Understanding Cin7: The Connected Inventory Platform
For growing product-based companies, keeping inventory, sales, and fulfillment aligned can be overwhelming. Cin7 was designed to solve that challenge.
Cin7 is a cloud inventory management platform that unites all the key operations of a business—from stock control and purchasing to order fulfillment, accounting, and reporting.
Instead of juggling multiple disconnected tools, teams get one centralized system that shows a live, accurate picture of their inventory at every stage.
The platform’s strength lies in its connectivity. Cin7 integrates with hundreds of applications, from ecommerce stores and marketplaces to accounting systems and logistics providers, allowing businesses to automate data flow and reduce manual entry.
Cin7’s Core Strengths
1. Real-Time Inventory Visibility
One of Cin7’s biggest advantages is its ability to track real-time inventory across multiple sales channels and warehouses.
Every stock adjustment, purchase, or sale updates immediately, giving managers confidence in what’s available, committed, or incoming.
This visibility reduces costly problems such as overselling, duplicate orders, and stockouts. Whether you’re fulfilling orders from a single location or several regional warehouses, Cin7 ensures every team works from the same live data
2. Multichannel Connectivity
Product businesses try to sell everywhere, websites, online marketplaces, physical stores, and B2B wholesale portals. Cin7 supports this model through multichannel integrations that synchronize product data, pricing, and stock levels across each platform.
When an order is placed on Shopify or Amazon, Cin7 automatically adjusts inventory, creates sales orders, and can even trigger purchase or production workflows. Integrations with accounting platforms such as Xero and QuickBooks Online keep financials aligned without exporting CSVs or re-entering data.
This level of automation turns what used to be hours of manual updating into a continuous, error-free process.
3. Centralized Order & Product Management
Cin7 centralizes sales orders, purchase orders, product catalogs, and customer records in a single interface.This structure means every stakeholder—sales, finance, fulfillment—sees the same information. Managers can track order progress, run profitability reports, and spot slow-moving SKUs without jumping between systems.
It also streamlines communication: when purchasing updates a supplier delivery, sales automatically see what’s arriving and when, improving promise dates and customer satisfaction.
4. Advanced Modules and Add-Ons
Cin7 Core (the main product tier) offers optional modules to support more specialized workflows:
- B2B Portal Add-On: lets wholesale customers log in to view stock, pricing, and place orders directly.
- Advanced Warehouse Management: adds barcode scanning, pick/pack workflows, and improved visibility for high-volume operations.
These modules allow Cin7 to scale with your company—from small retailers to manufacturers managing complex supply chains.
Why Businesses Extend Cin7 Through Integrations
Cin7 delivers extensive functionality out of the box, but no two businesses operate the same way; some need tighter automation between internal systems, whereas others want to create custom front-end experiences for customers or sales teams.
That flexibility is why Cin7 offers an open integration ecosystem and robust API support, so businesses can connect Cin7 to specialized software, mobile tools, or custom applications that fit their exact workflow.
Integrations can:
- Push and pull product, order, or pricing data automatically
- Connect third-party ecommerce or ERP systems not supported natively
- Provide custom dashboards or mobile apps that extend Cin7’s data to specific users
- Enable offline or field-sales order capture that syncs back when online
For many businesses, this ecosystem turns Cin7 from an inventory tool into a fully tailored business platform.
LilyPad: Helping Businesses Customize Cin7
One integration provider supporting Cin7 users is LilyPad Applications, a company known for developing integrations and connected tools for inventory platforms.
LilyPad provides custom integration services that allow businesses to link Cin7 with their websites, ecommerce portals, mobile warehouse tools, and other operational systems.
This makes LilyPad a valuable option for Cin7 users who want to:
- Create branded customer or sales-rep portals tied to Cin7 inventory
- Capture and sync offline orders
- Improve mobile accessibility for warehouse teams
- Maintain consistent pricing and catalog data across external systems
While Cin7 handles the backbone of inventory and orders, LilyPad’s integration work helps businesses adapt the platform to their day-to-day needs—without rebuilding from scratch.
How Custom Integrations Enhance Everyday Operations
1. Reduced Manual Data Entry
Integrations remove repetitive work like updating stock counts or re-entering orders from separate systems. When Cin7 shares data automatically with connected platforms, errors drop and staff can focus on customers instead of spreadsheets.
2. Streamlined B2B Commerce
By connecting Cin7 with customized portals or ecommerce tools, wholesale buyers can view live pricing and place orders that flow straight into Cin7—no phone calls or manual approval chains.
3. Mobile and Warehouse Efficiency
Custom integrations make Cin7 data available on mobile devices, scanners, and tablets. This helps teams receive, pick, and ship inventory more accurately, ensuring that the system of record always matches what’s on the shelf.
4. Better Visibility Across the Business
When all connected systems communicate through Cin7, reporting becomes far more accurate. Businesses can see where products are, which channels perform best, and where profit margins can improve.
Implementation Tips for Cin7 Integrations
- Start with Clean Data: Ensure SKUs, supplier names, and customer records in Cin7 are standardized before connecting other platforms.
- Document Your Workflows: Map how data should flow between Cin7 and each integrated system—avoid circular or duplicate updates.
- Test Before You Scale: Use sandbox or staging environments to confirm sync accuracy.
- Monitor and Maintain: Even well-built integrations require periodic checks to confirm updates continue functioning after Cin7 version changes.
Cin7 as the Foundation — Integrations as the Finishing Touch
Cin7 delivers a comprehensive inventory and order management solution available for product-based businesses, offering live visibility, seamless connectivity, and the ability to grow from single-channel retail to global multichannel commerce.
But every business has unique needs. Integration partners such as LilyPad Applications provide the flexibility to tailor Cin7 even further—connecting the system with portals, mobile tools, and workflows that make sense for your team.
Cin7 gives you the structure.Integrations give you the personalization. Together, they form an ecosystem that lets you run your business exactly the way you want—efficiently, accurately, and ready to scale.