Why is eCommerce so important?
Brick-and-mortar retailers are finding out quickly they need to embrace digital transformation to stay in business. A 2017 Business Insider article claims that 17% of all US retail sales by 2022 will be from eCommerce. This number is probably conservative considering the huge shift to online sales in the era of COVID-19. Engaging in online sales through websites and mobile apps has become a necessity.
“It is clear at this point that eCommerce is a must for nearly every company,” the above referenced article states. “While eCommerce may be a supplemental or alternative channel for many companies right now, it is rapidly evolving into the preferred channel for communication and interaction in today’s hyper-competitive business world.”
The question then becomes, how do you make eCommerce work for and with your traditional methods of selling? Or, if you’re already an eCommerce retailer, how do you make it stand out from the competition?
How can you grow your eCommerce business?
The answer is an integrated eCommerce ERP. Acumatica has produced a Whitepaper that discusses the following:
-Why an eCommerce ERP, which integrates your front-end and back-office functions, is necessary
-How customer service is affected by an eCommerce ERP
-What to look for when you’re evaluating your eCommerce back-office system options
-What happens when you choose not to implement a web-based commerce strategy that includes an eCommerce back-office system
What is Omnichannel retail?
Omnichannel retail is a way of selling your products through multiple sales channels such as a brick and mortar store, eCommerce website, mobile app, marketplaces such as Amazon and eBay as well as print catalogs. The success of Omnichannel retail is based on providing a consistent and efficient customer experience through every channel that your customer engages with your company. This requires fully integrated supporting functions that treat all sales channels equally and effectively.
What's the best ERP system for eCommerce?
Acumatica’s Commerce Edition provides the fully integrated supporting functions you need to give your customers a fast, seamless, and hassle-free experience—from your sales floor to your website. The Commerce Edition integrates Acumatica’s Financials, Sales, Inventory, CRM, and Fulfillment systems with your eCommerce platform. You can manage your orders, inventory, picking, packing, returns, and more from one, customizable dashboard.
Merchants have experienced the following benefits since implementing Acumatica's Commerce Edition ERP:
-Streamlined sales operations-Automated accounting and warehouse operations
-Use of financial dashboards with one-click access
-Improved visibility and customer service
-Mobile access to their data
How does eCommerce ERP helps you deliver customer service?
As you may know, eCommerce can become a competitive strength when based on a solid plan and smart execution by a strong team that harnesses the technology, processes, and people to deliver a great customer experience.
Optimize, Streamline, and Mobilize Field Service Operations
Maximize dispatching by scheduling the right people at the right time and obtain real-time data for work taking place in the field. Acumatica Service Management provides contract management, appointment schedules, and a full-featured mobile application for service-driven businesses, wholesale distributors, construction companies, and manufacturers for deliveries, installation, or remote service operations. Seamless integration to inventory, purchasing, and projects provide service organizations with everything they need to grow their business.
By using Acumatica's service management capabilities, you can:
-Manage Contracts: Manage contracts for sales and service, maintenance repair, and recurring maintenance scenarios. Define billing procedures and generate service orders with flexible frequencies.-Schedule Appointments: Schedule technicians based on availability, location, skills, active licenses, or service areas. Accurate schedules reduce overtime costs and maximize customer satisfaction.
-Plan Inventory: Track inventory in warehouses and mobile vehicles. Leverage inventory replenishment and purchase orders to ensure inventory availability.
-Improve Mobility: Empower technicians with a full-featured mobile application with GPS navigation, electronic signatures, credit card payments, mobile expense receipts, voice dictation for notes, image uploads, and appointment details. Field technicians can see service history and equipment information.
-Manage Projects: Track multi-phase projects. Compare original to revised budgets. Manage billing with fixed-price, cost-plus, or capped project costs. Bill service orders and appointments through the project instead of Service Management.
-Improve Customer Visibility: Service management integrates with Acumatica CRM providing access to sales history, support cases, and activity history. The customer portal provides access to invoices and other information online.
What Acumatica provides is a way for you to accelerate your decision making process and improve these decisions with reports and dashboards you can access easily at a moments notice. These reports can provide current and past information to help you gain insights into your future needs. In turn this will help you define metrics for technician utilization and service performance.
To learn more, check out our Best ERP for eCommerce webinar replay. If you are interested in discussing how to integrate ERP with your eCommerce platform, please reach out to schedule some time to meet with us.
