CartonCloud is warehouse and logistics software used by third-party logistics (3PL) providers: the companies that store, pick, pack and dispatch your beer on your behalf. If your 3PL provider uses CartonCloud, this integration lets Breww send your orders straight to them and keep everything in sync automatically, so you manage your sales in Breww while your 3PL handles the physical fulfilment.
You do not need your own CartonCloud account or subscription. CartonCloud is your 3PL provider's software. You only need a set of access credentials (an "API client") from them, which we explain how to get below.
What this integration does
Once connected and enabled, Breww will:
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Send your confirmed orders that are fulfilled from a 3PL-managed site to CartonCloud as outbound orders, ready for your 3PL to pick, pack and dispatch.
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Send stock transfers to a 3PL-managed site to CartonCloud as inbound orders, so your 3PL knows what stock is arriving.
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Keep each order's status up to date in Breww as your 3PL works through it.
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Automatically mark an order as dispatched and complete in Breww once your 3PL dispatches it.
Everything is driven by Breww. Your team keeps working in Breww exactly as they do today, and the integration quietly mirrors the right orders to your 3PL in the background.
Before you start
You'll need:
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A 3PL provider that uses CartonCloud.
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One or more Breww sites that represent your 3PL's warehouse(s). If you haven't set these up yet, see our guide on creating sites and locations. The site must be allowed to fulfil orders.
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An API client from your 3PL (see the next section).
Requesting an API client from your 3PL
Breww connects to CartonCloud using an "API client", which is a set of credentials your 3PL creates for you inside their CartonCloud system. Ask your 3PL provider to:
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Create a new API client in CartonCloud, under
Contacts->API Clients. -
Scope it to your account only (you are the "customer" in their CartonCloud system).
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Give it roles that allow creating orders and viewing customers, warehouses and products.
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Send you the resulting client ID and client secret.
Your 3PL can follow CartonCloud's own guide to API Clients for the exact steps.
The API client must be scoped to only your account. This keeps your data separate from your 3PL's other customers, and Breww checks it for you when you connect (see below).
Connecting CartonCloud to Breww
- In Breww, go to
Integrationsand find the 3PL warehouses section. - Select CartonCloud and follow the on-screen form.
- Enter the API client ID and API client secret your 3PL gave you, then submit.
Breww then automatically names the connection after your 3PL's account, so you can tell it apart if you ever connect more than one.
Connecting does not start syncing anything straight away. Nothing is sent to your 3PL until you have mapped your warehouses and products and then enabled the integration, so you can set everything up at your own pace.
The data-isolation safety check
For Breww to connect, your API client must resolve to exactly one CartonCloud account and exactly one customer (you) within it. This is how Breww guarantees it's only ever working with your own data, and never another of your 3PL's customers. If the credentials don't meet this, Breww refuses to connect and explains what your 3PL needs to change.
You may see one of these messages:
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"These credentials give access to more than one CartonCloud account..." The API client can see more than one CartonCloud account. Ask your 3PL to create one scoped to just your account, then re-enter the credentials.
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"These credentials don't have access to any CartonCloud account. Please check them with your 3PL." The credentials authenticated but aren't linked to any account, so check them with your 3PL.
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"This API client can access more than one customer account in CartonCloud..." The API client's Customers list includes more than just you. Ask your 3PL to edit the API client (in CartonCloud, under
Contacts->API Clients) so its Customers list contains only your account. -
"This API client isn't linked to your customer account..." Ask your 3PL to add your customer to the API client.
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"We couldn't connect to CartonCloud with these credentials." Double-check the client ID and secret with your 3PL.
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"We couldn't reach CartonCloud just now. This looks like a temporary problem on their side, so please try again in a few minutes." This isn't a problem with your credentials; CartonCloud was briefly unreachable, so just try again shortly.
If everything checks out, the connection is created and you're taken to its dashboard.
Mapping your CartonCloud warehouses to Breww sites
Breww needs to know which of your Breww sites corresponds to each of your 3PL's warehouses. This is how Breww decides which orders belong to your 3PL.
- From the connection dashboard, go to the Manage section and select Warehouse mapping.
- Breww lists the warehouses your 3PL has set up for your account in CartonCloud.
- For each warehouse, choose the Breww site it fulfils and save.
Each Breww site can be linked to only one 3PL warehouse. Confirmed orders fulfilled from a mapped site, and stock transfers to it, are automatically the ones sent to that warehouse.
If Breww can't find any warehouses for your account, ask your 3PL to confirm your account has warehouses set up in CartonCloud, then come back and map them.
Mapping your products
Breww also needs to know which of your 3PL's products each of your Breww products corresponds to, so the right items appear on the orders sent to CartonCloud.
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From the connection dashboard, go to the Manage section and select Product mapping.
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Breww attempts to auto-match your products to your 3PL's products by code. Match any remaining products by hand.
The product mapping tool works the same way as it does for our other integrations, so our product mapping guidance applies here too.
Enabling the integration
When your warehouses and products are mapped and you're ready to go live, open the connection dashboard and select Enable. From this point on, Breww starts sending eligible orders to your 3PL.
You can Disable the connection again at any time from the same page; orders will stop syncing until you re-enable it.
