18

CRUCIAL
REASONS
You Should
Integrate
ERP &
E-COMMERCE

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Table of Contents
Introduction.....03

Sales & Marketing .......04

1. Acquire New Customers.......04

2. Making it Convenient to Expand to New Markets.......04

3. Get a 360-Degree View of your Customers .......05

4. Facilitates Multi-channel Marketing .......06

5. Build Trust and Condence .......07

6. Improved Forecasting and Decision Making .......08

IT & Operations .......09

7. Reduce Costs and Errors.......09

8. Efciently manage Product Information across Systems.......10

9. Efcient Inventory Management.......11

10. Streamline and Automate Order Fullment.......12

11. Increase Productivity and Operational Efciency.......13

12. Manage multiple Sales Channels Easily.......14

Customer Experience .......15

13. Avoid Overselling or Underselling of Products.......15

14. Enchant Customers with Informed Sales .......16

15. Efcient and Streamlined Returns Management.......17

13. Improve Overall Shopping Experience (and Customer Satisfaction).......18

17. Additional Scope to Target B2B Customers.......19

18. Get closer to Providing the Omni-channel Experience.......20

Conclusion Gradual improvement of ROI. .......21

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 According to Forrester Research, online sales will continue to grow through
2015 and will reach $370B by 2017. EMarketer says that the number will be
$434B with even higher growth rates, indicating a competitive e-commerce
environment for businesses.

These statistics are causing retailers to think beyond their brick and mortar
stores to gain signicant advantages over competition while bringing about
higher sustainability for their businesses.

Online shoppers are ckle minded, making it imperative for products as well
as product related information to be consistent and available across all sales
channels. This begins with inventory updates to avoid stock-outs or back
orders, orders processed on time, and working towards providing outstanding
customer service. To make all this possible and to maximize return on a
multi-channel strategy, retailers need to ensure that their e-commerce
platform is in lock-step with their Enterprise Resource Planning software.

Most retailers have their e-commerce platform and ERP systems

disconnected or partially connected leading to silos of data and therefore
failing to optimize business performance in many ways. Under such
circumstances, valuable time is lost trying to manually synchronize data
between multiple channels. Not only that, businesses also miss opportunities
to increase customer loyalty thereby increase sales. Consider the possibility of
automatically syncing data between your E-commerce and ERP system -
saving a great deal of time and effort which now can be better utilized to
improve customer experience.

That is not the end to it. Integrating your E-commerce and ERP systems can
benet your business in multiple ways, which is what we attempt to explore in
this eBook.

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 Sales & Marketing

01
ACQUIRE
NEW CUSTOMERS

E-commerce presents exciting new accessible e-commerce store designed

opportunities for businesses to acquire new around the needs of customers, acquiring
customers, but more often than not new customers with similar needs becomes
businesses delay adopting them because of easier.
the increased operational overheads required
to maintain an e-commerce store.
E-commerce and ERP integration can
signicantly decrease the overheads
required to maintain an e-commerce store by
automating information sync and limiting
information management and processing to
a single system.

Integration also enables businesses to

leverage the rich product data in your ERP
system to attract new customers through
search engine optimization. With an easily

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MAKING IT CONVENIENT TO
EXPAND TO NEW MARKETS
Over the last few years, companies have
established their e-commerce presence to
acquire new customers and expand into new
markets. With technology being the primary
source driving this and considering the
ever-evolving nature of technology ensuring
that your systems are adaptable and scalable
is important. Rising popularity of mobile
commerce being a case in point.
While it is difcult to predict the future of
technology, integrating your e-commerce
cart and your ERP system, along with other
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SALES & MARKETING
02
disconnected systems gives you the required
cushion by minimizing overheads required
to maintain these additional channels. With
integration, information can be managed
and controlled from one channel, orders
fullled in another and customers serviced
from a third system; all of this with the
reassurance of a unied customer
experience.
With such a safety net to fall back on, your
business cannot be more ready to embrace
change and move up the e-commerce ladder.
05
 SALES & MARKETING

