Case study · Integrations
ELS for WooCommerce
An independent community integration for Macedonian online stores that connects WooCommerce order workflows with the configurable ELS shipping API.
WordPress / WooCommerce / Web- Status
- Live
- Industry
- Open-source shipping automation
- Timeline
- Public release · 2026
- Role
- Product design, plugin architecture, API integration, WooCommerce development, testing and documentation
- Platforms
- WordPress, WooCommerce, Web
- Technology
- WordPress, WooCommerce, PHP, JavaScript, REST APIs, Action Scheduler
Independent community release
ELS for WooCommerce is an independent community plugin, not an official ELS product. It requires an active ELS customer account and API credentials supplied by ELS.
Business challenge
WooCommerce stores using ELS otherwise need to transfer order and recipient information into the courier workflow manually, increasing repetitive work and the risk of address, phone, weight or COD errors.
The problem
The integration needed to automate shipment creation without embedding credentials, company data or one customer’s ELS template into the plugin.
What the product needed to do.
- 01
Configurable ELS authentication, endpoints, sender data and list type
- 02
Automatic, manual and bulk shipment creation from WooCommerce orders
- 03
Duplicate prevention after an ELS serial or tracking number is stored
- 04
Cyrillic and Latin place search using canonical ELS delivery-place values
- 05
COD, weight, reference and flexible CSV column mapping
- 06
Customer tracking links in email and My Account
- 07
WooCommerce HPOS, classic checkout and Checkout Block support
A system designed around the operation.
A configurable WordPress plugin that prepares WooCommerce order data for the selected ELS template, authenticates against the ELS API, queues shipment creation and writes the returned tracking data back to the order.
Automatic shipment queue
Manual and bulk actions
Duplicate protection
1,782-place autocomplete
Flexible ELS column mapping
COD and weight rules
Tracking email and My Account links
HPOS compatibility
Install, configure, then test safely.
- 01
Download the release ZIP, then open WordPress / Plugins / Add New / Upload Plugin.
- 02
Activate ELS for WooCommerce, then open WooCommerce / ELS Integration.
- 03
Enter the ELS API credentials, exact list type, sender information and column mapping supplied for your account.
- 04
Save the settings and run the connection test.
- 05
Create a non-production WooCommerce order and verify shipment creation and tracking before enabling automatic sending.
05 / System architecture
How the parts work together.
The product separates customer experience, application logic, data and operational administration.
Technical decisions and trade-offs.
Decisions
- Keep every credential, company field, endpoint and ELS list mapping configurable instead of shipping customer-specific values.
- Use WooCommerce Action Scheduler for background work, with WordPress Cron as a fallback.
- Store canonical ELS place values while allowing users to search in Cyrillic or Latin script.
- Separate shipment creation, API access, place normalization, settings and customer tracking into focused classes.
Challenges and trade-offs
- ELS list templates may differ between customer accounts, so each installation must copy the exact headers and order from its exported template.
- An active ELS profile and valid API credentials are external requirements that the plugin cannot provide.
- The integration must be tested with a non-production order before automatic creation is enabled.
A public, installable release.
Version 1.4.1 is available as a free GPL-licensed download with source code and setup documentation. Adoption or time-saving claims are intentionally omitted until verified usage data is available.
- Version 1.4.1
- 1,782 ELS delivery places
- GPLv2 or later
- HPOS compatible