Is an ERP System Worthwhile for Your E-commerce Business?
In this article, you will learn whether an ERP system in e-commerce is worthwhile for your company and what advantages & disadvantages ERP systems have in e-commerce.
- Why should companies use ERP systems in e-commerce?
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of ERP systems in e-commerce?
- If some processes in the company already run IT-supported, every change automatically means a greater risk. In the worst case, it could lead to outages of your shop and thus to revenue losses. Therefore, the answer is: as early as possible.
- The ERP system takes on several tasks at once: order and invoice processing, the transmission of orders to the fulfilment service provider, the storage of customer data as well as the storage of information on the individual articles, controlling etc.
- How exactly does the webshop-ERP integration work? In advance: There are cloud solutions and on-premise solutions to integrate ERP systems. However, the former is mainly used in e-commerce. There are several reasons for this: The expensive acquisition of own servers is not necessary, individual adjustments and services are possible, the security standards are very high and automatic backups are running. An ERP e-commerce is consequently usually a cloud solution.
- The chosen ERP should enable company growth, not hinder it. It must be able to grow with it. Therefore, it is worthwhile to compare various software offers, functions and the respective providers in advance in order to find the suitable variant for your company. Four exemplary ERP systems for e-commerce that are suitable for almost every company are:
- Each ERP software has its own advantages and disadvantages. It makes sense to involve an expert in the decision in order to decide on the appropriate system. All mentioned and many more enable the complete digitization of the company as well as individual adjustments depending on the requirements.
- If you currently notice that you no longer have a clear overview of your processes and KPIs, or generally thinking about implementing an ERP system - do it. Preferably yesterday than today.
Why do you need an ERP system? Anyone who wants to sell in e-commerce usually uses their own online shop. The goal? Growth and satisfied customers. Numbers, data, facts - this is mostly found in Excel tables at the beginning. The corresponding data is entered step-by-step manually.
This works until the shop becomes more successful and the company grows. Various departments, time-shifted data maintenance and transparency is lost. Just like the overview of the most important key figures.
Automation of all business processes is the basis for processing processes faster with fewer resources, increasing customer satisfaction and asserting oneself against the competition. No Excel list, no matter how good, can do this in the long run.
In this post, you will find out why companies need an ERP, what the advantages and disadvantages are and everything that is part of the implementation. If you then already say “Yes, I do”, you will finally find out which software is really worthwhile.
Recommended ERP-Systeme
On our comparison platform OMR Reviews you can find more recommended ERP systems. We present over 300 solutions that are specially tailored to the needs of small and medium-sized companies, start-ups and large corporations. These ERP systems offer comprehensive support in all business processes. Take this opportunity to compare the various ERP solutions, drawing on authentic and verified user reviews:
Why should companies use ERP systems in e-commerce?
The e-commerce industry is booming: New companies appear on the scene almost every day, increasing the competitive pressure. If you want to assert yourself against the competition, you have to be one thing: efficient.
But those who are at the beginning of an online shop usually start small. Order receipts, inventory and invoices are recorded manually, usually using different Excel tables. Increasing success in the form of order receipts and new customers leads to new problems in this case.
Due to different, manual systems and lists, a real-time overview of the company is no longer possible. This allows errors to creep in and it reacts much too late to irregularities and market changes.
An example: You manage your warehouse stock manually using an Excel table. The current numbers are regularly transmitted to you. On some days, particularly many orders are triggered in a short period of time. The orders have to be individually matched with the stock, which takes time. During this time, many more customers can click the "Order" button than is actually possible. Your product is already "out of stock". This leads to your customers having to wait much longer for their goods and being annoyed.
No e-commerce company wants to get into this situation. No matter whether it's a start-up or an existing company, efficient processes and an overview of your own KPIs are the key to success.
An Entrepreneur Resource Planning system (short: ERP) enables exactly that. What is the ERP system? It supports all business areas in a company as a cross-functional software. A shop primarily lives from an efficient backend. All numbers and expenses within a company are important. Not only sales count, but also the reduction of internal process costs. A missing ERP system makes it difficult for you to have a real-time overview of your company.