03
GET A 360-DEGREE VIEW OF
YOUR CUSTOMERS

Build your customer persona is the most
often given advice by thought leaders and
leading marketers to brands for achieving
marketing success. However, building an
effective customer persona and putting it to
a good use requires measuring customer
interaction across all touch points, which is
not feasible with information residing across
multiple disconnected systems.
history and payment history your sales team
can cross-sell & up-sell products and
negotiate more favorable payment terms,
armed with customer order status and
interaction history your customer service
representatives can quickly address
customers' concerns.

E-commerce and ERP integration helps you

overcome this by centralizing customer

360
returns, outstanding invoices, customer
feedback, etc.). Armed with this information,
your marketing team can now drive effective
marketing campaigns, your sales team can
now make informed sales decisions, and
your customer service representatives can
better address their customers' concerns.

For example, armed with customer

preferences your marketing team can build
targeted campaigns, armed with purchase

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FACILITATES MULTI-CHANNEL
MARKETING
Businesses today sell across multiple
channels and have customers who shop
across channels and those who prefer a
specic channel. To target them better,
businesses marketing efforts need to be
multi-dimensional and multi-channel
focused. While this can be achieved in a
disconnected environment, an integrated
environment amplies the impact by driving
a unied and consistent message across
channels while centralizing the operational
effort.
E-commerce and ERP are the two most
critical systems for this - ERP is the heart of
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SALES & MARKETING
04
the information hub and e-commerce the
most used and effective customer touch
point. With E-commerce and ERP
integration, businesses can now leverage the
information residing in their ERP system
and use the power of e-commerce marketing
to drive sales and business. Moreover, the
e-commerce system can be extended further
to support additional marketing and sales
channels. This will enable businesses to
centralize their marketing efforts while
reaching customers across multiple
channels with little incremental effort.
06

BUILD TRUST
AND CONFIDENCE
While businesses, in general, are all driven
by trust, it plays an even more important role
in e-commerce. More often than not, your
customers are extending a leap of faith in
your brand when they purchase from you
online. By purchasing online, they risk
getting scammed, purchasing a fake or
damaged product, etc.
E-commerce and ERP integration can help
you gain an edge over competition by
building trust and condence with your
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SALES & MARKETING
05
customers by giving you an ecosystem
where you run your business effectively
while keeping things transparent for your
customers. Even simple things like keeping
your customers informed about the status of
their order and letting them track its
progress (by notifying them or letting them
see the same using self-service portals) can
go a long with in establishing that trust
relationship with your customers.
07
 SALES & MARKETING

IMPROVED FORECASTING
AND DECISION MAKING
One of the greatest challenges
decision-makers traditionally face is the
availability of accurate and actionable
information - often critical business
decisions are made based on gut feelings
that are shaped by outdated and inaccurate
data. For a business lacking integration
between critical systems like E-commerce
and ERP, it is not difcult to imagine why this
might be the case.
06
Not only that, you can now use data
analytics to mine actionable insights and
build reports with data collected from
multiple systems. The insights gathered
can then be used to drive more sales with
targeted campaigns and informed sales
decisions.

E-commerce and ERP integration makes it

possible for businesses to get access to
reliable and accurate data, which can be
used for

Forecasting and Demand Planning

(using order history & inventory levels)
input for your purchase or
manufacturing department.

Payment Terms Negotiation (using

order and payment history) input for
your accounts and sales department,

Managing Payouts of Sales

Commissions and more.

