Why is eCommerce integration important?
A decade or two ago, eCommerce might have seemed to be reserved for large corporations with annual revenues in the hundred millions. For the past several years, however, the barriers to entry for online commerce are so low and the potential returns so high that establishing an online store should be an integral part of virtually every business plan. Opting for pure conventional commerce is no longer viable. So you’ve either already set up an online storefront or are actively pursuing a digital commerce solutions. That’s great, but is it enough?
The woes of digital solitude You might discover that their eCommerce platform is a rather solitary creature that doesn’t play well with the rest of your organization’s digital ecosystem. It might have its own set of reports and dashboards, separate from reports on your financials and internal operations… or it might not have these reports at all. The former scenario is far from ideal, while the latter is simply unacceptable. In addition to reconciling reports from multiple sources, your staff will probably spend several hours each week manually rekeying customer and product information between your eCommerce platform and other information systems like your ERP platform, warehouse management software, or shipping solution. Those lost hours would be better spent closing sales or serving customers. Disconnected eCommerce and warehouse management systems slow down your pay-to-order cycle. The longer it takes to process an order and ship the right product, the higher your cost will be per order. Factor in the errors resulting from manual entry and the potential costs are even higher. If your order processing workflow involves email or spreadsheets, then there is ample room for improvement.