How TIDE Solved a Discount Integration Challenge for an Ecommerce Business
Running a modern ecommerce business often means juggling multiple systems. Online stores, accounting tools, and inventory management software all need to stay in sync. For businesses using platforms like Shopify & Unleashed, integration can be crucial. If connections are not working optimally, it can create extra manual work. There is also a risk of errors creeping in.
That’s exactly what happened recently for Sensory Sam, an ecommerce retailer using Shopify for online sales. Additionally, they use Unleashed for inventory and order management.
“‘Harry, Mckenzie and the team have been doing a great job at customising the integration experience for my Shopify store. No request is too hard, and they are quick and tenacious at creating and testing workflows no matter how complex until a solution is met. Harry’s broad understanding of company system workflows makes it easy to explain what I want to achieve.” Adam Bazzard, Managing Director, Sensory Sam
The Challenge: Duplicate Order Lines with Discounts
The customer placed an order with a multibuy discount, listing the same product twice:
- One line at full price
- One line with a discount applied
Unleashed successfully created the order, but the duplicate order lines prevented it from auto-completing after dispatch. The Sensory Sam team had to step in and manually complete the order. This added unnecessary admin work and broke the smooth automation they rely on.
The Investigation
The TIDE support team dug into the issue. The issue wasn’t with Sensory Sam’s setup. Rather, the issue came from how Unleashed allocated these types of discounts when creating the order.
As Harry Perkin, Customer Success Manager at TIDE, explained:
- TIDE’s integration logic was based on SKU matching,
- If the same SKU appeared more than once (even with different pricing), Unleashed struggled to reconcile the lines.
This was an edge case that hadn’t come up before. However, for businesses running promotions like “Buy One, Get One Free” (BOGOF) or percentage discounts, it was critical to solve.
The Solution: Smarter Handling of Duplicate Lines
This was an unusual order configuration that TIDE had not processed previously. Therefore, the functionality needed to be extended so that the order could be successfully created in Unleashed.
Rather than asking Sensory Sam to change their operations, TIDE updated its workflow. This improved support for these types of discounted orders.
The new solution ensures that when duplicate line items are passed from Shopify into Unleashed, TIDE assigns them unique identifiers. This is true even if the SKU is the same. That way, Unleashed can process them without confusion.
After deploying the update, Sensory Sam tested it with new discounted orders. The result?
✅ Orders with multibuy discounts now flow seamlessly into Unleashed
✅ No more manual fixes required
✅ Discounts and promotions can be run without disrupting order management
The Result: Reliable Automation Restored
Shortly after the fix went live, Sensory Sam reported back:
“We’ve had an order come through with the multibuy discount on it and it seems to be fine. Auto completed in Unleashed after dispatch and I can’t see any problems.” – Tracey Silcock, Accounts at Sensory Sam
For Sensory Sam, this meant getting back to what matters – serving customers – instead of worrying about technical errors behind the scenes.
Why This Matters
Ecommerce businesses increasingly rely on promotions, bundle deals, and discount codes to attract and retain customers. But if those promotions break the connection between sales channels and backend systems, the hidden costs can outweigh the benefits.
TIDE’s role is to make integrations invisible – ensuring data flows reliably between systems, no matter how complex the order setup. This case shows how quickly the TIDE team can respond to real-world challenges. They adapt the platform and keep business operations running smoothly.
Final Thoughts
What started as a frustrating error turned into a success story:
- A retailer spotted an issue
- TIDE’s support team investigated
- A fix was developed and deployed
- Automation was restored
This is the value of using a flexible integration platform like TIDE – it doesn’t just connect systems, it evolves with your business.
Read more about TIDE’s Unleashed & Shopify integration here