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 IT & Operations

REDUCE COSTS
AND ERRORS
The e-commerce system enables you to
easily reach your customers, display
information and take orders. However, the
orders once received have to be transferred
back to the ERP system for fullment. Other
than orders, a lot of other information
exchange is required between your
E-commerce and ERP systems like product &
inventory information from ERP to
E-commerce, customer information from
E-commerce to ERP, order status and
shipping information from ERP to
E-commerce, and more.
07
gets intensied with transaction volume.
Moreover, this is also an error-prone process
that can cost you a lot of money.
With E-commerce and ERP integration, the
information exchange can be automated
reducing errors and costs - of the manual
data entry resources and losses caused
because of errors that creep in because of
manual data sync.

In the absence of an integration, all this

information will have to be manually
transferred between the two systems. This is
a time and resource intensive exercise that

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 I T & O P E R AT I O N S

08
EFFICIENTLY MANAGE PRODUCT
INFORMATION ACROSS SYSTEMS

Online shoppers today shop from multiple leverage the content management system of
channels (the web, mobile, social media, your e-commerce system while
online marketplaces, etc.) and demand synchronizing the inventory information
businesses to provide a consistent from the ERP system enabling you to achieve
experience across all these channels. the true potential of both the systems.
Centralized management of product
information is critical to driving
multi-channel success. Failing to provide
which businesses will not only nd it hard to
maintain these systems (with information
getting outdated frequently) but also see this
having adverse impact on customer
experience and the brand image.

E-commerce and ERP integration ensures

that you have to maintain this information
only in one system. At times, the integration
also helps you mitigate the limitations of one
system by leveraging the features of the
other system. For example, ERP systems
traditionally do not have a very good content
management system or support for product
images and e-commerce systems do not
have a very good inventory management
system. With integration, you can now

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EFFICIENT INVENTORY
MANAGEMENT
Inventory management is a crucial aspect of
any business, and it becomes even more
critical when businesses sell across multiple
channels disconnected from your inventory sets the base for improved forecasting and
9. Efcient Inventory Management
management system. Consider this all
purchase orders and order fullment
activities are managed in the ERP system,
but customers have no visibility to this as
they shop on the e-commerce system.
In the absence of e-commerce and ERP
integration, businesses run the risk of
overselling or underselling their products
which can impact both the bottom line and
the customer experience. E-commerce and
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I T & O P E R AT I O N S
09
ERP integration can help you manage
inventory better by maintaining consistent
data across both the systems which also
effective demand planning.
What's more? Businesses can further
integrate other sales channels with their
e-commerce systems (mobile, online
marketplaces, physical stores, etc.). With
ERP already integrated with the e-commerce
system, selling across multiple channels
while managing inventory in one system
will never be so easy.
11
 I T & O P E R AT I O N S

10
STREAMLINE AND AUTOMATE
ORDER FULFILMENT

Imagine this your e-commerce store is You can take this setup a step further to
growing strong and you have orders owing minimize order aging by further automating
in continuously. Your resources manually your order fullment process
take orders from your e-commerce system automatically sync orders to warehouse,
and enter it into the ERP system for raise an invoice, ship items and then update
fullment. As your order volume grows, you your e-commerce store with the order status
will nd a number of orders left unattended and tracking number. Your customers are
(or delayed) because your resources are not bound to be delighted by the increased
able to keep pace with the growing order transparency and quick turnaround time (a
volume. Result your business growth and key differentiator in todays same day
customer satisfaction is limited by the delivery world you no longer have to worry
number of orders you can manually transfer. about losing customers because of delays in
That is ignoring the fact that manual data order fullment).
transfers are usually prone to errors.
With E-commerce and ERP integration you
can very easily overcome this problem
integration can help you streamline the
order fullment process by automating
information transfer between the two
systems. Whats more? This new system is
not only scalable (no additional resources
required as the order volume grows) and
minimizes errors, it also helps you save
costs, and you can use your resources for a
more productive activity.

