The customer does not see the workload behind the online store, but the fluent management of the order and supply chain is critical to the customer experience. Customers today place more and more emphasis on fast delivery in their purchasing decisions, which is almost impossible to achieve if the order processing involves several manual steps. The customer experience suffers from manual work steps during peak periods, such as the Christmas season or Black Friday, at the latest.
In eCommerce, it is worth implementing an ERP system at the latest when the amount of manual work becomes a bottleneck for growth. Operating solely with the eCommerce platform is rarely enough to maintain efficient operations, that is why there is a need to improve the efficiency of the entire store’s Enterprise Resource Planning and streamline internal processes.
Several of the everyday repetitive tasks and the data transfer between systems can be partially or even completely automated with the help of a suitable ERP system. In addition to the ability to process and deliver orders faster, automation increases the reliability and transparency of the supply chain for the customer. Orientation for new employees also becomes easier when processes are straightforward and require fewer clicks from one system to another.
Fluent ERP also has a clear effect on staff motivation. The work becomes more efficient when the processes are in order and the energy can be focused on activities that genuinely create value. The focus shifts from routine work to the main task, which is sales and interaction with customers.
An ERP system designed for the digital commerce scales with growth
I understand that selecting an ERP system can feel like a real burden. ERP systems are often designed from the perspective of financial management, for example. The introduction of such a system therefore requires a lot of work and customization to become truly effective in managing the eCommerce order and supply chain. On the other hand, it can be difficult to find an ERP system that suits the situation of one’s own business, among others, due to changing and developing business needs.
The seamless functioning of the ERP system, product information system and eCommerce platform saves up to hundreds of man-hours while increasing the number of customers who make purchases. We at Pinja have witnessed how the processing time of an individual order can be shortened from tens of minutes to tens of seconds.
Order processing can be streamlined with, among others, real-time inventory management and the automation of packing slips, parcel card printing and data transfer between the eCommerce platform, the ERP system, and the financial management system.
The growth of eCommerce is best supported by a modular ERP system, whose agile and comprehensive interfaces enable the system to be gradually expanded with new features or services according to business needs. With real-time integrations in place, you can take care of things in the system itself that works best for your application and let automation take care of the rest. For implementation, you should choose a partner who understands your business to help you avoid the most common pitfalls and make the ERP system more agile to support everyday work.
Read more:
eCommerce solutions – choose a platform solution for growth-oriented eCommerce
Product information management – centralized and cost-effective product information management
