Manage Orders within Activation

Summary

Overview

The Orders syndication functionality allows for the smooth exchange of product order data between a source, an ERP, an OMS, the Activation platform, and various retailers and marketplaces, starting with Amazon Seller Central and MIRAKL-powered marketplaces. The Activation platform plays the role of a self-service bridge, managing the data flows between a source and a destination.

 

Activation enables the real-time fetching, storage, and pushing of marketplace orders to third-party systems (ERPs/OMS), followed by automated shipping confirmation updates back to the marketplaces. Currently supporting Amazon and Mirakl-based marketplaces, Activation is expanding to include Walmart, Target, Otto and eBay soon.

Beyond order processing, the Activation order module also serves as a central monitoring and troubleshooting hub. It actively detects and alerts users to any errors within the order flow—including connection issues, performance glitches, and operational disruptions—ensuring prompt resolution and minimizing potential transactional data revenue impact.

This documentation explains how to effectively access and use the order management module in Activation. 

 

The exchange of order data to third-party systems (ERPs/OMS) is currently only available via API. We're actively working in building FTP connection support between Activation and 3rd party systems.

 

 

 

How does it work?

Data Flow

Here is the end-to-end process for managing orders within the Activation platform. Activation facilitates seamless order synchronization between your sales channels (e.g., Amazon Seller France) and your external systems (ERP, OMS, CMS).

Channel Connection:

  • Establish a connection to your desired sales channel (e.g., Amazon Seller France) within Activation.
  • This process is identical to the production information connection detailed in this article.

Order Retrieval Activation:

  • Navigate to your connected channel's settings within Activation.
  • Enable the "Order Retrieval" feature.

Order Synchronization:

  • Once enabled, Activation will begin automatically retrieving order data from your sales channel.
  • Order data is fetched every 5 minutes, ensuring near real-time updates.
  • The orders will then be visible inside of the Activation order module.

Order Data Export (to ERP/OMS/CMS):

  • Activation provides an Orders API with a dedicated endpoint URL.
  • Your external system (ERP, OMS, CMS) must integrate with this API to retrieve order data.
  • This is a pull method, where your system pulls the data from Activation.

Order Confirmation (to Activation):

  • After processing orders in your external system, send order confirmations (e.g., shipping updates, carrier information) back to Activation via the provided API.
  • The confirmation can be for one or multiple orders at the same time.
  • Activation translates this data into the format expected by the respective marketplaces.

Order Confirmation Transmission (to Marketplaces):

  • Activation utilizes a scheduler to automatically transmit order confirmation data to the marketplaces via API.
  • This transmission occurs every 15 minutes.
  • The order confirmation updates to the marketplaces can also be controlled (on/off) inside of the Activation channel settings. (e.g., you might only want to pull your orders into Activation but confirm them via another tool)

Order Data Storage and Association:

  • All order data is securely stored within Activation.
  • Orders are automatically associated with their corresponding products within the Activation platform.

 

Product information, product offers, and orders work independently from each other. You do not need to send product information or product offers to be able to fetch orders in Activation. As long as you are connected to the channel, you can retrieve orders and push order confirmation updates.

 

 

Working with the Orders API

As highlighted above, to exchange order data from 3rd party system to Activation, you will need to work with our Order API.  You can review the API documentation in this API guide to understand how to successfully call it to fetch orders from Activation and then push order confirmation updates back to Activation at your cadence. 

In the guide, you will learn about all the data points required to add in the shipment confirmation calls so that Activation sends the accurate data back to the marketplaces.

Access Token

  • To call the API successfully, you must access a token. Every new customer is assigned a unique access token when connecting a PIM to the Activation App.
  • Accessing the API requires the use of this access token.
  • To create a new access token to call the API you can generate it from the Activation app via this link
    1. Go to the Activation settings
    2. Select the “Activation settings” tab
    3. Click the generate token button with arrows

 

 

Order List

If you're connected to an Activation channel and have enabled the setting to fetch orders, you can now view your orders directly from the Activation platform. From the main menu on the left, click “orders”.

Here you can access the list of all of your orders for the all marketplaces you're connected to. 

Search and Filters

To manage your orders efficiently some filters and search functionalities are available at the top of the order list. Filters can be combined to refine search results and can be cleared when selecting the "All" option.

You can search by the order IDs provided by the marketplaces and here are the filters available:

  • Status: filters on order statuses
    • Options:
      • All
      • Pending
      • Waiting for shipment
      • Partially shipped
      • Shipped
      • Refused
      • Canceled
      • Unknown
    • The meaning of the statuses is described later in this article 
  • Your connected channels: filters on the marketplaces you're doing business with
    • Options:
      • All
      • ex: Amazon FR, Amazon ES, Walmart
  • Syndication Channels: filters on the Activation channels you've connected
    • Options:
      • All
      • ex: Amazon FR 1, Amazon FR 2, Amazon FR 
  • Date: simple-select filter change, refining the date for when Activation received the order.
    • Options:
      • All (default option)
      • Today
      • Yesterday
      • This week (starting on Mondays)
      • Last week (previous 7 rolling days)
      • This month
      • Last month
  • Orders Errors: filters on orders that contain errors
    • Options:
      • All
      • Contain errors
      • No errors

 

 

Order Count

You can view the order count returned from your search in the top right part of the table.

