The e-commerce market has grown strongly since 2020, driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, social isolation and changing consumer habits. In this scenario, managing the online business is more important than ever, and here come the benefits of ERP for eCommerce in the game.

According to Statista, the e-commerce market is developing rapidly, as shown in Germany:

Source: https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/3979/umfrage/e-commerce-umsatz-in-deutschland-seit-1999/ 

To help to make management of the online store easier, in this post we explain more about the possibilities that an ERP system can bring to your company and how to correctly choose a suitable ERP system for your own company.

Advantages of ERP software for e-commerce

Before deciding on the ERP system for your e-commerce business, learn more about this software. The word ERP refers to Enterprise Resource Planning, which is a business management system that automates and integrates work processes with a focus on better business performance.

• Greater agility in sales processes. By automating several work steps related to ordering in your online shop, customers receive their orders faster.
• Automatic issuance of electronic invoices. ERP makes the sales process easier by allowing to issue electronic invoices. Once the sale is complete and payment is made, the system calculates the necessary taxes and issues the invoice to the customer.
• Optimized inventory management. With an ERP, you can manage your inventory more effectively because the inventory control is updated according to the sales made.
• Integration with other systems. The ERP can be integrated with the accounting systems, CRM (Customer Relationship Management), marketplaces, banking and payment systems, etc. There are many ways to integrate those together, it depends on your ecommerce needs and the software you choose.
• Strategic financial management. It is possible to collect and manage all financial, accounting and tax information on a single ERP platform. This enables a strategic view of your company's financial operations and better financial planning. Examples include, but are not limited to, free shipping offers, changing suppliers, expanding business or product portfolio;
• Automatic data backup. The software carries out an automatic data backup. Customers and the company can rest assured that their information is secure.

How do you choose the best ERP for your business?

Now that you have familiarized yourself with the main advantages of ERP for e-commerce, you may have doubts about how to choose the most suitable software for your business. To help you in this difficult task, we have prepared some questions to guide your decision-making process according to your ecommerce needs.

What are your goals?

If your ecommerce business has a business plan or strategic plan, answering this question is easy. But if not, think about where you want to take your business. What are your short and long term goals? Do you want to increase sales by 30% in a certain period of time? Would you like to integrate and automate all processes to optimize sales? These are some examples, you as a business owner need to determine which path you want to take to get the expected results.

What are your needs?

Does your business need cheaper shipping costs or faster deliveries? Or a more efficient integration of activities for quick customer service? Do you need integration with accounting, CRM and marketing to increase sales and increase business efficiency? To answer this question, you can enlist the help of your team. Meet with the departments of your company and analyze the needs observed by the people who carry out the activities and collect the opinions of your customers. Compare with your ideas and plan the necessary measures to meet the requirements of your e-commerce.

What's your investment?

This is the part that plagues entrepreneurs the most: investing in an e-commerce ERP. Don't worry! There are numerous types of software on the market and the choice depends on the needs and goals of the business. Therefore, it is important to answer the previous questions. There are options with the most basic features for deploying ERP in small businesses, as well as the most advanced for those with a larger investment capital. Cloud data storage is a factor that significantly reduces the maintenance and operational costs of an ERP system.

Most software programs offer a free trial for 7 days or more, so it is a good idea to check if it's the ideal solution for your business.

Functions that an ERP for e-commerce must have

An ERP system offers multiple modules and functionalities, and since e-commerce has some specific needs, it is important to find a solution that meets fundamental points to ensure the best management of the business.

Among the main functions that an e-commerce ERP must have, we can highlight:

• Issuing electronic invoices for products and services;
• Financial control (accounting including issuance of bank statements, charts of accounts, price management, purchase management and goods import);
• Production management;
• Inventory management;
• Human Resource management (HR);             
• CRM;‍
• Reporting;‍
• POS management;‍
• Integration with the marketplaces, etc.

So, by centralizing all information in one central location, the ERP system contributes to:

• Sales control;
• Shipment tracking;
• Payment management;
• Analysis of goals and performance;
• Storage of information from different areas of the company;
• Tax obligations;
• Easy data exchange between employees;
• Management agility;
• Productivity increase.

Conclusion

A good enterprise resource planning system can revolutionize your business. It is important to emphasize that an eCommerce ERP is the best choice for managing your business! Today on the market available many ERP solutions, for example Navision, Weclapp, Oracle, SAP and many others. As said, choosing an appropriate solution depends on the needs and goals of your business.

Our agency Kenner Soft Service GmbH offers you services related to the setting and adjustment of ERP systems as well as integration and synchronization with your Shopware, Magento, JTL and xtCommerce online shop. We are happy to support you with the onboarding of e-commerce ERP and help with data migration. Contact us for detailed information.