Automotive integrations (or auto integrations) link your X-Cart store to external product databases and suppliers. They automate tasks like adding product details, uploading images, assigning fitments, syncing prices, and updating stock. This way, you can grow your product catalog without extra manual work.

In this guide, we’ll explain why you need auto integrations, the two main varieties, when to use each (or both), and whether there are any costs involved.

When you start adding products to your store, you’ll quickly realize just how many auto parts are out there – and how much information you need to include in each product listing to help customers find the right parts.

At first, you might handle this work manually. But as your catalog grows, keeping up becomes time-consuming and slows down your daily work — leaving less time to grow your business.

And that’s only the start. When orders come in, you’ll have to track inventory, contact suppliers, and handle fulfillment by hand. This takes even more time, increases the chance of errors, and can delay shipping — hurting customer experience and sales.

Auto integrations solve this by linking your X-Cart store to two key resources:

Let’s take a closer look at what each does.

Catalog Providers are large product databases you can connect to your store.

Use them to automatically fill your listings with detailed descriptions, specs (like part numbers, bolt patterns, engine compatibility, thread sizes), images, fitment details, and other key info.

Keep in mind – they don’t include pricing or stock data, since they don’t actually sell the parts (AutoSync is an exception here).

Warehouse Distributors are wholesale suppliers with large inventories of auto parts and accessories. They connect to your store to provide real-time pricing and stock levels.

While they may include some product details, the information is usually limited and unstructured (except for Turn14). It’s best to rely on them for pricing, inventory, and fulfillment – not for building detailed listings.

Most Warehouse Distributors also handle order fulfillment and shipping, sending products directly to your customers. Whether you’re dropshipping or running a retail store, they let you offer more products without managing inventory yourself.

You don’t pay anything to X-Cart to use Auto Integrations — but you will need to subscribe to third-party providers or meet their requirements:

So while there’s no cost from X-Cart, you’ll need to factor in fees and eligibility criteria from the providers you choose.

You can connect as many integrations as you need — each one offers different brands or types of data. We recommend starting with one Catalog Provider and one Warehouse Distributor, since they complement each other:

That said, you might not always need both. For example, if your website is just an online catalog for an offline store, or you’re a manufacturer not selling online, a Catalog Provider like SEMA Data might be enough.

In the end, it depends on your business goals, the brands you carry, and how you plan to use your site. But in most cases, starting with both types of integrations makes things easier down the road.

Yes! For general auto parts, Turn14 is a solid all-in-one option — they offer detailed product data and also manage fulfillment.

For the wheels & tires market, AutoSync can serve as your sole integration. They provide rich product data, pricing, and stock updates, and can also manage fulfillment like a warehouse distributor.

Depending on your niche, you can select different combinations of catalog providers and warehouse distributors to best suit your business needs:

If you’re using multiple integrations, start with your primary Catalog Provider (like SEMA Data). This helps you set up your catalog structure and get most of your product data ready.

Then, connect your Warehouse Distributor to sync pricing and stock levels, or add another Catalog Provider to include products from other brands.

It’s a 9-step process — but if you’re using multiple integrations, you won’t have to repeat steps 2 and 3, so it’s really just 7 steps after that:

When you're ready, click the blue button at the end 👇 of this article to get started.

You can find our collection of guides on auto inegration maintenance in the section Maintaining your automotive integration.

Absolutely. For example, if you work with a Warehouse Distributor that doesn’t have a direct integration with X-Cart, you can still use a Catalog Provider for product data and then upload pricing and inventory manually using CSV files.

You can connect your X-Cart store to one or multiple auto integrations, but each of them must be properly connected. Follow the steps in the guide linked below to set them up.