Sort

You can sort the table by the “errors” and “purchase date columns”

 

Split orders and mixed fulfillment

When an order includes items fulfilled by both the merchant and the marketplace, Activation will display these as two distinct orders. In most cases, each resulting order will have its unique order number assigned by the marketplace.

 

 

 

 

Order Details

Inside the table list, clicking on an order row provides a detailed view of all order data, organized around multiple sections.

Viewing Order Details: When you view an order, you'll see a summary of its key information:

  • Order IDs
  • Dates
  • Status
  • Payment details

Variations in Data: Be aware that the information displayed can differ depending on the marketplace. Also, some marketplaces provide supplementary data, like VAT/sales tax calculations.

 

Buyer Information: You can view the buyer's details, including:

  • Contact information (e.g., email, phone number)
  • Address(es) (shipping and/or billing)

 

Ordered Products: This section displays the details of the products included in the order:

  • Product Identification: GTIN (Global Trade Item Number)
  • Quantity: Number of units ordered
  • Total Price: The combined price for the ordered quantity of the product.
  • View product: If a product ordered was part of a product export from Activation, you can click on the “view product” button to access the product's information directly from your Activation channel product grid

 

 

Order Status

Understanding Order Status:

The order status shows the current stage of processing. "Waiting for Shipment" and "Shipped" are the most common statuses. Other statuses can be marketplace-specific.

Key Points:

  • "Shipped" means a shipment was processed, not necessarily sent to the marketplace yet.
  • “Canceled” means the cancellation process started and finished.
  • Be aware that each marketplace will have its own unique order status and status meaning. The goal of the Activation platform is to create a uniform, standard, and agnostic system, as much as possible, but you should always double-check new marketplaces' ways of working before fully automating your order process

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Status API status Description
Pending PENDING It has not been picked up by the webstore/order management system yet.
Waiting for Shipment WAITING_FOR_SHIPMENT It has been acknowledged by the webstore/order management system, and has a merchant order number*. It remains in progress even if partially shipped or canceled, with one or more items still to be shipped.
Shipped SHIPPED It has been shipped.
Partially Shipped PARTIALLY_SHIPPED It is partially shipped form the web app, with one or more items still to be shipped – this usually happens with partial merchant-fulfilled orders.
Canceled CANCELED It is canceled, either by the merchant or by the customer/ marketplace.
Refused REFUSED MIRAKL specific, if an order is refused by the marketplace, it is unlikely to be used.
Unknown UNKNOWN there as a "default"  if any new statuses come up from a marketplace, unlikely to be used.

 

 

Order errors

Activation actively monitors the order lifecycle for errors during:

  • Order retrieval from marketplaces.
  • Data transformation.
  • Order updates to marketplaces or connected systems (ERP/OMS/CMS).

All detected errors are logged for troubleshooting and auditing and can be viewed by going to the logs tab on the Activation platform (main menu on the left >> Logs”)

 

Error Notifications and Alerts:

Activation provides timely notifications to alert users of processing issues during the order lifecycle:

  • Email Notifications: Critical errors trigger email alerts to designated users to facilitate trouble.
  • Order Details UI: Errors related to specific orders are displayed directly within the order details page.
    • you can copy the error logs by clicking the “…” and “copy error details”

 

Types of alert monitoring:

  • Failed order retrieval from marketplaces.
  • Failed order push/pull to/from connected systems (ERP/OMS/CMS).
  • Failed order transmission to marketplaces.
  • Cancellation request failures.
  • General system connectivity failures.

These error detection and notification mechanisms ensure order processing reliability, maintain platform usage trust, and facilitate prompt issue resolution.

 

Automated orders management critical path

With a full API integration, Activation automates order handling. Your 3rd party system (ERP/OMS) manages the core order process.

Here is the critical path workflow

  1. Marketplace order arrives, Activation status: "Waiting for shipment."
  2. Order sent to 3rd party system (ERP/OMS), Activation status: "Waiting for shipment."
  3. 3rd party system (ERP/OMS) processes order.
  4. 3rd party system (ERP/OMS) ships, sends tracking to Activation, Activation status: "Shipped."
  5. Activation updates the marketplace with shipment details.
  6. Marketplace notifies customers.

 

 

Current module limitations

To date, it is not possible from the Activation app to:

  • fetch orders from marketplaces via FTP
  • send order confirmation via FTP
  • create orders manually
  • create returns for an order
  • request refunds for an order
  • automatically update product inventory across channels when an order is received