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Getting Started with Commerce Engine

Welcome to Commerce Engine! This guide will walk you through the essential steps to set up your organization after signing up, enabling you to start exploring core functionalities like placing test orders and managing fulfillment.

Completing these steps will give you a foundational setup to begin integrating Commerce Engine into your applications using our APIs.

1

Add Your First Product

Before you can sell anything or test the Storefront API, you need at least one product in your catalog.

  • Requirement: Add at least one product. This can be a physical SKU, a digital product, or a bundle.
  • Minimal Data: For physical products, you only need basic information initially. Details like inventory levels, weights, and packaging dimensions can be added later.

What this unlocks: Once a product exists, you can start using the Storefront API to:

  • Authenticate visitors
  • Sign up customers
  • Browse and search your products

Learn More: Catalog

Dive deeper into managing your product catalog.

2

Connect a Payment Gateway

To simulate or process actual transactions, you need to link a payment gateway.

  • Requirement: Connect at least one payment gateway. You can start with a gateway in sandbox/test mode.
  • Supported Gateways: Commerce Layer integrates with various payment providers.

What this unlocks: Connecting a payment gateway enables you to:

  • Place test orders through the checkout process.
  • Simulate payment authorization and capture.

Learn More: Payment Gateways

Explore supported gateways and configuration options.

3

Configure Shipping

To test the fulfillment flow and calculate shipping costs, you need to set up your warehousing and shipping options.

  • Requirement:
    1. Add at least one Warehouse.
    2. Add at least one Shipping Method associated with that warehouse. This can be a manual method or an integration with a 3PL provider.

What this unlocks (Manual Shipments): With a warehouse and shipping method, you can:

  • Manually create shipments for test orders by providing package weight and dimensions.
  • Test basic fulfillment workflows.

Automated Shipment Creation: For Commerce Layer to automatically calculate shipment details (like box dimensions and weight using our 3D bin packing algorithm) and create shipments:

  • Ensure all physical products in the order have Packaging Dimensions defined.
  • Add Shipping Boxes to your warehouse configuration.

Learn More: Warehouses

Understand how to set up stock locations.

Learn More: Shipping Methods

Configure how you ship orders to customers.

4

Enable Inventory Tracking (Optional)

If you need to manage stock levels and automate order processing based on availability, enable inventory tracking.

  • Activation: Enable the Track Inventory option for each relevant product/SKU.
  • Stock Levels: Add the initial quantity for each product at the relevant warehouses.

What this unlocks (Automation): With inventory tracking enabled, you can configure store settings for enhanced automation:

  • Auto Accept Orders: In Settings > Order, toggle this on to automatically approve orders if all items are in stock.
  • Auto Schedule Shipment: In Settings > Order, toggle this on to automatically create shipments for approved orders (requires conditions from Step 3’s automated shipment setup to be met).

Combining inventory tracking with these automation settings allows for a near “hands-off” order processing flow for standard orders.

Learn More: Inventory

Manage stock levels across your locations.

Learn More: Store Settings

Configure automation and other store behaviors.

Once you’ve completed these steps, your Commerce Layer organization will be ready for more advanced configurations and integrations!