Your CartonCloud dashboard
The connection dashboard is your home base for the integration. It's a single page, laid out from top to bottom as follows:
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A health strip of three figures at the top: Needs attention (orders with a problem to resolve), Pending upload (orders waiting to be sent to your 3PL), and Synced (orders successfully sent).
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A Connection info card showing whether Breww's access to CartonCloud is currently valid, the CartonCloud customer your connection is linked to (your own account name in your 3PL's system), whether the integration is enabled or disabled, and who set it up and when.
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A Manage section with links to Orders, Warehouse mapping and Product mapping. Each opens as its own full page.
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A Needs attention table listing any orders with a problem to resolve, each with a link to open the order.
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A Recent orders preview of the latest orders sent to this 3PL, with a View all orders link through to the full orders page.
The full Orders page lists every order sent to this 3PL, which you can filter and search. Each row shows the order, its direction (outbound or inbound), its site, its Breww order status, its Breww delivery status, its sync state (how far Breww has got sending it to your 3PL), its status in CartonCloud, and any error.
You can rename the connection at any time using Rename, which is handy if you work with more than one 3PL. You can connect to more than one 3PL by repeating the setup for each.
Sending orders to your 3PL (outbound)
When you confirm an order whose fulfilment site is mapped to a CartonCloud warehouse, Breww sends it to your 3PL as an outbound order for them to pick, pack and dispatch.
On the order's delivery card you'll see that it's fulfilled by your logistics partner. Because your 3PL is doing the delivery, Breww asks you to set a requested delivery date here before you can confirm the order.
Once the order is with your 3PL:
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Breww checks its status with CartonCloud every few minutes and updates the status badge as your 3PL progresses it (for example, from Awaiting pick and pack through to Dispatched).
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When your 3PL dispatches the order, Breww automatically marks the delivery as dispatched and complete, keeping the batch assignment already made in Breww.
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If the batches your 3PL reports picking differ from those Breww had assigned, Breww keeps its own assignment and shows a warning so you can review it if batch traceability matters to you.
For a refresher on how dispatching works in Breww generally, see dispatching orders.
Sending stock transfers to your 3PL (inbound)
When you create a stock transfer to a site that's mapped to a CartonCloud warehouse, Breww lets your 3PL know that stock is on its way in. Breww sends the inbound order to CartonCloud when you dispatch the transfer (not when you create it), including batch and expiry details.
The order's 3PL receiving card explains what will happen and shows the status once it's been sent.
For more on transfers themselves, see moving and transferring stock between sites.
Breww automatically creates a dedicated customer record to represent transfers received by your 3PL. Use this customer to create your stock transfer orders.
Order statuses
As your 3PL works through an order, Breww shows the status CartonCloud reports:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Draft | The order has been created but not yet started. |
| Awaiting stock | Waiting for stock before it can be picked. |
| Awaiting pick and pack | Queued for picking and packing. |
| Packing in progress | Being packed. |
| Picked | Items have been picked. |
| Packed | The order has been packed. |
| Dispatched | The order has left the warehouse. Breww marks the delivery dispatched and complete at this point. |
| Rejected | Your 3PL has rejected the order. It will need attention (see below). |
Choosing whether an order is fulfilled by your 3PL
Most of the time Breww makes the right choice automatically, but you're always in control on the individual order. Depending on the order and where it is in the process, you'll see options to:
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Fulfil via 3PL / Send to 3PL - link an order (or transfer) that was created before you enabled the integration, so your 3PL handles it.
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Fulfil via 3PL instead / Send to 3PL instead - re-enable an order you'd previously chosen to keep in Breww.
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Don't fulfil via 3PL / Don't send to 3PL - keep an order in Breww and manage its logistics yourself. This is available before the order has been sent, and you can switch it back at any time before it's dispatched.
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Stop fulfilling via 3PL / Stop sending to 3PL - pull back an order that has already been sent. Breww will ask your 3PL to cancel it, and you then manage its logistics in Breww.
If your 3PL has already progressed the order too far to cancel it, Breww will tell you and ask you to contact your 3PL to cancel it with them directly.
If your 3PL cancels or deletes an order in CartonCloud, Breww automatically releases it back to you so you can manage its logistics in Breww. You'll see a note on the order ("This order was cancelled or deleted in CartonCloud, so Breww has released it. You can now manage its logistics in Breww."), and there's nothing else you need to do.
When an order needs attention
Orders that need a closer look appear under Needs attention on the dashboard and show an "Action required" note on the order itself. The most common case is:
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A product isn't mapped. Breww tells you which products need mapping ("these products are not mapped..."). Map them on the product mapping page, then use Re-sync on the order.
Other cases you may occasionally see:
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Your 3PL rejected the order. Breww shows the reason your 3PL gave (or asks you to check the order in CartonCloud). Fix the cause and use Re-sync.
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The order was changed in Breww after it was sent. CartonCloud doesn't currently support updating an order that's already been sent, so Breww flags it. Contact your 3PL to amend the order, or stop fulfilling via 3PL and send it again.
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The order's site isn't mapped to a warehouse. This is rare, as an unmapped site isn't normally chosen for 3PL fulfilment in the first place. Map the site on the warehouse mapping page, then use Re-sync.
The Re-sync button appears on any order that's in a state Breww can retry, and re-sends it to your 3PL once you've resolved the underlying cause.
Related guides
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Ecommerce & POS integrations (for how the shared product mapping tool works)
