EP103 Your ERP Isn’t Enough for Ecommerce
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[00:00:00] JOSHUA WARREN: Hi, everyone. Welcome back to commerce today. 

[00:00:08] JOSHUA WARREN: Last week, we explored the role of ERP integrations and B2B e commerce. However, what happens when the e commerce platform itself, especially one that's bundled with your ERP isn't pulling its own weight. Um, so today we're going to dive into exactly that. The question that could really make or break your business.

[00:00:25] JOSHUA WARREN: Is your ERP's e commerce platform holding you back? Wanted to talk about this this week because I work with a lot of different companies and have free e commerce problem solving sessions with even more. And throughout all of that, I actually had three different companies I spoke with just in the past few weeks.

[00:00:40] JOSHUA WARREN: That all had the exact same problem. And this problem caused stalled product launches. It caused frustrated customers. It caused even leadership level debates and arguments about how to move forward. And the problem actually was they were all using an e commerce platform provided by their ERP. They thought and were sold [00:01:00] on the fact that that would be easier and work better.

[00:01:02] JOSHUA WARREN: Turns out that wasn't the case. So if you've ever wondered why your e commerce platform, especially if you're using the one from your RP doesn't seem to work quite right, doesn't work for your business, you're wondering how to fix it. This is the episode for you. So again, last week discussed why the integration between your ERP and your e commerce platform is really the backbone of your e commerce operations.

[00:01:23] JOSHUA WARREN: It's super important. It connects pricing inventory and order data seamlessly keeps everything running smoothly, but. No matter how well integrated your ERP is, if your e commerce platform isn't really up to it, isn't delivering, your business is going to suffer for it. So imagine the frustration of a sales team, unable to meet customer demands, just because the platform can't handle real time pricing updates or inventory checks.

[00:01:46] JOSHUA WARREN: And these things don't just slow you down. They don't just frustrate you. They frustrate and slow down your customers. And that hurts your bottom line. Customers are really expecting a seamless, modern experience. And if they don't get it, they'll take their business elsewhere. [00:02:00] Meanwhile, your team ends up firefighting instead of focusing on growth.

[00:02:04] JOSHUA WARREN: I do want to say this isn't just about one ERP. I actually, I don't usually name names. I will be naming names this time, but one of the reasons I want to name names about these platforms that are causing these problems is it's three different e commerce platforms, each provided by a different ERP that I've met with merchants recently that are really struggling on.

[00:02:24] JOSHUA WARREN: So I don't think the problem is specific to one ERP. I think the problem is the whole concept of I can buy an e commerce platform that was built by an ERP provider and is supported by an ERP provider and get a best in class e commerce experience. I don't think that's the case. And I think these, these three different examples will show us.

[00:02:46] JOSHUA WARREN: It's not the case that these e commerce providers or these ERP platform providers, they provide a great ERP platform. Not such a great e commerce platform. So again, it's not about a specific ERP. It's just [00:03:00] this idea of purchasing an ERP and getting a pre integrated e commerce solution free or inexpensively.

[00:03:05] JOSHUA WARREN: That doesn't work out. So we're actually going to look at three different things. We're going to look at NetSuite's SuiteCommerce. We're going to look at SalesGent and we're going to look at Epicore Commerce. So the first example. Have one customer that I'm working with. They chose sweet commerce because it was already integrated with NetSuite, their ERP, I know oftentimes NetSuite gives a great discount on sweet commerce.

[00:03:26] JOSHUA WARREN: When you're purchasing NetSuite seems like an obvious choice. It's inexpensive. It's one platform, one ecosystem, but as their business grew, they started experiencing more problems and cracks really began to show in sweet commerce. So it was really struggling to support advanced pricing models and corporate buying programs.

[00:03:44] JOSHUA WARREN: These things just weren't well supported within the sweet commerce model. Customers started complaining about how slow the site was, about a poor user experience. They were, their team really wanted to move to a more modern front end technology that sweet commerce just doesn't support. So [00:04:00] leadership at this company had to make a really tough decision, really double down on sweet commerce, invest a lot of time and money into it and try to make it work or invest in a completely new platform.

[00:04:10] JOSHUA WARREN: They are actually in the middle of making that decision. So I will update y'all in the future on what they decide. But I think that so far it's pretty clear that the investment into sweet commerce just isn't going to work out. They need a bespoke e commerce platform. Next up, SalesGent. So SalesGent is an emerging ERP that has a built in e commerce platform.

[00:04:30] JOSHUA WARREN: I'm working with another business. They relied on this native platform from SalesGent. It was handling basic functionality well enough, but the interface just wasn't up to snuff, and new features just weren't being added to the e commerce side. The ERP side, great. e commerce side, not so great. So both customers and internal teams started getting frustrated.

[00:04:50] JOSHUA WARREN: Um, things really hit a breaking point when a major wholesale client decided to just take their business elsewhere due to clunky workflows in the e commerce [00:05:00] platform, due to a lot of different workarounds. That one loss deal forced the entire executive team to rethink their strategy and start looking for a platform that could handle the complexity of modern e commerce.

