--- title: "Setting Up an External Storefront with a Shopify Webhook" slug: "setting-up-an-external-storefront-with-a-shopify-webhook" tags: ["ecommerce"] updated: 2026-07-28T15:19:39Z published: 2026-07-28T15:19:39Z canonical: "support.smarteru.com/setting-up-an-external-storefront-with-a-shopify-webhook" --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://support.smarteru.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Setting Up an External Storefront with a Shopify Webhook In order to use this feature, be sure to enable [eCommerce](https://support.smarteru.com/docs/account-settings#ecommerce) for your account. You can also sell [learning plans](/v1/docs/learning-plans) through [SmarterU’s integrated eCommerce or an external storefront](/v1/docs/ecommerce). For details, contact our [Success Desk](mailto:success@neovation.com). ## How It Works A "webhook" tells Shopify how to communicate with SmarterU so that your customers are registered and enrolled in their courses. Here's how it works. From your Shopify store, customers can browse your courses and add courses they are interested in to their shopping cart. They can then go through checkout to pay for their purchases. After the customer's payment is confirmed, your webhook sends the customer's information and course SKU to SmarterU. SmarterU creates a [user account](/v1/docs/users) for the customer and [enrolls them in the course(s)](/v1/docs/enrolling-users). SmarterU then sends the customer an [email with the SmarterU login page's URL and their login information](/v1/docs/system-email-templates-account-emails#account-invitation). The customer logs into SmarterU and begins their course(s). ## Setting Up an External Storefront with a Shopify Webhook To set up an external storefront with a Shopify webhook, you'll need to do the following: 1. [Add a subscription](/v1/docs/adding-a-subscription) to SmarterU that [includes the courses](/v1/docs/subscription-courses) you would like to sell in Shopify. If you want to charge customers for each course they purchase, you should [add one course](/v1/docs/subscription-courses) to each subscription. However, if you'd like to sell a set of courses as a package, you will want to add all courses in the set to a single subscription. For example, if you want to sell customers your Accounting 101 and Accounting 201 courses together, you would create one subscription and add both Accounting 101 and Accounting 201 to the subscription. 1. [Add a variant](/v1/docs/adding-a-variant) to the subscription; be sure to specify a [SKU](/v1/docs/variant-main#sku-required-if-ecommerce-setting-is-enabled) for the variant. To sell a learning plan, enter the SKU in the [**Learning Plan ID** field](/v1/docs/learning-plan-main#learning-plan-id) and contact our [Success Desk](mailto:success@neovation.com) to let them know which learning plan you'd like to sell. 2. [Create a Shopify "webhook"](/v1/docs/setting-up-an-external-storefront-with-a-shopify-webhook#creating-a-shopify). 3. [Set up your products in Shopify](/v1/docs/setting-up-an-external-storefront-with-a-shopify-webhook#setting-up-products-in-shopify). 4. [Add an external storefront to SmarterU](/v1/docs/setting-up-an-external-storefront-with-a-shopify-webhook#adding-an-external-storefront-to-smarteru). ## Creating a Shopify "Webhook" A "webhook" tells Shopify how to communicate with SmarterU so that your customers are registered and enrolled in their courses. To set up a "webhook" in your Shopify account: 1. From the **Settings** menu on the left side of the Shopify Admin page, select **Notifications**. 2. From the Webhooks section of the page, click **Create a Webhook**. 3. Specify the following settings. | **Setting** | **Value** | | --- | --- | | **Event** | Order Payment | | **Format** | XML | | **URL** | https://app.smarteru.com/eCommerce/shopify/index.cfm | 1. Click **Save Webhook**. Your secret key displays below the grid. ![Interface gráfica do usuário, Texto Descrição gerada automaticamente com confiança média](https://cdn.document360.io/7efaadab-fef6-4186-806a-2ca14c9ce9ea/Images/Documentation/setting-up-an-external-storefront-with-a-shopify-webhook-image-1jb1w06e.png) 1. Copy your secret key. You will need to paste this in the [**Secret Key** setting](/v1/docs/external-storefront-configuration#shopify) of the external storefront in SmarterU. **NEXT STEP:** [Set up your products in Shopify.](/v1/docs/setting-up-an-external-storefront-with-a-shopify-webhook#setting-up-products-in-shopify) ## Setting Up Products in Shopify To set up your products in Shopify: 1. From the **Products** menu on the left side of the Shopify Admin page, select **Add a Product**, or select an existing product. 2. In the Inventory and Variants section, enter the [SKU](/v1/docs/variant-main#sku-required-if-ecommerce-setting-is-enabled) of the matching [SmarterU subscription variant](/v1/docs/variants)[.](https://help.smarteru.com/variant-main-settings$setting_sku) 3. Specify the price and other purchasing details for the product. If you are offering an [instructor-led course](/v1/docs/courses-instructor-led), you can add additional variants for each different [sessions](/v1/docs/adding-a-session). Your customers can select their preferred session when they select the course. **NEXT STEP:** [Add an external storefront to SmarterU.](/v1/docs/setting-up-an-external-storefront-with-a-shopify-webhook#adding-an-external-storefront-to-smarteru) ## Locating Your Shopify Domain Your Shopify domain is required when you add an external storefront to SmarterU. > [!CAUTION] > SmarterU identifies your store by its **permanent myshopify.com domain**, the one assigned when the store was created. If you've connected a custom domain, the custom domain will not be your store's primary domain. Using the wrong domain will cause purchases to be silently discarded. To locate your permanent Shopify domain: 1. From the **Settings** menu on the left side of the Shopify admin, select **Domains**. ![](https://cdn.document360.io/7efaadab-fef6-4186-806a-2ca14c9ce9ea/Images/Documentation/Shopify%20-%20Domains%20Menu%20Option%20-%20Labeled%2020260728.png) 2. In the list of domains, look for the entry ending in *.myshopify.com*. Note that it may not be at the top of the list or set as the primary domain. 3. To confirm it's the correct domain, check your browser's address bar while in the Shopify admin. The URL has the format: *admin.shopify.com/store/* Your permanent domain is: *.myshopify.com* > [!NOTE] > If your permanent domain differs from what the Domains page shows (this can happen if the store's myshopify.com address was renamed), use the domain from the address bar. 1. Copy the domain and paste it into the [**Domain** setting](/v1/docs/external-storefront-configuration#shopify-webhook) of the external storefront in SmarterU. ## Adding an External Storefront to SmarterU Before you add an external storefront to SmarterU, be sure you have the following information: - [The secret key for your Shopify webhook](/v1/docs/setting-up-an-external-storefront-with-a-shopify-webhook#creating-a-shopify). - [Your Shopify domain](/v1/docs/setting-up-an-external-storefront-with-a-shopify-webhook#locating-your-shopify-domain). Refer to [Adding an External Storefront](/v1/docs/adding-an-external-storefront) for details. Be sure to set the [storefront's **External Type** setting](/v1/docs/external-storefront-configuration#external-type-required) to *Shopify*. ![Interface gráfica do usuário, Texto, Aplicativo, Email Descrição gerada automaticamente](https://cdn.document360.io/7efaadab-fef6-4186-806a-2ca14c9ce9ea/Images/Documentation/setting-up-an-external-storefront-with-a-shopify-webhook-image-cw8i9lkn.png) ## Related - [Adding an External Storefront](/adding-an-external-storefront.md) - [Storefront Management Dashboard](/storefront-management-dashboard.md) - [Subscriptions](/subscriptions.md) - [Variants](/variants.md)