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E-Commerce Fulfillment: How EDI Enhances Online Order Processing

With over twenty years of experience in e-commerce integration, we at EDI2XML, have observed a significant change in consumer expectations. Amazon Prime has set new standards for speed and accuracy, making slow or inaccurate delivery not just an inconvenience, but a direct way of losing customers.

This challenge is especially particularly for those who run an online business outside the Amazon ecosystem and are forced to compete with its standards.

That is why many companies come to us for help in optimizing their online business processes and offering online order fulfillment that is not inferior to Amazon Prime.

Intro: Automate E-Commerce Fulfillment

At EDI2XML we understand how important each client is for online business, both for startups that want to attract new clients, and for established companies that need to live up to their brand. That’s why we help businesses automate their fulfillment. As a great example of successful fulfillment automation, is Supplies Outlet. After we implemented a fully managed EDI integration, manual data entry was almost completely eliminated. As a result, about 90% of order processing is now automated. This means that their e-commerce platform creates and transmits orders via EDI, which almost completely eliminates manual work and makes operations much more efficient.

You can read more about the Supplies Outlet Case Study in this article: Streamlining EDI and NetSuite Integration: A Comprehensive Case Study on Supplies Outlet

What is E-Commerce Fulfillment

In essence, this is the entire process that begins when a customer places an order in your online store and ends when that order is in their hands. That is, it is a full cycle: from receiving an order to delivering the goods to the customer.

Key Components of E-Commerce Fulfillment

Let’s look at the key points of what the fulfillment process consists of:

Inventory management:

This, in simple terms, is ensuring that the goods are always in stock. You need to constantly monitor how many goods you have left so that customers can order them.

Order management:

This is when you receive an order, check that everything is in order, collect the necessary goods from the warehouse and prepare them for shipment.

Warehousing and storage:

This is, in essence, the place where your goods are stored. This can be your own warehouse or the warehouse of a special company that deals with fulfillment. The main thing is that the goods are stored in the right place and are ready for shipment.

Packaging and shipping:

This is when you carefully pack the goods so that they are not damaged during delivery, and choose the best way to send them to the customer. Here it is important to consider the cost of delivery, speed and customer preferences.

Returns and reverse logistics:

This is when a customer returns an item. You need to be able to process this return quickly and correctly so as not to lose money and not ruin the relationship with the customer.

Types of Fulfillment Models

Now, let’s talk about what types of fulfillment models there are:

In-house fulfillment:

This is when your company itself handles all fulfillment processes. That is, you have your own warehouse, your own employees who collect and ship orders.

Third-party logistics (3PL):

This is when you outsource all fulfillment processes to a special company – (3PL) provider. For example, companies like ShipBob, Shopify Fulfillment Network. They take care of all the storage, packaging and shipping of your goods.

Dropshipping:

This is when you do not store the goods in a warehouse at all. Instead, when a customer places an order, you pass it on to the supplier or manufacturer, and they ship the goods directly to the customer.

In general, fulfillment is an important part of e-commerce that helps make the buying process quick and convenient for the customer. And the success of your business depends on how well you set up this process.

Top Fulfillment Model in E-commerce

EDI in E-Commerce Fulfilment

EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) is a technology that is widely used in business, including e-commerce. EDI provides automated exchange of business documents in a standardized electronic format between partner companies.

Key Aspects of EDI in Business:

Data standardization: EDI uses generally recognized standards (for example, ANSI X12 – mainly in North America, and EDIFACT in Europe and for international transactions) Standardization of electronic documents allows different systems to interact without the need for manual data processing.

Automation of business processes: EDI automates the exchange of documents such as purchase orders (EDI 850), invoices (EDI 810), advanced shipping notifications (EDI 856) and many others, you can see the full list of transactions here: Complete List of EDI Transaction Sets & Codes for ANSI ASC X12 Standard  and Complete List of EDIFACT Messages

Integration with business systems: EDI can be integrated with the company’s business systems like ERP, CRM, accounting systems or application, e-commerce platform (Amazon, Shopify, Adobe Commerce, etc.) This allows you to automatically update data in real time in all systems. Thus with EDI you can improve inventory management, reduces order fulfillment time and increases supply chain efficiency.