On the other hand, with an ERP, you can eliminate bottlenecks, reduce manual work to a minimum and establish targeted processes. This shortens delivery times, adjusts marketing measures sensibly and there is reliable inventory planning. But that's not all.
Use of an ERP system
What are the advantages and disadvantages of ERP systems in e-commerce?
An ERP has many advantages. It should be clearly distinguished from an inventory control system. Unlike this, an ERP system can map processes holistically and across departments. An inventory management system is much more limited in its functional scope.ERP systems - advantages:
Mapping of production
- Safe inventory planning
- Automatic quote and order capture
- Storage of all customer data in one place
- All item information at a glance
- Omnichannel capable: Almost every platform (e.g., Amazon or Shopify) can be connected to the ERP
- Detailed controlling (reports, statistics)
- Transparent cooperation, also across departments
- Interfaces to third-party systems like Hubspot
- Tracking sales
- Simplified returns handling
- Standardized processes
- Warning and overview function
- Digitalized processes (e.g., automatic invoice creation)
- In summary, an ERP system in e-commerce offers a central database for all information and the automation or standardization of processes, leading to an increase in efficiency.
The ERP can be described as the heart of your organization that enables faster collaboration of all areas in real time. This in turn improves overall business performance, leads to more transparency and enables faster growth.
ERP system - disadvantages:
In addition to all the advantages of an ERP system in e-commerce, it also has few but significant disadvantages. Above all, the implementation. Depending on the status, size and structure of the company, this can be very complex. This requires a lot of time and carries the risk that not all data can be transferred smoothly.
Furthermore, the employees must be trained intensively. The implementation only makes sense if your employees, who are supposed to work with the system, can also use it. The complexity is therefore not to be underestimated. In addition to the trainings, there should ideally be contact persons with the necessary expertise who can accompany the process.
The disadvantages described are intended to show that when deciding on an ERP system, the necessary resources and capacities must be planned in particular. The implementation and changeover do not work overnight. Every e-commerce company must be aware of this fact.
When is the use of e-commerce ERP systems useful?
If some processes in the company already run IT-supported, every change automatically means a greater risk. In the worst case, it could lead to outages of your shop and thus to revenue losses. Therefore, the answer is: as early as possible.
Instead of relying on manual lists when starting a company, invest better in an ERP system that helps you build your company directly scalable. This saves you subsequent reconstruction measures. The costs for ERPs are manageable thanks to the cloud systems. Monthly payment models are particularly recommended for small companies without an endless budget.
The immediate use gives you a tool with which you can grow painlessly. Scalable software, like
grows in price and scope. Above all, the omnichannel area becomes a problem for many companies if they have not implemented an ERP. Xentral ERP Assume that a company very successfully sells products via Shopify. The orders and customer data are stored in Shopify. The company also sells to some B2B companies. The invoices for these sales are created manually. The problems are obvious:
The customer data is not stored centrally and transferring this from Shopify to an ERP is very tedious.
- The invoices from B2B revenues are written by hand, which means a lot of manual work - and avoidable effort.
- The biggest problem: there is no overview of the warehouse numbers! As already described, this condition can lead to poor inventory planning and thus to the out-of-stock phase, which in turn annoys customers and leads to longer delivery times.
- If this company then also sells through various sales channels such as Amazon, it becomes enormously complex. The overhead from probably several Excel spreadsheets and different systems is getting bigger and bigger and has negative effects on the inventory management chain.
- Due to the strong competition in online trading, most companies cannot afford such negative effects. In addition, the implementation of an ERP system is becoming increasingly complex if several sources of error already exist.
What tasks does an ERP system take on for online shops?
The ERP system takes on several tasks at once: order and invoice processing, the transmission of orders to the fulfilment service provider, the storage of customer data as well as the storage of information on the individual articles, controlling etc.
In principle, the software takes over everything that is triggered by an order and beyond. The backend of a shop is managed by the ERP.