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 I T & O P E R AT I O N S

INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY AND

OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY
11
E-commerce and ERP integration increase in ERP resulting in a decrease in
organizational productivity by eliminating productivity.
unproductive, repetitive and manual tasks This while improving the resource efciency
which drives operational efciency because also improves the customer experience,
of reduced errors (common in manual data because of readily available information like
transfers) and automation. product prices, inventory, order status,
The increase in productivity and operational invoices, shipment status, etc.
efciency is not limited to this, the seamless
information sync between E-commerce and
ERP systems also enables you to convert
your e-commerce store into self-serving
customer portals.

This allows your resources to spend less time

on low-value activities like phone calls, data
entry, etc. and more time on things that are
more critical for your business - without
E-commerce and ERP integration customers
are pushed to interact directly with your
employees, who then refer to the information

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 I T & O P E R AT I O N S

12
MANAGE MULTIPLE SALES
CHANNELS EASILY

With rising competition, changing customer centralize the operational aspect of these
expectations and growing number of channels reducing the effort required to
channels businesses are squeezed from manage and maintain them.
every direction. Customers demand
Manage product and inventory
businesses to be present across multiple
information in a single system sync
channels and no business would like to miss
updates to all other systems,
any opportunity to get closer to their
customers. Take orders through multiple channels
However, managing multiple channels as but fulll them using a single system,
standalone systems is resource intensive
Interact with customers using multiple
(time and money) and not sustainable.
systems but service them using a single
Moreover, it also is becomes very challenging
system, and more.
to then control the user experience across all
the channels. With integration, you

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 Customer Experience
AVOID OVERSELLING OR
UNDERSELLING OF PRODUCTS
In the multi-channel environment, retailers
often face the challenge of maintaining
accurate inventory information for products.
Often customers end up purchasing products
that are no longer in stock only to be
disappointed later (when the order is
canceled) result, a dissatised customer
who you might very easily lose to a
competitor. E-commerce and ERP
integration enables businesses to avoid
these situations by keeping customers
informed about product availability and
prevents them from placing an order
(or allowing them to place a backorder while
keeping them informed).
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Integration not only prevents businesses
from overselling but also from underselling
their products. Consider a retailer
maintaining inventory at multiple locations.
If the inventory runs out at one location then
without integration there is no way for the
customer or retailer to know if the product is
available at another location. This can help
you not only increase sales but also churn
your inventory faster.
15

ENCHANT CUSTOMERS WITH
INFORMED SALES
It is important that the sales team is empow-
ered and equipped with accurate relevant
information to make a condent sale.
Informed sales not only helps in closing a
deal faster but also has a positive impact on
customer trust and experience.
An integrated ecosystem ensures that all
your customer, order, and product informa-
tion is simultaneously updated across all
systems. Sales representatives, equipped
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CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
14
with this information, can now make more
informed sales decisions when selling to
customers. For example, they can use order
history to cross-sell and up-sell products
better, use payments and invoice history to
negotiate better payment terms, and more.
10%
16
 CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

EFFICIENT AND STREAMLINED

RETURNS MANAGEMENT
Returns is usually a long and complex process
involving multiple teams and systems
A customer returning a product raises a
request online (or with customer represen-
tative) for a return,
sends the product back to the company or
is picked up by the company itself,
on arrival, the product and associated
invoice are validated,
15
ows back to the e-commerce system notify-
ing the customer of the return status while
crediting the customers account with the
required amount. Other than streamlining
the returns process, this can also signicant-
ly improve the customer loyalty 81% of all
online customers desire a simplied process
of returns management and 82% of shoppers
are unlikely to shop at a store that makes
return a hassle.

an internal workow is followed (to notify

all stakeholders) and the systems are
updated (inventory, accounts, etc.), and

the required amount is then refunded to the

customer (as store credit, cash, etc.)