In a business context, EDI is:

  • A strategic tool for increasing a company’s efficiency and competitiveness.
  • A technology that allows companies to automate and optimize key business processes.
  • A solution that facilitates more effective interaction with trading partners.

EDI plays an important role in modern e-commerce, allowing companies to automate and optimize business processes, improve interaction with trading partners and increase competitiveness.

How EDI Supports E-Commerce Fulfillment:

Automated Order Processing (EDI 850 – Purchase Order)

When a customer places an order online, the order is processed by the e-commerce platform, like Shopify or Amazon, and stored in its system. Whether the product is shipped by a merchant itself, supplier, fulfillment center, or third-party logistics provider (3PL), EDI is often used to simplify order communication and streamline the fulfillment process through the EDI provider.

Here’s how it works: The e-commerce system records the order details, such as the product, quantity, and shipping address. If the supplier or fulfillment partner requires EDI, the order information is sent to an EDI provider, which translates it into an EDI 850 Purchase Order. The EDI provider ensures that the order is formatted correctly and then transmits it securely to the supplier or fulfillment center using an approved communication method like AS2, VAN, or FTP/SFTP.

Order Confirmation & Status Updates (EDI 855 & EDI 856 – ASN)

 

Once the supplier or fulfillment center receives the order via EDI, they process it and send back an acknowledgment (EDI 855) through the EDI provider, confirming that they received it.

 

When the order is shipped, the supplier generates an Advanced Shipping Notice (EDI 856) and transmits it back through the EDI provider, ensuring that tracking information reaches the e-commerce system.

An EDI 856 (Advanced Shipping Notice – ASN) provides shipment details, including tracking numbers and expected delivery dates.

Inventory Synchronization (EDI 846 – Inventory Inquiry/Advice)

Retailers can receive real-time inventory updates via EDI 846 from suppliers or fulfillment centers, preventing overselling or stockouts.

 

Shipping & Logistics Integration (EDI 940 & EDI 945)

When a retailer or e-commerce business needs a 3PL or fulfillment center to ship an order, they send an EDI 940. This document acts as a formal shipping request, instructing the warehouse on what to pick, pack, and ship

Useful reading: Mastering X12 EDI 940 Warehouse Shipping Orders

Once the fulfillment center or 3PL ships the order, they generate an EDI 945 to notify the retailer that the shipment has been completed.

The retailer uses the EDI 945 to update their e-commerce system and notify the customer that their order is on the way. If integrated properly, this process can automatically trigger shipping confirmations and tracking updates in platforms like Shopify, Amazon, or ERP systems.

EDI in E-Commerce Fulfilment

Invoicing & Payment Processing (EDI 810 – Invoice & EDI 820 – Payment Order)

In the e-commerce fulfillment process, EDI 810 (Invoice) and EDI 820 (Payment Order) streamline invoicing and payment transactions between businesses, ensuring accuracy and efficiency.

Once an order is shipped, the supplier or fulfillment center generates an EDI 810 invoice and sends it to the retailer or buyer through an EDI provider. This document replaces traditional paper or email invoices.

To complete the transaction, the buyer issues an EDI 820 Payment Order to notify the supplier that payment has been made or scheduled.

Returns & Reverse Logistics (EDI 180 – Return Merchandise Authorization – RMA)

If a customer returns an item, an EDI 180 transaction streamlines return approvals and processing.

Thus, the EDI provider plays a key role in this process by handling the EDI translation, transmission, and security of EDI messages between the seller and their partners. Without an EDI provider, businesses would have to manually send and receive order details, leading to delays and errors.

By automating this communication, EDI ensures that e-commerce fulfillment runs smoothly and efficiently.

Benefits of Using EDI in E-Commerce Fulfillment

  • Faster Order Processing – Automates order flow from storefront to fulfillment.
  • Improved Accuracy – Eliminates manual data entry errors.
  • Cost Savings – Reduces labor costs and processing delays.
  • Better Supply Chain Visibility – Real-time tracking of orders and inventory.
  • Stronger Business Relationships – Standardized communication improves efficiency with partners.

EDI Guide

Who Needs EDI in E-Commerce?

