP.
Last updated: 2026-10-16.
¶ Benefits and use cases
- Supplier catalog without manual entry - products and categories from the supplier's catalog appear in the store together with their photos.
- The supplier's configurator in your store - the customer configures the product on your store page, without being sent to a foreign site.
- Price and attributes from the configurator in the cart - the customer sees the price of the configured product and the chosen attributes in the cart, not just the product name.
- Handled like regular products afterwards - the configuration goes to the offer, the order and the ERP, with B2B customer prices and discounts.
- Proven in the furniture industry - an example from an implementation: a furniture catalog and configurator in the OFML standard (pCon), where a product is made up of many finish options and dimensions.
- One cart for the whole range - the customer buys configurator products and regular store products in a single order.
The integration has three elements. Each can be described separately, but together they make a full path from the catalog to the ERP.
¶ 1. Product and category catalog from the supplier
- The store imports the category tree and products from the supplier's service - names, category assignment and photos. The import is run as a task in the admin panel.
- Prices and configuration attributes do not come from the catalog - the price of a configuration is only known after the customer's choices and reaches the store when it is added to the cart (element 3).
- Photos are saved in the store. A temporary loss of connection to the supplier's service does not hide product photos in listings.
- Language versions - you choose the languages when importing, and each product goes to the store views in those languages.
- We don't overwrite what the store already has - products and categories outside the supplier's catalog stay untouched, and the symbols of existing products are not changed.
- Tidying up outdated items:
- products that are no longer in the supplier's catalog go to a category for outdated items - they are not deleted automatically, and the store staff decide whether to delete them,
- categories that are no longer in the catalog are marked as invisible.
- Manual product order in a category is kept across later imports - new products go to the end of the list. Manual order works when the product list of the category is fetched from the search engine (Items sort).
- After each import we recommend reloading the search engine index so that listings show the new state.
- The import creates a report - the number of objects to import and the history of creations and changes.
The scheme is similar to item import from an XML file, except that the source is the supplier's service rather than a file.
- The supplier's configurator is displayed in a frame (iframe) on the product page, within the store template layout. The ways of embedding are described on the page Configurator on the product page, in the "External configurators" table.
- Authentication: the supplier's service requires access, so the store fetches an access token for the customer and passes it to the configurator - the customer does not log in separately with the supplier. The token has a limited validity period, and after it expires the store fetches a new one.
- The look of the frame is set by the supplier. Colors, layout and labels of the configurator are changed through settings on the supplier's side, not with the store's styles. The translations of the configurator labels are also provided by the supplier.
- The test and production stores can use the same supplier catalog or separate ones - depending on the arrangement with the supplier.
¶ 3. The finished configuration in the cart, offer and ERP
- The add-to-cart button in the configurator passes the result to the store: product symbol, quantity, currency, image and the chosen attributes.
- The price from the configurator becomes the customer price in the cart. The store applies the customer discount to it (e.g. from the ERP), and then the cart price rules, including coupons - details on the page Configuration prices.
- Configuration attributes - including those not visible to the customer in the configurator - are saved with the cart and order line. The store staff see them in the panel.
- A sales offer keeps the configuration attributes of the line, and the line's images can be included in the offer's PDF and Excel files (Offers).
- The ERP receives the configuration attributes with the order line - in integrations that support it, e.g. Business Central and Navision. Further handling is described on the page Configuration in the cart and order.
- The customer picks a product from the catalog imported from the supplier.
- The store displays the supplier's configurator and authenticates the customer with a token.
- The customer configures the product and clicks add to cart.
- The configurator passes the price and configuration attributes to the store.
- The store sets the customer price, saves the attributes and adds the line to the cart.
- From the cart the customer places an order, or a sales rep creates an offer.
- The order with the configuration attributes goes to the ERP.
The integration is implemented individually for a specific supplier - it is described here as a pattern. The cart, price, offer and ERP mechanisms it relies on are part of the Hummerce platform.
- A supplier service with a product catalog and a configurator available through an API, with documentation and test access.
