Understand when and how customers are imported into Katana from BigCommerce, and how the system matches existing records.
When customers are imported
Customers are imported from BigCommerce to Katana in three cases:
During the initial integration setup – You can choose to import all customers from BigCommerce.
Initial sync with sales orders – If you choose not to import all customers, only those linked to imported sales orders will be imported.
Ongoing sync – When new sales orders are synced from BigCommerce to Katana, the related customers are imported.
Note: Customers are not synced from Katana to BigCommerce.
How customers are matched
When a customer is imported from BigCommerce, Katana checks if they already exist in your account:
BigCommerce ID (primary check)
On first import, a hidden BigCommerce ID is stored in Katana.
If the same ID is seen again, the customer is matched—even if details like name or email have changed.
Updated details from BigCommerce overwrite Katana’s customer record.
Email address (secondary check)
If no ID match is found, Katana compares email addresses.
A single email match → customer is matched.
If the customer name differs, Katana overwrites it with the BigCommerce value.
Multiple matches → a new customer is created.
Customer name (fallback check)
If no ID or email match is found, Katana checks for a name match.
A single name match without an email → matched, and the BigCommerce email is added.
A single name match with a conflicting email → a new customer is created.
Multiple matches or no matches → a new customer is created.
Customer data mapping
Customer fields are imported from BigCommerce into Katana as follows:
BigCommerce | Katana | Notes |
Customer name | Customer name | – |
Email address | Email address | – |
Phone number | Phone number | – |
Comments | (blank in Katana) | Not imported |
Default address | Billing address | – |
Default shipping address | Ship to | Defaults to billing address if none exists |
Other shipping addresses | Other shipping addresses | Up to 10 addresses are imported |
Limitations
Customer data edits (name, email, phone, addresses, comments) are not synced between systems after import.
Deleting a customer in one system does not delete it in the other.
New customers are imported only if:
They appear on a Sales Order synced from BigCommerce, or
You reconfigure the integration and select Import all customers.
With this setup, Katana ensures customers from BigCommerce are always matched correctly while avoiding duplicates.
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