Rising E-commerce trends and the need for an integrated ERP software

The retail industry is growing at a rapid pace, and with an ongoing trend towards e-commerce, there is an increase in the number of challenges the retailers have to face on an everyday basis and automation of the different processes can be of great help. It has become tough for business owners to adapt to the evolving real world scenarios, as these retailers are always looking for the best way to boost their profitability and market reputation. Challenges include lack of integration between online sales channels and back office accounting, inventory accuracy, manual data entry, freight costs, shipment delays, and not satisfying the customer’s specific needs are some of the crucial ones that are increasing cost. Though the challenges of the retail industry are complicated, they can be addressed with a suitable ERP software application.

Current Challenges faced by today’s retailers while using e-commerce

When you are selling multiple brands to different parts of the globe, some day-to-day challenges that may come your way are:

Difficulty in maintaining single or multiple sales channels having large number of enlisted products

In addition to selling through your web store, you might be selling at other online marketplaces, on social media, within native mobile apps, and more. This likely means you’re spending hours each day synchronizing products, merging customer databases, and doing a lot of manual work in different tools just to run your business. With the increasing number of sales channels that are becoming available, you would need your stock levels updated across all channels in real time.

Integrating with a fulfilment provider that can handle your volume

To maximize revenue, your ERP solution needs to be seamlessly integrated with the fulfilment provider of your choice to avoid manual data entry of orders and on time delivery to your customers. As warehousing and inventory are two crucial elements in E-commerce, the ERP solution helps in managing the processes smoothly. ERP integrates directly with your fulfillment provider’s WMS solution or helps you maintain your own warehouse. It becomes simpler to keep track of all invoices and batch records. Moreover, it keeps your e-commerce site updated with stock availability.

Inability to establish a smooth connection with your suppliers

Bridging down the ASN’s (Advanced Shipping Notices) directly into your ERP and your fulfilment provider’s WMS (Warehouse management system) through EDI or API integration with your suppliers will make things much easier for you as well as your fulfilment provider.

Complicated courier selection matrix

Someone is going to pay for that “Free Shipping”. In order to maximise profitability, you would need your ERP solution to be able to rate shop quickly with all freight companies and retrieve the best profitable rate for you.

Unable to manage the warehouse and order procurement systematically

Delays in syncing the orders between your e-commerce store and your ERP will not only hurt you in meeting delivery timelines but will also affect your warehouse management as well as your procurement process.

Real-time updates

With the integration of sales, product inventory, e-commerce sales channels and shipping data information with your ERP system, it helps in real time information removing unwanted manual errors and reducing the risk of data discrepancy. As all the business processes are automated, the need for manual workarounds is diminished to a large extent

Having an ERP solution that has the ability to integrate with your shopping cart and your fulfilment provider in real time, the e-commerce part becomes easily manageable. As every business domain wants to excel in their respective niche, they want their operational efficiency to be smooth and hassle-free.The integrated ERP platform provides a complete end-to-end solution for managing the e-commerce sales channels. It not only helps in integration of the critical business operations but also helps in saving time and money. Utilizing the B2B e-commerce ERP solution allows your company to meet the needs of the customers.

When a company outgrows in terms of its strength and productivity, it is safer to adopt an ERP system to overcome the impacts. Also, ERP systems help in strategising the operational functionalities and will give an idea of how the company scales. With the new trends spearheading the market, it’s obvious that companies need to integrate an ERP with their e-commerce business to reduce the dependency on manual intervention and get real-time updates on what’s happening inside.

Now you can easily onboard into the new trends of e-commerce business. Try XoroERP today and start scripting your success!