Whether you already have an eCommerce platform operational or are looking for ways to plan your business strategy in advance of launch, integrating your front-end storefront with the back-end inventory management system can be extremely helpful.
This is what is commonly referred to as an eCommerce integration project, or the initiative to integrate third-party solutions as a bridge between an online shop and a finance & inventory system, which belongs to it by default. According to Small Biz Genius, 57% of global eCommerce purchases are made by overseas customers, while in 2019, nearly 2 billion individual purchase requests were made on eCommerce websites.
No matter how niche or specialized your product lineup may be, eCommerce can help you push those items to a global market more successfully than any other form of sales. However, while eCommerce integration with back-end management systems is highly valuable in the long run, there are several potential pitfalls and bottlenecks worth keeping in mind going forward.
With that, let’s take a look at what makes the process so unique and beneficial, as well as several common mistakes to avoid in your own eCommerce integration project.
eCommerce Integration – Basics & Advantages
Let’s delve into some basic principles of eCommerce and its related processes before we get into the specifics of cross-functional integration.
In short, eCommerce is an online business model that revolves around the sales of goods between two parties. Customers rely on these websites for various reasons, including convenience, overseas goods delivery, lack of certain items in their home countries, etc.
Marie Fincher, Head of Content at Trust My Paper spoke on the matter recently: “As with any online business, you want to make sure that your items and services are available to as many people across the globe as possible. Every day that goes by while you manually process a request, payments and shipping is another day in which you practically lose revenue to a lack of better back-end business management.”
Depending on the product lineup of an individual eCommerce platform, as well as the volume of customers and purchases made on a daily basis, keeping track of stock, finances, and general inventory tracking can become difficult. Thus, eCommerce integration service was born as a means to bridge the gap between an online storefront and its inventory and financial systems in the back-end segment of the business. Once these systems are connected through a third-party platform, their management, monitoring, and content updates become straightforward and seamless for website owners. Such connections can be made through WMS systems to make the management flow smoother. In addition, several advantages can be attributed to eCommerce integration, including the following:
eCommerce Integration Mistakes to Avoid
1. Lack of a Proper Business Audit
Projects such as those which revolve around eCommerce integration with other processes in your business should only be taken on after a detailed audit. Business audits typically consist of a detailed breakdown of your business’ structure, product portfolio, average income, current inventory management systems, average website traffic, etc. Similarly, what is the status of your customer servicing systems, and are they conducted in-house or delegated to a third-party agency which acts on your behalf?
An audit such as this can help you better understand the scale of your business and how necessary and/or functional the integrated systems will be after the fact. The information you gather from the process will allow you to run a more detailed eCommerce integration project going forward and start the alignment of existing systems and software on the right foot from the get-go.
2. Lack of Clear Goals or KPIs
Staying up-to-date with industry trends and customer expectations is an important part of staying relevant to the global market. However, starting the eCommerce integration process with no clear goals, key performance indicators (KPIs), or reasons to do so will quickly become counterintuitive.
Philip Brook, Head of Content Management at Grab My Essay spoke on the topic, stating the following: “Even though you may have top-performing employees on your roster and a slew of satisfied clients with positive testimonials, your day-to-day operations should be focused on set goals and milestones. This will help everyone operate as a team and collaborate for the betterment of your business without losing focus of the long-term goals of your company.”
To amend this, you should create clear goals and reasons for your integration project, set a strict timeframe and deadline for its implementation, as well as several KPIs to track in relation to it. This will allow you to find meaning and functionality in the newly-established integration of existing back-end and front-end processes, creating a more seamless and performance-oriented workflow for your content creators, managers, and customer servicing agents.
3. Disparity in Codes & Numbering
One of the most important roles of any eCommerce platform is to inform individual customers of whether or not certain items are available for purchase. Likewise, employees in charge of filing new items and managing the back-end inventory should be on the same page in regards to codes and numbering. Even though an eCommerce integration initiative might be underway, it’s extremely important for both front-end and back-end to rely on the same naming and coding structures.
For example, if a toothbrush on the storefront is labeled as “item 0001” for reference, it should also be filed under “item 0001” in the back-end inventory system to avoid confusion or mismatch. The coding and numbering systems should be aligned and operate on the same principles before any integration should be initiated in order to keep all the information in a single naming system for future reference.
4. Lack of Ongoing Testing & Monitoring
Lastly, eCommerce integration will have transformative effects on the way you operate as an online platform. As such, its impact shouldn’t be underestimated, so monitoring and performance-testing should take place.
Make it a habit to perform scheduled tests to see how well-integrated your systems are with one another by changing number values, item listing, and inventory information between different processes. Your employees should also constantly monitor both the website and the back-end inventory systems to ensure that things operate smoothly and for customers to have a smooth UX to look forward to.
Over to You (Conclusion)
Even though eCommerce integration does provide certain autonomous functions and automation, its functionality shouldn’t be overestimated. Your employees will still have to provide manual customer support and address performance issues if they pop up and create bottlenecks.
Find meaningful and goal-driven ways to integrate existing eCommerce processes into a cohesive business model for your company. Before you know it, your performance will have improved to a point where incoming traffic, revenue, and word of mouth will reflect your efforts accordingly.
