Personalised print orders sent from Shopify straight into VPress production

What we built

• Personalisation on the product page

  A theme app extension adds the VPress design editor to Shopify product pages, so customers personalise the product without leaving the store. A proof image of their design is kept with the item, so it follows it through to the order.

• Products matched once

  Each Shopify variant is linked to its VPress product through settings stored on the variant, so the match is made once and then used for every order. Standard products that don't need personalising can go across too.

• Orders sent as soon as they're placed

  When an order comes in, Shopify notifies the app. It adds the delivery address in VPress, adds each item with the customer's saved design, creates the order and starts VPress's production steps, then tags the Shopify order with the VPress order number.

• No duplicate print jobs

  Shopify can send the same order notification more than once. The app records each order before it contacts VPress, so a repeat notification is recognised and skipped instead of creating a second print job.

• Problems you can see and fix

  Every order is logged with VPress's response at each step. If a step fails, the order is held as pending with the step that failed, and a retry button picks up from there. Orders can also be sent across by order number.

• Test mode and hosting

  A test mode sends orders to VPress's test system while a store is being set up. The app runs on Fly.io in London with a Postgres database, and database changes are applied automatically with each release.