EDI is crucial for several types of e-commerce businesses, especially those that deal with complex supply chains or large-scale operations.

EDI is essential for businesses that need to streamline order management and automate communications.

Retailers working with suppliers or 3PLs often require EDI to handle orders accurately and efficiently. It eliminates manual data entry and ensures fast, error-free order fulfillment.

Enterprises with large-scale supply chains and multiple fulfillment partners benefit from EDI to coordinate orders, shipments, and inventories across various locations. It simplifies complex workflows, saving time and reducing mistakes.

B2B e-commerce companies selling to big retailers like Walmart, Amazon, or Target also rely on EDI to meet the specific requirements of these retailers. EDI ensures that orders, invoices, and payments are processed seamlessly, helping maintain strong business relationships and avoid delays.

In short, any business dealing with high-order volumes, multiple partners, or large retail customers can benefit from EDI to automate and improve their operations.

FAQ: EDI in E-Commerce Fulfillment

1. What is EDI in e-commerce fulfillment?

EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) in e-commerce fulfillment refers to the automated exchange of business documents, such as orders, invoices, and shipping notices, between businesses and their partners. It helps streamline communication with suppliers, fulfillment centers, and third-party logistics providers (3PLs), ensuring smooth and accurate order processing.

2. How does EDI help with order management?

EDI automates the transmission of key order information between e-commerce businesses and their partners. When an order is placed, it’s sent as an electronic purchase order (EDI 850) to suppliers or 3PLs. After fulfillment, shipping updates and invoices are sent back through EDI, ensuring faster and more accurate processing than manual methods.

3. What are the main EDI documents used in e-commerce fulfillment?

The key EDI documents include:

  • EDI 850 (Purchase Order): Sent from the retailer to the supplier to request products.
  • EDI 856 (Advance Ship Notice): Sent from the supplier to notify the retailer about the shipment.
  • EDI 810 (Invoice): Sent by the supplier to the retailer for payment after an order has been shipped.
  • EDI 820 (Payment Order): Sent by the retailer to the supplier to authorize payment.
  • EDI 940 (Warehouse Shipping Order): Sent to a 3PL to request order shipment.
  • EDI 945 (Warehouse Shipping Advice): Sent back to the retailer to confirm shipment details.

4. How does EDI improve efficiency in e-commerce fulfillment?

EDI automates communication and eliminates the need for manual data entry, reducing human errors and speeding up the order-to-shipment process. It allows for real-time updates, better inventory management, and quicker response times, resulting in improved customer satisfaction.

5. Is EDI expensive to implement for small businesses?

While the initial setup can involve some costs, EDI can save money in the long run by reducing manual labor, eliminating errors, and speeding up transactions. Many EDI providers offer scalable solutions that can suit small businesses, and the return on investment can be significant as the business grows.

6. Do customers directly interact with EDI systems?

No, customers do not interact with EDI systems directly. EDI is a tool used between businesses, such as retailers, suppliers, and 3PLs, to exchange order and shipping information. Customers place orders on e-commerce platforms, while EDI automates the behind-the-scenes process to ensure accurate order fulfillment.

Integration price

7. How secure is EDI?

EDI is highly secure, as it uses encrypted channels and standardized protocols to protect sensitive business data. Common security methods include secure FTP (SFTP), AS2, and VPNs, ensuring that data transmission is safe from unauthorized access.

8. Can EDI be integrated with existing e-commerce platforms?

Yes, EDI can be integrated with most e-commerce platforms (such as Shopify, Magento, or WooCommerce) through APIs or EDI connectors. This integration allows businesses to automate the flow of orders, inventory updates, and shipping notices directly from their e-commerce system to suppliers and 3PLs.

9. What are the benefits of using EDI for e-commerce fulfillment?

The main benefits of EDI in e-commerce fulfillment include:

  • Faster processing of orders and shipments
  • Reduced errors due to automation
  • Cost savings from less manual work
  • Better inventory management and real-time updates
  • Improved customer satisfaction with faster, accurate deliveries

10. How do I implement EDI in my e-commerce business?

Implementing EDI in your e-commerce business involves selecting an EDI provider, setting up the necessary connections, and mapping out the key business documents (like purchase orders, invoices, and shipping notices) that need to be exchanged with your suppliers, fulfillment centers, and 3PLs. A reliable EDI provider like EDI2XML can help guide you through the entire process, from integration with your existing e-commerce platform to ongoing support. They can set up secure, automated communication channels, ensuring smooth data exchange across your business operations.