Functions of an ERP system in an online shop
The shop itself should only serve as a shop to sell your products and not be used as an ERP, because that's not what shop systems like Shopify are built for. Sooner or later these reach their limits. As a result, the mentioned risks and consequences continue to exist.
How can an ERP system be integrated in a web shop?
How exactly does the webshop-ERP integration work? In advance: There are cloud solutions and on-premise solutions to integrate ERP systems. However, the former is mainly used in e-commerce. There are several reasons for this: The expensive acquisition of own servers is not necessary, individual adjustments and services are possible, the security standards are very high and automatic backups are running. An ERP e-commerce is consequently usually a cloud solution.
Before the actual integration takes place, a target/actual analysis is advisable. What optimizations are important? How should your company develop in the future? What resources need to be provided for integration?
Although ERP systems and online shops always talk about integration, an ERP is not really integrated in the shop. Instead, the webshop is connected to the ERP, which becomes the central source including all information.
ERP systems and online shops work seamlessly together. An API-first approach is very important for a functioning ecosystem. The ERP pulls the orders, customer data and all details of the order from the webshop; the shop pulls the article information, prices or tracking information.
If you don't want to bring in experts first, there are reliable step-by-step instructions for it.
ERP Implementation. These give you at least a rough overview of how the implementation or connection works. You will quickly notice that there are many different ERP software offers. There are a few things to consider when choosing. Hence now more about the solution for the ecommerce ERP.Which ERP systems are suitable for e-commerce?
The chosen ERP should enable company growth, not hinder it. It must be able to grow with it. Therefore, it is worthwhile to compare various software offers, functions and the respective providers in advance in order to find the suitable variant for your company. Four exemplary ERP systems for e-commerce that are suitable for almost every company are:
. This software impresses with its lean pricing and extensive tools that are available in the basic version. Plus, there's an intuitive design and numerous interfaces to Shopify, Amazon, eBay, etc.
Xentral ERP: An all-in-one solution and many interfaces. However, with many extensions, the interface can quickly become confusing.
PlentyONE : The biggest plus point: Billbee offers countless interfaces to various platforms. These include shop systems, shipping service providers and marketplaces. Thus, it offers a SaaS solution for omnichannel needs.
Billbee: Particularly suitable for teams. All relevant company processes are shown here. The tools are modular and there is the possibility of a CRM extension. Each new user needs a new license, which can increase costs depending on requirements. This system has been awarded several times and is one of the most popular solutions on the market.
weclapp Another factor, that is decisive when deciding for or against a cloud system: the price. Some systems can already be used for comparatively low monthly costs. If different team members need to work in the system, the cost factor should also take into account further licenses. These often have to be purchased and thus paid for individually, as with WeClapp.
ERP Systems, Advantages & Disadvantages
Each ERP software has its own advantages and disadvantages. It makes sense to involve an expert in the decision in order to decide on the appropriate system. All mentioned and many more enable the complete digitization of the company as well as individual adjustments depending on the requirements.
To get an overview of possible ERP systems, you should take a look at OMR Reviews, where you can find a detailed overview of
.ERP-SystemeConclusion
If you currently notice that you no longer have a clear overview of your processes and KPIs, or generally thinking about implementing an ERP system - do it. Preferably yesterday than today.
This decision will take your company to a new level. Not only your company will benefit from this, but also your employees, the workflow and most of all your customers. And happy customers - who doesn't want that?
Diese Entscheidung wird Euer Unternehmen auf ein neues Level bringen. Davon profitiert nicht nur Euer Unternehmen, sondern auch Eure Mitarbeiter:innen, der Workflow und am meisten Eure Kund:innen. Und happy customers – wer will das nicht?
Patrick ist seit mehr als 10 Jahren in der IT unterwegs und konnte durch verschiedene Tätigkeiten und Projekte viele Einblicke in die unterschiedlichsten Unternehmen und Prozesse erlangen. Spezialisiert hat er sich auf die Etablierung von ERP-Systemen im E-Commerce sowie die Beratung und Unterstützung von Unternehmen bei der digitalen Produktentwicklung.
