Magento 2 Tmall Integration

In the following post, you will find several tips on how to integrate Magento 2 with Tmall – one of the biggest e-commerce website in the whole world. We describe the platform a little bit and then focus on the requirements concerning a Magento 2 Tmall connector.

Tmall operates in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. Despite the localization, the marketplace is available for sellers from around the world. As for customers, the monthly volume of visitors surpasses 500 million active users making Tmal one of the largest e-commerce websites all over the world as well as one of the world’s top 20 most visited sites on the internet.

Tmall was initially introduced as Taobao Mall in 2008 by Taobao as a dedicated B2C platform. Since 2010, Tmall has its independent domain. Thus, listings by C2C merchants were differentiated. Another stage of the platform’s development is related to 2011 when Taobao was restructured to three different companies:

• Tmall – an independent marketplace under Alibaba Group;
• Taobao Marketplace – a C2C marketplace;
• eTao – a shopping search engine.

Tmall.com features more than 70,000 brands from more than 50,000 international and Chinese merchants. The preferred payment solution for the platform is Alipay – an escrow-based platform by Alibaba Group. But how to connect Magento 2 to Tmall?

Choosing Magento 2 Tmall Connector

Unlike other marketplaces, the integration with Tmall is much more complicated. You need a specialized and dedicated cross-functional team or a highly customizable connector. You can either hire the team in-house or manage through a certified Tmall Partner Agency. This team operates the store on an ongoing basis providing constant updates and data synchronization. Since you can read about the team on Tmall, we’d like to focus on connector features.

Tmall is a marketplace so that you need a bidirectional data flow to be established. Firstly, export product data from your Magento 2 store. Secondly, get the appropriate order information back. Only an import/export extension is suitable for that. So we have the first requirement for the Magento 2 Tmall connector.

Next, it should be a universal extension that supports multiple other integrations. All problems of dedicated connectors – modules used for specific integrations only – are related to their number. If you are going to connect your Magento 2 store to 10 external platforms using dedicated connectors, you need 10 modules to be installed. In case of a universal solution, you reduce their number to one! And this approach leads to multiple benefits because you spend less time on

• Installation;
• Configuration;
• Interface Exploration.

Usually, dedicated extensions are well-optimized for a platform they work with, but you still need to explore ten more extensions which usually have different interfaces.

At the same time, a universal connector allows reducing expenditures since one module usually costs less than 10 extensions with similar functionality. And don’t forget about the reduction of system loads and conflicts between modules. The more modules are installed, the more resources they consume and the higher the probability of conflicts between them is.

What else is important to consider when you are looking for a Magento 2 Tmall connector? It should be a time-saver. And there are two ways to save this precious resource. First of all, backend processes should be automated. Secondly, the connector should help you solve the problem caused by different attribute standards. Both are very important because frequent updates and manual data files editing consume lots of time. Do you know any Magento 2 extensions that completely satisfy these requirements?

We know for sure that the Improved Import & Export Magento 2 extension does. It is a bi-directional tool designed to connect your e-commerce store to any third-party platform. It allows automating all import and export processes as well as provides all means necessary to eliminate manual data editing every time you run the update.

To make the backend routine completely automated, the Improved Import & Export Magento 2 extension offers cron support allowing you to create any custom schedule of updates. Thus, you can provide Tmall with product update every day or even every hour. If you don’t want to deal with the cron syntax, there is a list of predefined intervals. Select one that suits your business goals.

To cope with manual data editing, the Improved Import and Export Magento 2 extension offers mapping. The corresponding interface is added to both import and export profiles so that you can create mapping schemes that transform both imported and exported data automatically. Furthermore, you can fully leverage mapping presets available with our module. The extension provides the ability to apply the corresponding mapping scheme for the selected integration within just a few clicks. You only need to choose the scheme that satisfies your goals. Schemes are not available for all platforms, but our team continually adds new presets. For further information, contact the support team.

As for the ability to integrate Magento 2 with any third-party platform, it is provided by a rich selection of file formats, connections, and sources. The Improved Import & Export Magento 2 extension allows you to work with CSV, XML, and TXT formats. Besides, native Excel files are supported.

Let’s say a few words about connection types. You can use the files mentioned above to transfer data to and from your Magento 2 store. Besides, a connection can be established using Google Sheets. And for more complex integrations, the Improved Import & Export Magento 2 extension allows leveraging API.

And don’t forget about the ability to move data files through different places. First of all, your local server can become a point of the integration. Next, you can utilize a remote server of the platform you are going to integrate your store with. Besides, a Dropbox account can be used for the same purpose. And in case of import, data files can be uploaded via URL. Note that the Improved Import & Export Magento 2 extension will easily unzip/untar compressed data.

To get the Magento 2 Tmall connector for free streamlining all the aforementioned features with the integration, you need to purchase the Improved Import & Export Magento 2 extension. Note that the module offers lots of other connectors out of charge. For more details, follow the link below and contact the support:

Download/Buy Firebear Improved Import & Export Magento 2 Extension