With E-commerce and ERP integration, this

long and complex process can be very easily
streamlined and automated. Customers can
raise a request online for a return, which
automatically generates a return shipping
label while transferring the information back
to the ERP system for approval. On approval in
the ERP system, the information seamlessly

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 CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

16
IMPROVE OVERALL SHOPPING
EXPERIENCE (& CUSTOMER
SATISFACTION)

Integration can help you enhance your Automated order processing and
customer experience in more than one way. streamlined business processes lead to
increased transparency and decreased
Consistent product information available
turnaround time,
across channels gives customers the
exibility to switch between channels, Seamless information sync enables
businesses to convert the e-commerce
Sales and marketing team armed with a
store into a self-service customer portal
360-degree view of customers can build
that while improving customer
improved and personalized shopping
experience also improves internal
experiences,
efciency and more.
Improved productivity and efciency
translate into more time and money to
further improve the customers shopping
experience,

BEST

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ADDITIONAL SCOPE TO TARGET
B2B CUSTOMERS
Consider this according to Forrester esti-
mates B2B e-commerce will top $1.1 trillion
and account for 12.1% of all B2B sales in the
US by 2020.
Traditionally, e-commerce is associated with
selling to B2C customers and often you will
nd businesses serving their B2B customers
with a standalone system while manually
managing the communication with the ERP
system. With the help of E-commerce and
ERP integration, and a few advanced
modules like salesperson, quotation, credit
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CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
17
limit, net terms, etc. businesses can now
extend their traditional e-commerce store to
their business customers as well.
This will not only save time and money, as
they no longer have to manage two systems,
but also allow them to leverage the advanced
B2C e-commerce functionality to provide
their B2B customers an improved customer
experience as their B2C counterparts.
10
19

GET CLOSER TO PROVIDING THE
OMNI-CHANNEL EXPERIENCE
Customers today are no longer loyal to a
channel, device or a brand. They shop across
multiple channels, consuming information
across multiple devices (switching between
them frequently) and at multiple locations.
They do this while expecting the brands to
provide an enhanced, personalized,
consistent, secure, and seamless experience
across channels. However, there is no one
system that can meet all your requirements
and integration holds the key to
omni-channel experience.
E-commerce and ERP integration can take
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CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
18
your business one step closer to that. By
adding other systems to this integrated
ecosystem you can ensure consistent and
uniform information across channels which
then can be leveraged to drive omni-channel
experience to customers.
This opens up a world of opportunity for
both brand and customers options like buy
online pick up in store and others become a
possibility, which earlier could not be
entertained.
20
 Conclusion Gradual
Improvement of ROI.

Integration helps businesses improve sales, drive operational efciency, and improve
customer experience. Businesses, B2B and B2C, across industries have discovered the
benets of integration and witnessed their business transform.

For information on i95Devs e-commerce and integration solutions or to

know how these solutions have helped businesses across industries feel
free to contact us at 301.760.7499 or mail us at info@i95dev.com or drop us
a line at http://www.i95dev.com/contact/.

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A Solution Packed with Features

About i95Dev

i95Dev provides an integrated e-commerce solution suite which enables retailers,

distributors and manufacturers to utilize current and emerging technologies such

as mobile, social media and market places, to reach more clients and markets

while increasing efciency and reducing costs. i95Devs expertise is in providing

integrated solutions with Magento, the eBay owned, market leading open-source

e-commerce platform, and Microsoft Dynamics GP, NAV and AX as well as CRM.

i95Dev is based in Dallas Texas, with locations in New York, Bethesda MD, Sydney

Australia, a development center in Hyderabad India and employs 140 mainly

technical staff. We are big enough to be stable and have ample resources while

being small enough to provide individual service to Partners and customers.

Maryland : 3 Bethesda Metro Center, Suite 700 Bethesda, MD 20814. Ph: (301) 760.7499
NewYork : 1430 Broadway, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10018. Ph: (646) 259.3662
Texas : 5646 Milton St#100, Dallas, TX 75206. Ph: (214) 396-2121
Australia : Sydney, NSW 2145. Ph: (02) 8015 5446

Email : info@i95Dev.com Visit : www.i95Dev.com Shop : store.i95Dev.com

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