[00:05:11] JOSHUA WARREN: And they actually are now in the process of making that change. Finally, I want to talk a little bit about Epicor commerce. So Epicor commerce is built on a heavily modified version of Magento open source. And this is another case where the whole pre integrated piece sounded great, but fell apart. So Epicor commerce to make it more affordable, to make it easier for Epicor to support, because again, Epicor is an ERP company, not an e commerce company, it's actually super locked down.

[00:05:38] JOSHUA WARREN: So people go to Magento open source thinking I can use any theme. I can use the amazing new front end system called Hoova. I can install extensions. No. So Epicor commerce in order to keep the support costs down, It is a highly locked down version of Magento open source. Small updates are going to require extensive development work.

[00:05:58] JOSHUA WARREN: And there's only two [00:06:00] agencies that Epicor even allows to touch Epicor commerce. Those aren't cheap. The marketing team's frustration finally boiled over during a leadership team meeting. They revealed just how much time and money was being wasted just to make basic updates to the site. And it became clear to them that they needed a more agile, customizable solution.

[00:06:18] JOSHUA WARREN: In their case, they love the Magento platform, they just needed that access to it. So Magento Open Source and Adobe Commerce Are their front runners for their new platform. All right. Chatted through some of the problems and some of the specific examples. I want to highlight the four big things that I see people struggle with when they select an e commerce platform provided by an ERP.

[00:06:39] JOSHUA WARREN: Hopefully you found this video because you're thinking about doing that and this will give you a chance to pause and decide if it's the right choice for you or not. So first of all, B2B gaps, feature gaps in B2B e commerce, these platforms are built to handle general use cases. They're not designed to be customized down for a specific B2B business.

[00:06:59] JOSHUA WARREN: [00:07:00] So if you have complex pricing models, if you need advanced workflows for approvals, reorders, or custom orders, if you're looking for omni channel capabilities, like real time inventory, sync, or BOPIS, Lots of times you just can't do it or if you can, it is super basic, really. The features in these platforms focus on two things, keeping the ERP integration working and keeping the ERP provider support costs as low as possible.

[00:07:24] JOSHUA WARREN: Also, this is usually a very monolithic approach. It's a very rigid architecture. These ERP provided platforms with their monolithic approach lock you into a single way of doing things. That rigidity makes it nearly impossible to adapt to new opportunities or challenges without really significant time and cost.

[00:07:43] JOSHUA WARREN: Also, there's a false sense of integration with these. They, uh, they're marketed as pre integrated, but that's really not always true. Integration and these pre integrations often comes with limitations. Maybe you can't update inventory as often as you would like. Maybe order processing is really clunky.

[00:07:58] JOSHUA WARREN: Maybe you actually can't. [00:08:00] In one case I saw you couldn't apply custom fields to your ERP because the pre integration with their own e commerce platform wouldn't work with those custom fields. Finally, you miss out on so many customer experience opportunities. Your e commerce platform is where your customers interact with your brand.

[00:08:17] JOSHUA WARREN: And if it's feeling outdated or unresponsive, it's not just a technology problem, it's not just a platform problem. It becomes a customer attention issue. And that's just not a risk you can afford to take. Even in the B2B world these days, customers are so quick to switch to another vendor or another supplier.

[00:08:34] JOSHUA WARREN: When they have a poor customer experience. All right. So you're hopefully saying, all right, Joshua, we get it. Maybe an pre integrated e commerce platform provided by our ear pre provider. Isn't the best choice. Might be asking, how do we make the right choice for our business? So I actually have five different specific questions.

[00:08:51] JOSHUA WARREN: I really recommend that you ask yourself and your potential e commerce platform providers. So start with these five. There'll be a lot more for your business, [00:09:00] but start with. What does your business need today? And in five years. So with that question, can the platform scale as you grow? Can it handle new channels?

[00:09:08] JOSHUA WARREN: Can it handle international expansion? How flexible is the platform? Does it support custom workflows, pricing models, and integration specific to your business? And be careful with this one because lots of times you'll get a yes, but it's a kind of a yes with an asterisk on it. Meaning. Yes, it supports custom workflows, but only if you pick from these three or it supports a custom pricing model, but it can only use these two fields for the pricing.

[00:09:32] JOSHUA WARREN: So definitely ask a lot of questions around that, especially when you're looking at an e commerce platform, that's pre integrated into an ERP. Another big question is what's the total cost of ownership. So lots of times in these deals, the ERP provider really highlights, Oh, we're going to lower the license fee.

[00:09:50] JOSHUA WARREN: The license fee is either going to be non existent or so much lower than if you went and purchased an e e commerce platform, but look at what are potential hidden costs, cost of maintenance, [00:10:00] upgrades, downtime, um, especially ask is your platform open to where any agency can work on it, or is it limited?

[00:10:07] JOSHUA WARREN: If code changes are needed, do I have to go back to you? The ERP provider or to one of your two approved agencies. And if they say yes to that, know that your maintenance costs are going to be a lot higher than they really are leading you to believe. Does it seamlessly integrate with your ERP? So this is important to ask of all the platforms.