- A supplier configurator that can pass the result to the store when configuration is finished (an add-to-cart button calling a store address).
- A store template with the product set up to work with an external configurator (Configurator on the product page).
- Product data in the supplier's catalog - names, translations, prices and currencies prepared on the supplier's side.
- To pass attributes to the ERP - an ERP integration that supports order lines with configuration attributes.
- Requires implementation - every external configurator integration is implemented individually, against the API of a specific supplier. There is no universal connection that works once switched on. Typical scope:
- analysis of the supplier's API - catalog, configurator, authentication, passing the result,
- catalog import: products, categories, photos, languages, tidying up outdated items,
- embedding the configurator with authentication on the product page,
- accepting the configuration into the cart: customer price, attributes, currency,
- passing attributes to the offer and the ERP,
- tests on the test environment and the production launch.
- Minimum estimated time: from 80 h for the whole integration (catalog, configurator in the store and accepting the configuration into the cart). Embedding the configurator alone, without passing to the cart - from 8 h (Configurator on the product page). We set the implementation time individually after analyzing the supplier's API.
- What the time depends on:
- the completeness and quality of the supplier's API documentation and test access,
- the way of authentication and of passing the result from the configurator,
- the number of languages and currencies,
- the number of attributes passed to the offer and the ERP, and the ERP's capabilities,
- how much the page with the frame is adapted to the store template,
- the store version (an upgrade is quoted separately).
- Dependence on the supplier's service - availability of the catalog and configurator, certificate validity and API access are on the supplier's side. When the service is down, the customer can't configure the product and the catalog import fails. Photos saved in the store remain visible.
- The look and labels of the configurator in the frame are changed by the supplier - they can't be adapted with the store's styles.
- Price and attributes appear only when added to the cart - the catalog imported into the store has no configuration prices, so product listings may not show them.
- The import covers the whole catalog - without choosing individual products - and photos are imported in one small size.
- Products and categories are not deleted automatically - outdated items have to be removed by hand from the category for outdated items.
- Products without the required identifiers in the supplier's catalog are skipped during import.
- Updating the product database at the supplier and importing it into the store are separate actions - new products appear in the store after the import is run.
- The integration covers a specific version of the supplier's API - changing the version, or an interface change of the configurator forced by the supplier, is quoted separately.
- Service products of the store tied to the configurator (e.g. installation, transport) must not be deleted when tidying up the catalog - tidying applies only to products from the supplier's catalog.
- We don't verify the task for legal compliance (e.g. licenses for the supplier's photos and models, GDPR, store terms).
- A universal mechanism for importing a catalog from an external API, configured in the panel without programming.
- Fetching product prices and attributes together with the catalog, if the supplier's API provides them.
- Comparing attributes saved in an offer with the current ones in the supplier's catalog.
- Moving to a newer version of the supplier's API or configurator interface.
Does Hummerce have a ready-made integration with an external configurator?
Partly. The platform has the cart, customer price, offer and ERP mechanisms that every integration uses, but the connection to a specific supplier's configurator is implemented individually against its API.
Can furniture be sold with a configurator in the OFML (pCon) standard?
Yes. We have implemented a furniture catalog and configurator in the OFML (pCon) standard: products and categories go to the store, the configurator works on the product page, and the finished configuration with price and attributes goes to the cart.
Does the customer have to log in with the configurator supplier?
No. The store fetches an access token and passes it to the configurator, so the customer works in a single store.
What happens to products the supplier removed from the catalog?
They go to the category for outdated items, and categories that are no longer in the catalog become invisible. Nothing is deleted automatically - the store staff decide on deletion.
Does the customer's configuration reach the offer and the ERP?
Yes. The configuration attributes are saved with the cart and order line, the offer keeps them, and the ERP receives them with the order line - in integrations that support it.
How long does such an integration take to implement?
From 80 h for the whole. We set the time individually after analyzing the supplier's API, because it depends on the quality of its documentation and the way the configuration result is passed.
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