eCommerce ERP Software
eCommerce ERP software helps bring together all relevant data into a centralized application. It is meant to deliver complete and real-time visibility across the entire eCommerce business environment.
The role of an eCommerce platform is to provide the tools and functionalities needed by online businesses to market and sell their products and/or services electronically, while an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is designed to automate the backend or the back office functions of the business, which includes the financial aspects, sales, as well as other critical operations by way of a fully integrated suite of multiple software solutions and business process applications. The main purpose of combining ERP software with an eCommerce solution is to deliver the best of both systems under a single, unified and easy-to-use platform.
ERP systems that are specifically tailored for eCommerce business processes have the capacity to synchronize online orders and order processing with the eCommerce company’s inventory management and supply chain management solutions. The eCommerce component of the software is responsible for providing users with the ability to build their eCommerce site or web store, complete with a shopping cart solution, order fulfillment or shipping options, as well as payment processing. With ERP integration, the combined power of the eCommerce management system provides users with the ability to manage inventory levels, calculate taxes, as well as conduct all the other processes related to warehouse management, order fulfillment and customer service.
eCommerce ERP software is designed to facilitate the requirements of different types of eCommerce businesses, whether you’re a business-to-consumer (B2C) type of company, business-to-business (B2B) or direct-to-consumer (D2C) online retailer. Combining eCommerce software with ERP systems through seamless integration quickly becomes a more important prospect for growing eCommerce companies, online store owners and merchants. For eCommerce business owners, the main goal is to grow and expand their operation.
To better understand the value of integrating eCommerce and ERP systems and how they work together, it is important to consider how eCommerce logistics work, which involves the taking and fulfilling of customer orders, the processing of online payments, the handling of product returns, the insurance of proper protection and security, the tracking of all financials, the delivering of customer support, the calculation of taxes and the efficient management of store and warehouse inventory. All these aspects can quickly become overwhelming and difficult once a relatively small operation transforms into a full-fledged mid-market eCommerce business, complete with a warehouse, hundreds or thousands of employees, an order fulfillment team and shipping fleet.
eCommerce businesses handling large volume orders on a daily basis will find that relying on various systems loosely put together is no longer sufficient to handle a rapidly growing operation. Even if you’re just starting out as an online store owner, you have to prepare by making sure your eCommerce software is capable of growing along with your business. This is achieved by having a fully integrated eCommerce ERP software solution.
So, which features and tools are useful for a fully functioning eCommerce business operation? The most basic feature of a comprehensive eCommerce ERP solution is a website generator tool. This allows you to build your own fully functioning, branded eCommerce website with all the customizations necessary to meet your online store requirements. It comes with preloaded themes and objects and is optimized for mobile devices like smartphones and tablets and can be integrated seamlessly with social media networks.
Product information management is also a fundamental component of eCommerce ERP software. It is an important feature, since it enables you to efficiently manage all your product data across multiple channels. By using ERP to integrate product information management into your eCommerce platform, you will be able to create a centralized solution for managing all your product descriptions and other relevant information. The type of product information that you are able to manage may cover everything from product descriptions and pricing all the way to details about your vendors, shipping services and distribution partners.
Speaking of distribution partners, eCommerce ERP platforms are equipped with shipping, distribution and warehouse management tools as well. eCommerce business owners and online merchants can use this particular function to effectively manage their shipping services, distribution channels and warehouse logistics. An integrated eCommerce ERP system is among the most reliable and effective methods for optimizing and streamlining the shipping, distribution and warehouse management requirements of any online retail business.
Shipping, distribution and warehouse management is incomplete without inventory management, which is a fundamental feature of fully integrated eCommerce ERP software. If your eCommerce solution, through ERP integration, supports shipping, distribution and warehouse management, it should also be able to facilitate your inventory management requirements. Even a small online store handling a decent amount of orders on a daily basis will need some type of working inventory management strategy. For a fast-growing eCommerce business, tracking inventory in real time can become even more complicated and time-consuming, justifying the need for a good inventory management solution.
Customer relationship management or CRM can also be added into your eCommerce platform via ERP integration. As an online retail business owner, there comes a point in your eCommerce journey when you require an effective tool to help standardize your approach in managing leads, opportunities, contacts and customer profiles. You need to have the ability to determine and even predict the potential outcomes of your strategy during each step of the sales cycle. For this reason, you need a seamlessly integrated CRM solution within your eCommerce platform to give everyone within your organization easy access to real-time, up-to-date customer information from a secure and unified source.
When you pick an eCommerce ERP solution that carries all of the core features that you need to effectively run your eCommerce business, making sure that it meets all your unique requirements, you can expect quite a few benefits from implementing the software. Using the right eCommerce ERP software can help you gain access to valuable insights, manage all product data more efficiently, increase your process visibility, improve your productivity and provide a better online shopping experience for your customers.
Fully integrated eCommerce ERP systems serve as a central repository for all valuable data about your online retail business. This includes everything from inventory levels to product prices, daily visitor traffic and customer contact information. Your ERP software can provide you with complete access to all the relevant data you need to manage your eCommerce business. This data can be pulled in real time from your eCommerce website as well as other potential sources like your CRM, for instance, or your social media accounts, ongoing digital marketing programs, etc. The data you receive can be analyzed and leveraged for generating actionable reports and forecasts.
A typical eCommerce ERP software solution is often equipped with product information management capabilities, and with that comes the ability to efficiently manage product pricing as well. Pricing management, similar to product data management, is all about managing product pricing right within the ERP system itself. The pricing management solution allows you to create a personalized response to different customer queries.
With B2B retailers, for instance, if an existing customer has negotiated custom rates with your organization and a new customer has not, you can easily deliver the appropriate information to the right customer, all from within your eCommerce platform. You may even use your eCommerce ERP solution to manage the access rights of individual clients or customers to your product catalog. For example, one customer has full access to all of your current products, while the other only gets to access around 75% of your catalog.
eCommerce ERP software also helps to increase process visibility through detailed analysis and reporting. With your ERP system integrated with your eCommerce solution, you should be able to generate meaningful reports that successfully show the overall performance of your online operation, such as sales, inventory, returns, revenue as well as the overall status of your eCommerce business. You may even use your fully integrated eCommerce ERP solution to keep track of what your staff members are doing and evaluate the profitability of your current operation.
Another way that implementing the right eCommerce ERP solution can benefit your online retail business is through its potential to increase your overall productivity and as a result your revenue. There is correlation between the use of a robust ERP system as the centralized source of data and the resulting improvement in productivity. eCommerce ERP systems can automate some of the more complex and time-consuming tasks, such as tracking inventory deductions during the shipping or fulfillment process and processing a purchase order request. All these and more can significantly increase your productivity.
eCommerce ERP software is the ultimate solution for any online store owner who’s looking to grow and expand their business. The seamless integration of a modern cloud ERP system with an already feature-rich eCommerce platform makes for a truly unified system that’s specifically tailored for online retail businesses of any size or scale.
It wasn’t that long ago when ERP systems are often only associated with large multinational retailers and well-established eCommerce businesses. While ERP solutions are crucial for businesses that typically deal with multiple channels, employees, warehouse locations and suppliers, the system is no longer exclusive to big retail companies. Nowadays, eCommerce ERP solutions have become more affordable and very useful for small to midsize online retailers looking to grow their business.