[00:10:25] JOSHUA WARREN: Again, you would think that the pre integrated e commerce platforms from your ERP provider have the edge here. Not always. Lots of times those will lock you into a specific integration approach. You want to ask, Hey, can I use middleware? Could I use a composable approach? Can I have a smooth bi directional flow of data?

[00:10:44] JOSHUA WARREN: Or am I forced to using one extension, one piece of code that locks my ERP platform and e commerce platform together? Um, finally, does it meet your customer's expectations? Is the interface modern, fast, and user friendly? Does it enhance, not hinder the customer experience? Transcribed [00:11:00] What front end technology options there are.

[00:11:01] JOSHUA WARREN: Again, this is an area where a lot of these e commerce platforms provided by the ERP provider, they're using front end technology. That's 10, 15 years old, and it's not easy to update it into modern standards. I would definitely, I've been mentioning composable commerce a lot lately. The alternative to these monolithic pre integrated platforms again, is composable commerce.

[00:11:23] JOSHUA WARREN: Definitely look at that as you're designing a new ERP integration, selecting an ERP, selecting an e commerce platform. Just a reminder, this composable commerce approach, all it really means is. You're building a modular tech stack. You combine the best tools for each function. Um, so you could use middleware or a solution like an iPass to connect your ERP with a more modern e commerce platform like Adobe commerce and big commerce.

[00:11:48] JOSHUA WARREN: You can then add in specialized tools for search, personalization, or analytics. And again, by using a composable approach, it's really easy to pick and choose and plug and unplug those pieces as you [00:12:00] grow, this really allows you to adapt quickly and avoids the costly overhauls in the future. Especially these people I've been talking to this week, these three examples I gave in all three cases, unfortunately, they took a monolithic approach to their ERP and their ER e commerce platform before they talked to me and knew better.

[00:12:16] JOSHUA WARREN: And they are going to end up having to spend a fair bit of money in that overhaul to fix all of this. So let's say you decide, okay. We got to get rid of our e commerce platform that was provided by our ERP provider. What's that transition look like? And it's not always an easy sell. Lots of times your leadership team is going to hesitate.

[00:12:35] JOSHUA WARREN: It sounds risky. It sounds expensive. Here's how you can address those concerns. First of all, show the ROI. And that's where, if you'll reach out to me for a free e commerce problem solving session, I can actually give you real data from other projects to help you understand. How a better platform is going to reduce the operational costs and increase sales, and it really make that ROI use case to your leadership team.

[00:12:57] JOSHUA WARREN: Consider starting small, especially if you're a larger [00:13:00] multinational company, pilot the new platform with maybe just one region or with one product category, one brand, something like that. But definitely involve the different stakeholders early, bring sales, marketing, and it into this process early, really try to build alignment and support.

[00:13:17] JOSHUA WARREN: Once you have that alignment, once you have that support, once you're ready to go, really the transition is like most projects we've talked about before. When you're moving to a new platform, you want to audit your current setup, identify what's working, what's not, where the biggest pain points are. Define what success will look like.

[00:13:34] JOSHUA WARREN: So set up some success metrics can be faster order processing, improve customer satisfaction scores, increase conversion rates, things like that. I would also consider looking at maintenance cost as one of your success metrics and time to market for new features and functionality. plan for the data migration and for switching the integration with the ERP.

[00:13:55] JOSHUA WARREN: This is a really good time to clean up your data and make sure that you're [00:14:00] only bringing clean data into your new e commerce platform. Definitely don't hesitate to leverage expert help, whether it's my free advice and assistance through e commerce problem solving sessions or hiring a team, an agency like Creatuity that's experienced in e commerce migrations.

[00:14:15] JOSHUA WARREN: Definitely don't hesitate to reach out and get some sort of help. So we've talked about a lot today, but really the whole point I wanted to make and get across to y'all is that your ERP is incredibly important and I hope you have a great relationship with your ERP provider, but they shouldn't provide your e commerce platform.

[00:14:32] JOSHUA WARREN: Definitely look to an e commerce platform that is built to meet your customer's expectations and drive growth. And really look to have a more flexible future proof solution. Don't get tied in to a pre integrated platform where you need to update your integration. You need to update your e commerce platform.

[00:14:49] JOSHUA WARREN: Suddenly you're dealing with your ERP vendor. And again, last week, if you didn't see last week's episode, that was all about how important it is to have a solid ERP integration. And it talks about how to integrate [00:15:00] your ERP with your e commerce platform. Definitely go back to that and watch that if you haven't.

[00:15:05] JOSHUA WARREN: And again, if your current platform isn't cutting it, if you're having challenges, let's chat. You can find me on LinkedIn. Uh, you can book a free 30 minute consultation with me. My name's Joshua Warren. You'll see a creativity gold background behind my face. That's how you know you found the right Joshua Warren.

[00:15:19] JOSHUA WARREN: And there's a link directly on my profile to grab a slot on my calendar. Thanks. And I look forward to talking with y'all again soon. 

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