Next Integration – Feature & Process Guide
Next is connected to Pentagon Connect through "Platform Plus", a bespoke SFTP/XML feed integration — not a Mirakl marketplace like La Redoute, ASOS, Debenhams, Decathlon or Yoox. Files are exchanged on a fixed set of SFTP paths rather than through a live API, and each feed runs on its own polling schedule.
Next owns and controls its own product catalogue. This integration does not create, update or manage products or offers on Next in any way — it matches products that already exist on Next's system by Brand and EAN, and handles two things only: pushing stock levels for those products, and managing the order lifecycle (receiving orders, acknowledging them, and sending shipment and cancellation status back).
Quick Reference
Product Management
| Capability | Supported | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Create new products | No | Next owns the catalogue; this integration has no product-creation flow |
| Update product content | No | No content/offer feed exists in this integration |
| Product matching | Yes | Products are matched to Next's existing catalogue by Brand + EAN |
| Deactivate / delist a product | No | A closed product results only in a zero-quantity stock push, not a delisting call |
Pricing & Stock
| Capability | Supported | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Stock/quantity updates | Yes | Sent as delta updates at least every 15 minutes, plus a full refresh every 24 hours |
| Per-brand warehouse / feed setup | Yes | Each brand is set up on Next's side with its own warehouse code and stock feed name |
| Price updates | Not documented | Price is not part of this feed; the source material does not describe any price-sync mechanism |
Orders & Fulfilment
| Capability | Supported | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Automatic order import | Yes | Orders are picked up from an SFTP inbox, one order per file, checked every 5–10 minutes |
| Order acknowledgement | Yes | Sent once an order is ready for shipping and its lines are validated |
| Ship orders (status + tracking) | Yes | A "Dispatched" status with tracking reference is sent per line; this is final |
| Partial shipment | Not documented | Status is tracked per order line, but no distinct partial-shipment concept is described |
Refunds, Returns, Cancellations & Claims
| Capability | Supported | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Cancellation (pre-shipment) | Yes | Sent as a line-level "Cancelled" status, only while the line is still "acknowledged" |
| Refunds | Yes, pre-shipment only | Communicated using the same line-level "Cancelled" status push — there is no separate refund mechanism |
| Refunds/cancellations after shipment | No | Once a line has been marked Dispatched, no further status update can be sent for it |
| Claims / incidents | Not documented | No such concept appears in this integration |
Product Management
Creating products
Not supported. Next does not support product or offer creation through this integration. Products are matched by Brand + EAN against Next's own existing catalogue — if a product doesn't already exist on Next's system under that Brand/EAN combination, it cannot be created or listed through this integration.
Updating products
Not supported. There is no product-content or offer-update flow. The only thing ever pushed to Next about a product is its stock quantity (see Pricing & Stock Sync below).
Deactivating / removing products
There is no delisting or deactivation call. When a product is closed or ended on our side, the only action taken is to push a stock quantity of zero for it on the next stock feed — the product record itself remains whatever it is on Next's own catalogue.
Pricing & Stock Sync
Stock updates are sent as an XML feed, keyed on Brand and EAN, with files named in the pattern INV-MM-DD-HHMMSS.xml and posted to a dedicated inbox path on the SFTP.
- Delta updates: sent no faster than every 15 minutes, containing only the quantities that have changed.
- Full refresh: once every 24 hours, a complete feed of current quantities for all non-closed products is sent, in addition to the delta updates.
- Zero-quantity on close: whenever a product is closed or ended, a quantity of zero is sent for it, regardless of whether it falls on a delta or full-refresh cycle.
- Per-brand setup: each brand supplying stock to Next is set up with its own warehouse code and stock feed name on Next's side (for example, a brand's warehouse code and stock feed name are agreed and configured once per brand before its stock can flow).
Price is not part of this feed. No price-sync mechanism of any kind is documented for this integration — this is a genuine gap in the source material, not an oversight on this page.
Order Management
Getting orders
Orders are delivered by Next as one XML file per order, dropped into an SFTP inbox and archived once consumed. The order inbox is polled every 5–10 minutes. Each order line is matched to a product by EAN (with a brand-specific SKU used instead, when supplied); the ordered quantity per line is always 1. Once an order is successfully matched, it is set to a "waiting for delivery" status, with currency GBP and UK as the shipping country.
Order information we store
For every order received from Next, Pentagon Connect stores:
- The unique order reference provided by Next
- Per line: the EAN, the marketplace's own line/item reference, and the brand-specific SKU (matched from the EAN when not supplied directly)
- Quantity ordered per line (always 1)
- The promised delivery date given by Next to the end customer
- A marketplace order reference used for orders not handled by Next's own warehouse, where provided
- The destination distribution centre, where provided
- The date and time the order was placed
Shipping orders
Once an order has been acknowledged and its lines are ready to ship, a "Dispatched" status is sent per line, together with a tracking reference, on a feed checked every 5–10 minutes. This status update is final — once a line has been marked Dispatched, no further status update is ever sent for that line.
Cancellations
Cancellations are sent as a line-level "Cancelled" status on the same feed and file structure used for shipping status, checked every 5–10 minutes. A cancellation can only be sent while every affected order line is still in an "acknowledged" status — that is, not yet Shipped or Dispatched. If any affected line has already moved past acknowledged, the cancellation is blocked and logged as an order error rather than sent.
Refunds & returns
There is no separate refund action in this integration. A refund is communicated back to Next in exactly the same way as a cancellation: once a refund is approved internally (following our standard pre-shipment refund logic), the affected line or lines are pushed to Next as a "Cancelled" status. The same acknowledged-only restriction applies — a refund can only be communicated back to Next while the affected line has not yet shipped.
This is a real limitation to be aware of: if a line has already been marked Dispatched, neither a cancellation nor a refund for that line can be communicated back to Next through this feed at all.
Carriers Supported
Not documented in the current source material. Only a generic tracking/shipping reference field is sent alongside a Dispatched status — there is no named carrier field and no carrier list involved in this integration.
Return & Refund Reason Codes
Not documented in the current source material. No fixed list of return or refund reason codes exists for this integration.
Known Limitations
- No product or offer creation/update — Next owns and manages its own catalogue; this integration only ever pushes stock levels for products that already exist there.
- No price sync documented — price is not part of any feed in this integration.
- Refunds and cancellations are pre-shipment only — once a line has been marked Dispatched, no further status (including a refund or cancellation) can be sent back to Next for it.
- Status updates are final and one-way — there is no mechanism to undo or amend a Dispatched or Cancelled status once sent.
- One order per file, one file per order — the order feed does not batch multiple orders into a single file.
- SFTP-based, not a real-time API — every feed runs on a polling interval (roughly every 5–15 minutes depending on the feed), so there is always some latency rather than instant delivery.
Source Materials
This guide was built from Next's Platform Plus SFTP/XML integration specification, covering the stock, order, order acknowledgement, order ship status, and order cancellation feeds.