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The ShopCommander Connector plugin
The plugin brings Shop Commander into WordPress. Your orders heat map lives in your WooCommerce admin, orders sync to your account in real time, and you never have to create API keys. The Shop Commander web dashboard keeps working alongside it, so you can use either, or both.
Requirements
- WordPress 6.0 or newer
- WooCommerce 7.0 or newer, installed and active
- PHP 7.4 or newer
1. Install the plugin
- Download the plugin zip. Signed-in users can get the latest version here; it's also linked in your welcome email.
- In WordPress, go to Plugins → Add New Plugin → Upload Plugin, choose the zip, then click Install Now and Activate.
- A new ShopCommander menu appears in your admin sidebar, just below WooCommerce.
- On WordPress multisite, activate the plugin on each store's site individually rather than network-activating it. Each site connects on its own.
2. Free heat map (no account needed)
Open ShopCommander → Heat Map right away, before connecting anything:
- Every day of the month in four 6-hour blocks (00:00 to 06:00, 06:00 to 12:00, 12:00 to 18:00, 18:00 to 24:00), shaded from low to high order volume.
- Daily order totals, plus the month's order count and revenue.
- A month picker covering the last 12 months.
- Hover any cell for its orders and revenue.
- Sale days highlighted, from WooCommerce scheduled sales and Finale campaigns.
Paid orders (Processing and Completed) are counted by default.
3. Connect to Shop Commander
- Go to ShopCommander → Connect (administrators only) and click Connect to ShopCommander.
- You're sent to shopcommander.biz. Sign in, or create a free account, and approve the connection.
- You're brought straight back to WordPress with the message "Store connected to ShopCommander." There are no keys to copy.
- Your order history is sent in the background, and new orders and refunds sync as they happen. A quiet daily check re-sends the last two days if anything was missed.
Each connected site counts as one store on your plan. The free plan includes one store.
What connecting unlocks
- All your stores in one heat map, with a row per store, a per-store breakdown on hover, and an "All stores" picker.
- Month vs month comparison with the revenue and order difference.
- Weekly totals (a rolling 7 days, on your chosen week-end day).
- Refunds by day.
- Visitors by day from Google Analytics 4 or Matomo.
- Affiliate sales and commission by day from Awin.
- Daily run cost: enter your monthly ad spend and see each day's share next to affiliate commissions.
- Daily notes: click a day to add a note. Notes sync to your account.
Some features depend on your plan (for example, analytics sources need a paid plan and Awin needs Growth or higher).
The Connections page
ShopCommander → Connections (administrators only) lets you add data sources without leaving WordPress:
- Google Analytics: click Connect Google Analytics, sign in with Google, pick your GA4 property.
- Matomo: enter a name, your Matomo URL, Site ID and API token.
- Awin: enter a name, your Advertiser ID and API token.
- Ad spend: add each campaign's name, monthly cost and dates (leave the end date blank if ongoing).
Tokens are sent securely, stored encrypted and never shown again. These sources are shared across your whole Shop Commander account, and they show up in the web dashboard too.
Giving staff access
Revenue data is sensitive, so only administrators see the heat map by default. On the Connect page, under Access, search for specific people or tick whole roles, then click Save access. Only back-office staff can be added, never customers. People you add see the Heat Map only; Connect and Connections stay admin-only.
What the plugin sends (and doesn't)
Nothing leaves your site until you connect. Once connected, over HTTPS with a token only your site holds:
- Order data: order ID and number, status, currency, totals, paid date, line items (product name, ID, SKU, quantity, totals) and refunds.
- Sale schedules, the ad spend you enter, the Matomo or Awin credentials you enter, and your notes.
- Never customer names, email addresses, or billing or shipping addresses.
See our Privacy Policy for details.
Disconnecting
- Disconnect on the Connect page revokes the token and stops all data sending immediately.
- Deactivating the plugin pauses it; the connection is still there when you reactivate.
- Deleting the plugin revokes the token and removes all of its settings.
Plugin or API?
Managing stores you can't or don't want to install plugins on, like client sites? The API connection needs nothing installed. If a store is ever connected both ways, Shop Commander uses the plugin's real-time data and never counts an order twice.
FAQ
- Do I need an account? No. The single-store heat map works without one.
- Is it free? The plugin and the single-store heat map are free. Connecting unlocks the multi-store and enriched views; some features depend on your plan.
- Does it slow down checkout? No. Updates are queued and sent in the background.
- Which orders count? Paid orders (Processing and Completed) by default. Developers can change this with the
shopcommander_counted_statusesfilter.