11. How long does it take to set up EDI for my business?

The setup time for EDI depends on the complexity of your system and the number of partners involved. With an experienced EDI provider like EDI2XML, the process can be faster and more efficient. Typically, it can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months, depending on factors like document mapping, integration with your e-commerce platform, and partner readiness. EDI2XML offers tailored solutions to ensure a smooth and quick implementation, minimizing downtime and maximizing operational efficiency.

Conclusion: E-Commerce Fulfillment and EDI

E-commerce fulfillment is a critical component of online business success. By integrating EDI, businesses can automate their fulfillment process enhance operational efficiency, and remain competitive in a fast-paced digital marketplace.

Want to streamline your fulfillment process? Contact us at EDI2XML to learn how our EDI solutions can help.

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E-commerce Automation: How to Streamline Your Online Store for Stress-Free Holiday Season

As the e-commerce landscape continues to evolve, the challenges of managing an online store extend far beyond just the holiday season. Whether you’re dealing with seasonal spikes or maintaining daily operations, the principles of automation can help you navigate these complexities with ease. This article, originally focused on the holiday season, provides insights that are valuable throughout the year, offering strategies to streamline your processes and reduce stress, no matter the time or circumstances.

The holiday season brings joy and celebration, but for online store owners, it often means stress and chaos. Managing the surge in orders, keeping inventory in check, and ensuring timely fulfillment can be overwhelming. As an e-commerce integration provider, we understand all the challenges that online store owners face, especially during peak seasons.

In this article, we’ll explore the challenges online store owners face during high seasons and how automation of key processes, such as inventory management and order fulfillment, can transform your seasonal sales into a smooth and stress-free experience.

E-commerce Challenges

Running an online store comes with a number of challenges, from facing tough competition to protecting customer data. Over the years, we’ve worked with various online stores, including those on platforms like Shopify and BigCommerce. Our experience has taught us that solving key issues often helps tackle other problems. Let’s focus on the crucial points that store owners should keep in mind for effective problem-solving.

E-Commerce Order Overload

As the holiday season approaches, online store owners often find themselves inundated with a sudden influx of orders. Managing these manually can lead to errors, delays, and unhappy customers.

Inventory Nightmares

Our extensive experience in the industry has shown us the nightmare scenarios of mismanaged inventory. Keeping track of inventory levels becomes increasingly complex during high-demand periods. Over-selling or running out of stock can be detrimental to your business – a situation we are well-equipped to help you avoid.

Online Shop Fulfillment Fiascos

Timely and accurate order fulfillment is crucial for successful e-commerce. However, logistics, tracking, and coordination with shipping partners can turn into a logistical puzzle during peak seasons, an issue we are committed to resolving.

How EDI2XML Can Help Improve Your E-Commerce Store

At EDI2XML, we specialize in e-commerce integration services, bridging e-commerce stores with ERP/CRM or EDI systems. Although our expertise originally focused on Shopify, BigCommerce, and Amazon our services extend to any e-commerce store or marketplace facilitating seamless connectivity with leading ERP systems like Microsoft Dynamics, Oracle JD Edwards, Salesforce, SAP Business One/ERP, and more.

Managing an e-commerce store alongside ERP or CRM systems can burden companies with inefficiencies and redundant efforts. Our real-time integration solutions aim to streamline workflows by automatically exchanging critical data such as stock information, orders, and customer details between ERP/CRM systems and e-commerce stores.

E-commerce Integration Solutions

EDI2XML offers robust and fully managed integration solutions that facilitate two-way data exchange, ensuring secure and automatic processing between e-commerce and any business or accounting system and application.

Our integration platform, Magic xpi, eliminates the need for manual data entry by automating critical business processes. It connects your ERP/business systems seamlessly with your e-commerce store, enabling automatic order transmission from your e-commerce platform to your business system. Additionally, it ensures timely updates of order status and inventory information, providing your clients with real-time order updates.

