U.S. retail ecommerce sales for the third quarter of 2017 were reported at $115.3 billion, according toU.S. Census Bureau News. This represents a 3.6% increase from the previous quarter, with the data suggesting an upward trend in the percentage of e-commerce sales as a portion of total quarterly retail sales. These statistics point to the importance of ecommerce for revenue growth, making ecommerce management more important than ever. And the faster you can deploy ecommerce integration, the sooner you can reap its benefits.
While large enterprises often have more resources to devote to ecommerce integration, small and medium-sized businesses do not. Maybe that’s whyover 70% of small business websites have no ecommerce at all. Small business ecommerce solutions need to deliver fast results with a quick ROI. In this article, we take a closer look at how you can speed up the integration process without sacrificing quality.
The importance of small business data integration
Before we dive into the ways you can integrate your ERP with ecommerce platforms, let’s discuss why this integration is important. Data integration delivers many benefits, including:
No more data redundancies – Information on buyers and purchases is shared between systems, eliminating errors that can occur and preventing duplicate entries. Data integration also speeds up information retrieval and sharing since the data is available at all points along the supply chain.
Inventory efficiencies – ERP and ecommerce integration optimize the inventory process from the warehouse to distribution all the way to the final point of sale. This means your inventory is updated in real-time, ensuring your ability to meet all deliveries.
Deeper understanding of revenue growth – Small business data integration provides a clearer picture of daily sales, as well as quarterly annual revenues versus costs, allowing you to more accurately measure the performance of your business in real-time.
Faster ecommerce integration
Now that we know why ecommerce integration is important, let’s dig into just howfast it can be accomplished. The time required depends largely on the integration provider, making this an important decision.
Most vendors in the market today will tell you they need several weeks to get your ecommerce integration up and running. Let’s think about that. Given the number of businesses setting up these ecommerce integrations, why should it take so long? Are all these integrations really that different from one another? Do they truly require weeks of custom consulting work?
In reality, it should not take long to set up ecommerce integrations. All of these integrations are not that different from one another. And they do not require weeks of custom consulting work. So let’s take a look at how a truly fast ecommerce integration can be delivered.
Universal integrator – A flexible and robust system that is capable of integrating any company’s ERP with a given ecommerce platform translates directly into speed of setup. Integration work is not started from scratch with each customer. The system is built to meet the integration needs of any business using the same ecommerce platform.
Pre-built templates – All of the integration documents required for a given ecommerce platform are built into the system already, ready and waiting for your business.
Mapping wizard – A simple and intuitive drag-and-drop wizard helps you match up your data points quickly, so you can start processing orders immediately.
No custom programming – One of the most time-consuming elements in ecommerce integration is the custom consulting work typically required to setup the integration. With this requirement eliminated, setup times have been drastically reduced.
Automatic updates – As ecommerce platform requirements change over time, the system automatically updates the required documents.
Easier maintenance – A cloud-based system means no hardware maintenance. Fewer resources are required to keep the system running, creating efficiencies, fostering productivity, and saving time and money.
Empowered employees – Drag-and-drop abilities enable internal employees to make changes to the system as needed. This means your company’s own customer service reps can change user-defined fields when the need arises. You no longer have to wait for changes to be done for you.
Supports Expansion – As your ecommerce business grows, you will want to expand to other platforms. This needs to be done just as quickly and simply as your first ecommerce connection. An automated plug-and-play solution available for many ecommerce platforms means you can expand your business across multiple platforms in just a few days.
So the big question is, “Does such a system exist?” Obviously, yes. We at Alluvia believed it was possible to build a flexible architecture that could account for the nuances from one business and one platform to the next – making ecommerce integration possible in less than a day. This vision is now a reality, making ecommerce integration faster than ever before.
Let’s do the math
Each provider will give you varying timelines on ecommerce integration, but let’s be optimistic and assume a shorter-than-normal timeline of four weeks. If we compare this to the one-day setup that is now possible, Alluvia delivers ecommerce integration up to 20 times faster than the competition. This certainly changes the playing field when it comes to integration, opening up new opportunities for small and medium-sized businesses.
Smaller businesses simply cannot afford to pay high consulting fees when it comes to ecommerce integration. More importantly, these businesses need to be in the marketplace now, with data synchronization in place and a streamlined workflow. Fortunately, fast and affordable ecommerce integration has become a reality.
Automated Ecommerce Integration Solutions & Industry News
Alluvia’s Automated Ecommerce Integration Solution is Redefining the Standard for Integration
At Alluvia, we are committed to making ecommerce integration faster, cheaper, and easier. Browse our library of expert-authored articles covering the latest industry trends, as well as Alluvia news and updates, so you can optimize your ecommerce integration and digital sales processes.
Intuitive data integration for a reasonable price.
Smart solutions start with simplicity. Let us show you how quickly you can connect your ERP to ecommerce and marketplace systems using a simple drag-and-drop mapping interface powered by flexible integration architecture. Alluvia is a plug-and-play solution at a cost you can control.
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