--- title: How to Connect Your E-commerce and ERP to Your 3PL Without Heavy Development description: How do you connect your e-commerce and ERP to your 3PL without heavy development? Methods compared. Spacefill connects via 50+ native connectors. image: https://blog.spacefill.com/hubfs/New%20Order%20Page_EN.png --- [![Logo_spacefill](https://blog.spacefill.com/hubfs/spacefill-dec2023/image/Logo_spacefill.svg)](https://blog.spacefill.com/fr?hsLang=en) [![Vector](https://blog.spacefill.com/hubfs/Vector.svg)](https://blog.spacefill.com/fr?hsLang=en) [BACK TO HOME PAGE](https://blog.spacefill.com/fr?hsLang=en) ![](https://27159804.fs1.hubspotusercontent-eu1.net/hubfs/27159804/Able-2023/nl-nl.svg) [GET IN TOUCH](https://spacefill.eu/contact/) [Spacefill | Blog ](https://blog.spacefill.com/en)>   [Guides](https://blog.spacefill.com/en/tag/guides) >   How to Connect Your E-commerce and ERP to Your 3PL Without Heavy Development [Guides](https://blog.spacefill.com/en/tag/guides) # How to Connect Your E-commerce and ERP to Your 3PL Without Heavy Development [Hadrien Leandri](https://blog.spacefill.com/en/author/hadrien-leandri) 2026-06-15 4 min read ## Connecting your 3PL without heavy development, in brief The cost of integrating a 3PL does not come from a single connection, but from their multiplication into point-to-point links that must be built and then maintained. The solution is not to code each link, but to use a connectivity hub with pre-built connectors: each connection becomes an activation, without migration or custom development, and the time-to-live drops from several months to a few weeks. For many brands, every logistics change hits the same wall: the 3PL must be connected to the e-commerce site and the ERP, and that connection turns into a multi-month IT project. This integration debt is one of the main brakes on an e-commerce company's growth. This article explains why integration costs so much, compares the four possible methods, gives a checklist of what to require, and shows how to connect without heavy development. ## Why integrating a 3PL costs so much The cost does not come from a single connection, but from their multiplication. If you connect each system to every other, point to point, the number of connections explodes: a site, an ERP, two 3PLs, three marketplaces and a TMS, and you end up with a spider web of links to build and, above all, to maintain. Each point-to-point link is fragile: an API update on the marketplace side or a format change on the 3PL side, and the connection breaks. Maintenance ends up costing more than the initial build. This is the classic trap of custom integration. ## The 4 integration methods compared | Method | Real time | Time-to-live | Maintenance | When to use it | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Custom development (point to point) | Yes | Long (months) | On you, permanent | Genuinely atypical cases | | EDI | Mostly batch | Medium to long | Heavy | B2B, large retail | | iPaaS (integration platform) | Yes | Medium | On you | Internal technical team available | | Connectivity hub (pre-built connectors) | Yes | Short (days to weeks) | Handled by the vendor | An e-commerce business that wants to activate, not develop | ## What to require from a modern integration Before choosing an approach or a platform, check these points: - **Maintained native connectors** to your systems (Shopify, PrestaShop, WooCommerce, Magento, your ERP, your 3PLs' WMS, your marketplaces). - **API and EDI coverage** for systems without a native connector, to aim for 100% coverage. - **Version-agnostic integration**: one that does not break every time your CMS updates. - **Lightweight server-side logic** that does not degrade your site's performance. - **Maintenance handled by the vendor**, not by your teams. - **A time-to-live** measured in weeks, not months. ## The connectivity hub, in practice **Spacefill** is built on this connectivity-hub principle. Through [3PL Connect](https://spacefill.com/3pl-connect/), the platform ships 50+ native WMS connectors to the market's 3PLs, plus CMS, ERP, marketplace and carrier connectors, and covers the rest via [WMS Connect](https://spacefill.com/wms-connect/) and an open API. You plug into the existing stack without forcing a migration on your provider, and without a custom development project. You can explore the detail on the [all integrations](https://spacefill.com/integrations/) page, with ready-to-use connectors such as the [NetSuite integration](https://spacefill.com/integration-netsuite/) the [WooCommerce integration](https://spacefill.com/integration-woocommerce/) or the [Amazon integration](https://spacefill.com/integration-spacefill-for-amazon/). Concretely, this changes the economics of every change: adding a marketplace or a new 3PL becomes a connector activation, not a project. That is what lets Spacefill announce onboarding in under 30 days and a full deployment in 6 to 12 weeks, where custom integration is counted in months. The automated order-extraction capability (Smart Order, part of the [AI agents](https://spacefill.com/ia-logistics-transport/)) completes the picture by processing orders received as PDF or Excel, with a strong reduction in errors and data-entry time. ## How much time and IT effort, really With a connectivity hub, the client's IT effort is most often limited to providing access and validating the initial mapping. The bulk of the work (the connection logic, API maintenance, adapting to version changes) is carried by the vendor. This is the exact opposite of custom development, where every connection and its maintenance rest on your teams. The right reflex: evaluate an integration not on its upfront cost, but on its total cost over three years, maintenance included. That is where a connectivity hub pulls ahead. ## Conclusion Connecting your e-commerce and ERP to your 3PL should not be a recurring IT project. The real cost of integration comes from the multiplication of point-to-point links and their maintenance. A connectivity hub with pre-built connectors, like Spacefill's, turns each connection into a simple activation, without migration or custom development, and cuts time-to-live from several months to a few weeks. Dreading the integration project at every logistics change? [**Book a Spacefill demo**](https://spacefill.com/register-demo/) to see how to connect your stack without heavy development. ## FAQ ### Do I need custom development to connect my 3PL? Rarely. For the vast majority of cases, a connectivity hub with pre-built connectors to the market's WMS, CMS and ERP is enough, with no specific development. ### Does my 3PL have to change systems to integrate? No. A platform like Spacefill plugs into your provider's existing WMS via a native connector, an API or EDI, without forcing a migration. ### How long does it take to integrate a new channel or a new 3PL? With a connectivity hub, you are looking at activation in a few days to a few weeks, versus several months for custom integration. Spacefill announces onboarding in under 30 days. ### What is the difference between an iPaaS and a connectivity hub? An iPaaS gives you the tools to build and maintain your integrations, which requires internal skills. A connectivity hub provides connectors already built and maintained by the vendor: you activate instead of developing. ### How do you handle orders received as PDF or by email? Automated extraction capabilities, such as Spacefill's Smart Order, read orders in PDF or Excel and inject them into the flow without re-keying, sharply reducing errors and processing time. ![Rectangle 10](https://blog.spacefill.com/hs-fs/hubfs/spacefill-dec2023/image/Rectangle%2010.png?width=413&height=260&name=Rectangle%2010.png) ## Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur ! CONTACTER UN EXPERT ![Rectangle 10](https://blog.spacefill.com/hs-fs/hubfs/spacefill-dec2023/image/Rectangle%2010.png?width=413&height=260&name=Rectangle%2010.png) ## Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur ! CONTACTER UN EXPERT ## Êtes-vous prêt à booster votre logistique multi-entrepôts ? 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