While many think this is just an added layer of technological nuisance, failure to integrate the two defeats the object of using the ERP system to manage the sales order processing.
It’s all too common within the food and beverage industry to have the simplest possible websites, online catalogues and credit card processing capabilities designed by the lowest bidder. But more often than not, the web developer lacks the skill and ability to integrate the website with the ERP. This results in all the data for the orders arriving through the online channel sitting separate to your core sales and stock information.
By failing to integrate the web sales function with the remainder of the ERP system, there are two core business abilities that are instantly lost:
In short, as tight integration as is possible between the online channel and the other business functions, via the ERP, is absolutely crucial to provide full overall visibility of the sales and stock activities. Without this holistic vision of stock levels and the popularity of individual items, the online and offline sales may as well be two different companies.
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