Setting Up a Sales Channel

How Sales Channels Work

A sales channel is the link between Helm and one of the places you sell: an online shop, a marketplace or a wholesale platform. Once a channel is connected, its orders arrive in Helm ready to pick, pack and despatch, and Helm can send your stock levels back so every channel shows what you actually have on the shelf.

Each sales channel belongs to a store. Most businesses have one store with several channels underneath it, such as a Shopify website, an Amazon account and an eBay account.

Example: A homeware brand sells through its Shopify website and on Amazon UK, and connects both as sales channels under its store. Orders from both land in Helm side by side. With stock sync switched on, when the last 12 candles sell on Amazon, Helm updates Shopify so the website stops selling them too.

There are three ways a channel can connect. Helm uses the right one for the channel you choose:

Before You Start

• Access to Settings: you need a Helm user who can open Settings and manage the store.

• Your channel login or credentials: have the account login ready for channels you sign in to, or the API keys for channels that use credentials.

• The right permissions on those keys: credentials need access to orders, products and inventory. Without it, orders or stock will not sync.

Adding a Sales Channel

1. Go to Settings and, under Company Settings, select My Store.

2. In the Sales Channels panel, select the + button.

3. In the Add Sales Channel window, type the channel's name into Search for channel. The list covers more than 120 channels, so searching is quicker than scrolling.

4. Select the channel, then select Continue.

5. Follow the steps below for your channel's connection type.

Channels You Sign In To

1. Answer any questions Helm asks before sign-in. These depend on the channel, for example:

   • Shopify: enter your shop's Domain Name, in the format yourshop.myshopify.com.

   • Amazon: choose your marketplace in Select Region, then set Fulfilment Channels and Order Statuses.

2. Select Continue. Helm takes you to the channel's own sign-in page.

3. Sign in to the channel account and approve access for Helm.

4. Back in My Store, check that the channel shows Linked in the Relink In column and Active in the Status column.

5. Open the channel's Actions menu and choose Edit to set how it imports orders and syncs stock. See Choosing How the Channel Works below.

Channels That Use API Credentials

1. In Connection Settings, check the Sales Channel Name. Helm fills it in for you, and you can change it to something your team will recognise.

2. Optionally, upload a Sales Channel Logo.

3. Enter the credentials the channel asks for. For WooCommerce, these are Store Url, Consumer Key and Consumer Secret.

4. Open Optional Settings if you need them. The options depend on the channel and can include Timezone, Use What3Words and Automatic Backorder.

5. Select Continue to move to the second step, Interaction Settings. Set how the channel works, then save.

Adding a Manual Channel

A manual channel is for orders that do not come from a connected platform, such as orders you create in Helm yourself.

1. In Add Sales Channel, select Add Manual Channel. It is the last tile in the full list, and it also appears next to your search results.

2. Enter a Sales Channel Name and, optionally, upload a logo.

3. Choose a Primary Order Reference: Order ID, Channel Order ID or Channel Alt ID.

4. Select Save Channel.

Manual channels show Manual in the Status column.

Choosing How the Channel Works

The second step of setup, Interaction Settings, controls what moves between Helm and the channel. You can come back to it at any time: open the channel's Actions menu, choose Edit, then select Continue.

Managing Your Sales Channels

The Sales Channels panel in My Store lists every channel connected to the store:

Best Practices & Notes

Give Each Channel a Clear Name

If you sell on the same marketplace in several regions, include the region in the Sales Channel Name, such as "Amazon UK" and "Amazon Germany", so your team can tell orders apart at a glance.

Check Stock Before Switching On Sync

Stock sync sends Helm's figures to the channel, so make sure stock in Helm is accurate before you turn on Sync Stock Levels.

Protect Fast Sellers With a Stock Buffer

When the same product sells on several channels at once, a small Stock Buffer helps you avoid selling the last few units twice.

Keep an Eye on Channel Logs

To see what Helm is exchanging with your channels, go to Settings > System Settings > Channel Logs. It is the first place to look if orders or stock are not updating.

FAQ

If a channel still will not connect, contact Helm Support with the channel name and roughly when you tried, and the team will help you get it running.