E-commerce is a business model where retail companies sell brand products to online customers at competitive prices on the Internet. It describes the data exchange and money transfer to finalize transactions enabling the enterprises to obtain supplies from vendors. Online buyers generally use their smartphones, desktop computers, tablets, or laptops to acquire the products they need via e-commerce storefronts. They do not even have to move out of the four walls of their homes to obtain their products. Moreover, the retail companies ensure their logistic agents deliver the goods to their doorstep on time. This is a boon for them in the prevailing Covid-19 pandemic.
E-commerce platform integration software solutions
E-commerce integration refers to the merger and coordination of a retail companies’ e-commerce storefronts with their enterprise resource planning (ERP) back-office solutions. This ensures seamless bi-directional data transmission between two independent software systems to automate business processes and streamline workflows.
To achieve the above objective better, companies generally hire and work with reliable Software-as-a-Service providers offering them a suitable platform integration software solution. It allows the companies’ employees to record data relating to online sale orders in one system like the e-commerce storefront. The enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution automatically reflects the information relating to customer details, product description, quantity, pricing, and inventory. This helps to boost the retail companies’ internal efficiency largely.
Need for e-commerce integration
Retail companies specializing in e-commerce generally conduct their business operations from multiple online sale channels. In many cases, the enterprises run these e-stores in collaboration with their trading partners. The vendors take on the responsibility of packing and shipping the products to the customers’ homes. However, after companies successfully process their online sales orders and collect the final payment via the point-of-sales cart, they do so.
The companies find it difficult to monitor the records showing the transition of the product from the vendor’s warehouse to the customers’ doorsteps. It is a time-consuming procedure where the possibility of avoidable clerical errors taking place is high. This adversely affects customer engagement and results in loss of sale revenue. Fortunately, companies can overcome this issue through e-commerce integration.
The advantages of installing and operating an e-commerce platform integration software solution for companies are as follows:
- Provides real-time access to online sales data without having to switch to different software solutions,
- Improves data integrity relating to customer details, inventory, online orders by eliminating manual entries
- Enhances sales and revenue visibility across all of the online sales channels,
- Ensures automatic updates of inventory levels, product catalog, sales, and pricing changes,
- Strengthens customer engagement by allowing online buyers to get real-time status updates of their orders, and
- Offers the top managerial personnel with better business performance insights to take important decisions.
Operating an e-commerce platform integration solution can propel retail companies to gain a competitive edge in the market. Most of these enterprises will hire a reliable Software-as-a-Service provider to install and manage the system to minimize costs. In addition, the service-level contract they enter into with the third-party vendor should provide a system that incorporates the latest technology for optimal functioning.