Zalando zDirect for WooCommerce — stock, prices and orders for Zalando

Zalando zDirect for WooCommerce connects a WooCommerce shop to the Zalando zDirect API for merchants who are already in the Partner Program: stock levels and prices of products with an EAN go to the sales channels you choose, and Pro brings Zalando orders back into the shop and reports the export, the tracking number, shipped and cancelled. We found no direct WooCommerce-to-Zalando connector as a plugin: only general aggregators (ChannelEngine, ShoppingFeed) and the Zunapro service.

This module has never run against the real Zalando zDirect. We had no access to the zDirect Portal (Zalando gives it to partners under a contract), so nothing was ever sent to the real Zalando and we registered nothing.

What the free version does

You enter the Merchant ID, Client ID and Client secret from the zDirect Portal and choose the environment (sandbox by default). “Check connection” gets a token and reads your sales channels, which you tick. The EAN is taken from the GTIN/EAN field of the product or from a field of your own; its check digit is verified and products without a valid EAN are listed. “Send stock now” sends the quantity of each such product to every ticked channel (with a safety stock and a default quantity for products that do not track stock), and “Send prices now” sends the regular price to the channels whose currency is the shop currency, because zDirect does not convert currencies. Zalando’s answer is read per entry: accepted or rejected, with the reason. A token is reused until it expires (the sandbox allows one token request a minute). The secret is stored encrypted.

What Pro adds

The stock changes in the shop: the product is sent to Zalando a few seconds later, once per product, and the whole list goes once a day. Prices every day, with the sale price as the promotional price. Zalando orders: approved, not yet exported orders are fetched every 15 minutes and become WooCommerce orders with the buyer’s addresses and your products (matched by article number or EAN), and each one is exported to Zalando with the shop order number as the merchant order ID, once; if the export is not accepted it is tried again without a second order. When the order is completed the tracking number goes to Zalando and a few seconds later all lines as shipped; a cancelled order cancels its lines. The tracking number is entered in a box on the order page.

How it works, step by step

1. In the zDirect Portal create an app (Applications), give it access to sales channels, stocks, prices and orders, and copy its Client ID and Client secret and your Merchant ID.
2. WooCommerce → Zalando: paste them, keep Sandbox, press “Check connection”, tick the channels and save.
3. Make sure your products have the GTIN/EAN field filled, press “Check the catalogue”, then “Send stock now” and “Send prices now”.
4. Check the result in the zDirect Portal and only then switch to Production.

Under the hood

• The secret is stored encrypted and the token is cached until it expires; stock goes in batches of 100 and prices of 500 entries. An update for an EAN that is not in the Zalando catalogue yet waits until it is.
• Orders are created without taxes: Zalando prices include VAT and the total is taken from Zalando. The same order is never imported twice (a lock and a lookup by the Zalando ID).
• HPOS and block checkout compatible; languages: English, Deutsch.

How to install

1. Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin: choose the zip and activate it.
2. WooCommerce → Zalando: Merchant ID, Client ID, secret.
3. Enter the service credentials and test the connection.
4. Try one test order before you switch the automation on.

The module is not on wordpress.org yet: the free version and Pro are one archive from this page. Without a key it works as the free version.