Custom development / unsupported shop system

Custom Development / Unsupported Shop System

For Shoplytics to capture relevant e-commerce events in your shop (e.g. view_item, add_to_cart, purchase), it needs a clean e-commerce data layer.

This data layer provides structured information, including:

• Product IDs and variants
• Categories
• Prices and revenue
• Cart and order data

In short: Everything that turns visitors into measurable purchasing decisions.

The standard Shoplytics relies on

Shoplytics follows the common Google Analytics data layer standard (GTM version).

For many shop systems, ready-made plugins are already available. That's why our first, pragmatic tip is:

Search your shop's admin area for plugins with terms like

• "Data Layer"
• "Google Tag Manager"
• "GTM"

Many of these plugins provide the required e-commerce data layer right out of the box. If you're unsure whether a plugin is the right fit for you, feel free to send us the link at support@shoplytics.de and we'll quickly check it for you.

Couldn't find a plugin for your shop? No problem.

(PS: You shouldn't have to pay more than 10 euros per month for this ... there are plugins out there that charge ten times as much. That's way too much.)

Especially with more customized setups, it's completely normal for no plugins to be available. That's not a problem either.

In this case, you have two clean options:

Option 1: Data layer implementation by your developer or agency

Your developer implements the e-commerce data layer directly in your shop's source code.

This is the standard approach for:

• Custom-built shops
• Non-standardized shop systems
• Custom product, pricing, or cart logic
• (just forward this documentation to your developer)

You'll find the instructions for your developer at the bottom of this page.

Option 2: We'll take care of it for you. Book the Shoplytics Data Layer Service

What you get:

• A custom-built e-commerce data layer for your shop
• No development effort on your side
• Implementation according to the common, future-proof standard

Important: This data layer belongs to you. You can continue to use it independently of Shoplytics, since other plugins and tracking systems also align with this exact standard.

--> Book the Data Layer Service now

So: Whether from us, a plugin from your shop, or your shop agency – make sure you get a clean data layer based on this standard.

You're not investing in a tool, but in a clean data foundation for your shop.

In the next step, you'll find the original Google documentation on this topic.

 

Instructions for your developer on how to easily program the data layer

1. Programming the "DataLayer" and populating it with "Enhanced E-Commerce Data" according to Google's own documentation (You can find the link to the full Google documentation and all possible events at the end of this document.):
   1. You can limit yourself here to the following four events/page views: (Steps 1 through 4 are "mandatory" to start ecommerce tracking)
      1. Viewing a product page (Documentation: "view_item")
      2. Adding/removing a product from the shopping cart (Documentation: add_to_cart, or: remove_from_cart)
      3. Entering the checkout: begin_checkout
      4. Transmission of successfully completed purchases (on the "Thank You page" after the purchase) (See purchase in the Google docs)
2. Please observe the "required" parameters in each of the data layer pushes in the original Google documentation (links below):
   1. the respective event name (e.g. "view_item" or "purchase")
   2. items > item_name & item_id
   3. currency
   4. value

If you have any questions about the programming, feel free to contact us anytime at:

support@shoplytics.de

Google's documentation on the individual events:

Please have your developer team implement it exactly this way.

(Also see the mandatory parameters in the ecommerce and items objects.)

At minimum, the events: view_item, add_to_cart and purchase are necessary.

It would be better to have all of the following events...

add_payment_info:

https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/ga4/reference/events?hl=de&client_type=gtm#add_payment_info

add_shipping_info:

https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/ga4/reference/events?hl=de&client_type=gtm#add_shipping_info

add_to_cart:

https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/ga4/reference/events?hl=de&client_type=gtm#add_to_cart

begin_checkout:

https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/ga4/reference/events?hl=de&client_type=gtm#begin_checkout

view_item:

https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/ga4/reference/events?hl=de&client_type=gtm#view_item

view_item_list:

https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/ga4/reference/events?hl=de&client_type=gtm#view_item_list

purchase:

https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/ga4/reference/events?hl=de&client_type=gtm#purchase

remove_from_cart:

https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/ga4/reference/events?hl=de&client_type=gtm#remove_from_cart