In recent years, the role of ERP in ecommerce business operations has become more critical than ever. Today, ecommerce ERP is not just a type of static accounting software but a powerful tool that assists enterprises on their continuous journey towards digital transformation. By implementing an ERP system, an ecommerce enterprise can gain all it requires to optimize such business aspects as order management, HR, finances, and many more.
What’s more important, ERP enables any enterprise to streamline and enhance its supply chain — the backbone of any ecommerce business. This way, by integrating ERP-driven automation into supply chain management, enterprises can fulfill ever-changing customer requirements and thus ensure customer satisfaction and loyalty.
In this article, we will talk in more detail about how ERP software can help ecommerce enterprises improve their supply chain management and also discuss what benefits this can bring in practice.
Enhancing supply chain visibility
Obviously, before improving its supply chain, an enterprise should first make it visible and transparent, and here ERP software may come in handy. Using it, ecommerce businesses can gain a consolidated view of their supply chains, which will enable them to make more intelligent and data-driven operational decisions.
For instance, employees can see how and where the inventory is located throughout the supply chain; using such information, they can more effectively manage, categorize and organize the inventory. As a result, it becomes possible to fulfill orders and ship goods faster and thus increase customer satisfaction.
Improving staff productivity
Implementing an ecommerce ERP system allows any enterprise to remove the boundaries between its departments, which will empower the entire team to work as a single and accurate mechanism. This way, employees can share and access all required data in real time, like learning the location of a specific product across the supply chain. This will help to act faster, consequently improving supply chain efficiency.
Also, teams can work even better if they use an ERP that provides some automation capabilities, and this is how it may work in practice. For instance, if some SKU is about to run out, an ERP system can automatically send a request to the supplier for replenishment; if the ERP has access to relevant financial data, it can also automatically fill in necessary documentation, thus reducing the time required for request compilation. This helps reduce workload and free up time for more strategic and essential business tasks.
Accessing advanced analytics and forecasting
Today, ERP developers can empower these solutions with sophisticated analytical features; coupled with such emerging technologies as AI and ML, ERP software can provide enterprises with unparalleled analytics capabilities.
In particular, ERP solutions can analyze historical data to generate automatic forecasts about upcoming market trends, enabling enterprises to better adapt to the ever-changing business reality. For example, if it turns out that a sharp increase in demand for certain products is soon expected, managers can be alerted to pre-stock these products, source more suppliers, or take some other steps that can help an enterprise meet the demand.
The ability of ERP-based analytical systems to track data anomalies and discover future trends can also be valuable for risk management. For instance, an ERP solution can automatically send reports to the respective department if it detects some irregularity. This department then can quickly resolve issues, which otherwise could cause material or reputational damage to their organization.
In the long term, such capabilities can grow even more significant as they be instrumental in detecting bottlenecks in workflows. Thanks to this, enterprise managers can constantly improve all aspects of supply chain management, facilitating interaction between suppliers, employees, and consumers.
Final thoughts
It’s hard to imagine a successful ecommerce business that doesn’t have an ERP system in its tech stack; such software is a must for any enterprise that strives to meet customer demand and streamline such business aspects as inventory management, HR, and finances.
Ecommerce ERP is also integral in optimizing supply chain management. Via ERP integration, enterprise managers can increase supply chain transparency, boost employee productivity, and access sophisticated analytics features to be able to predict changes in market conditions and adapt timely.
Author: Roman Davydov
Bio: Roman Davydov is Ecommerce Technology Observer at Itransition. With over four years of experience in the IT industry, Roman follows and analyzes digital transformation trends to guide retail businesses in making informed software buying choices when it comes to commerce and store management automation.