Order Automation

As seasoned e-commerce integration providers, our solutions, including seamless e-commerce integration, automate the order processing pipeline. By leveraging our expertise, your orders are processed with precision, eliminating errors and ensuring prompt customer service.

Inventory Management (Stock Status Synchronization)

Challenges such as over-selling, stockouts, and manual errors can harm your reputation and hinder growth. Stock status synchronization involves maintaining real-time consistency between your online store’s inventory and your ERP or CRM system. This ensures that the information about product availability is accurate and up-to-date across all platforms. With our fully managed e-commerce integration service, you can say goodbye to the hassle of manually updating your inventory.

USEFUL READING: Why You Should Automate Inventory Updates for Your Shopify Store?

Fulfillment Automation

Fulfillment Automation is the key to transforming your order processing from a manual, time-consuming task into a streamlined and efficient operation. This process involves leveraging technology to automate various stages of order fulfillment, from tracking to shipping, reducing errors and enhancing overall customer satisfaction.

USEFUL READING: Why Is It Crucial to Automate the E-Commerce Order Fulfillment Process?

Conclusion: E-commerce Automation

The holiday season should be a time of celebration, not stress for online store owners. By embracing e-commerce automation, you can turn potential problems into opportunities for growth and customer satisfaction.

Whether you’re dealing with order overload, inventory nightmares, or fulfillment fiascos, automation, such as those offered through our services, can make your online store operation smoother and more efficient.

 

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What is The Key Factor That Influences E-Commerce Website’s Revenue?

A well-performing e-commerce website can attract more visitors to your business on the Internet, help you acquire more customers, and improve your reputation.

It does not matter on which eCommerce platform your online store is built; Shopify, Magento, BigCommerce, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, or some others, the main goal is to quickly and fully satisfy the needs of your online customers.

Ecommerce Business: Launch Your Online Store

As many eCommerce experts advise, an online store should be simple and straightforward, but its functionality should fulfill the modern requirements of users.

The actions of buyers in most online stores are the same:

Step-1. The buyer enters the online store and finds the desired product.

Step-2. The buyer adds the desired product to the “basket” for ordering.

Step-3. The buyer enters personal information to place and pay for the order.

Step-4. The buyer confirms all the information and the order is sent to the representatives of the online store.

Now, what happens next?

Have you ever wondered where the order should “go” after the customer submits and places it?

Actions at this stage are taken by the owners of the online store, and they could be very different. This can ultimately have a big impact on the store’s revenue and reputation.

eCommerce order management is a key revenue driver for online store

The success of any online store largely depends on the accurate and efficient organization of the order process.

Fast and accurate order processing is one of the most important competitive advantages in any e-Commerce business. However, it is impossible to speed up order processing without effective management. Order management implies an organization’s control at every stage of the cycle: from the receipt of the online order to the delivery of goods to the consumer.

One simple online order usually entails the following processes:
  • placing an order in the database;
  • verification of information from the buyer;
  • receiving of payment;
  • reconciliation with current stocks in the warehouse;
  • shipping and packaging;
  • transfer of cargo to the carrier;
  • message to the buyer about the current status of the order;
  • delivery;
  • updating stock status.

Manual eCommerce order fulfillment vs an automated process

Online store orders can be processed manually or automated.

When processing an order manually, the operator needs to do the following:
  • Key-in into the internal ERP / CRM or accounting system, data about a new client or find his data in the database.
  • Enter customer data (name, email address, phone #, delivery address, payment method, etc.)
  • Enter order data (product, quantity, etc.)
  • Submit the order for further processing.

This approach does not rule out errors and associated disruptions and delays.

The most effective option for successfully managing online orders is fully integrating the ecommerce online store with your business management systems such as ERP/CRM. In this case, all orders automatically synchronize with your internal management system and can be quickly processed.

Fully managed e-commerce Integration with ERP/CRM system

We, at EDI2XML, offer a fully managed solution to integrate your e-commerce store with any business system such as Microsoft Dynamics, Oracle JD Edwards, Salesforce, ServiceMax, SAP Business One / SAP ERP, or even any homegrown business solutions.

We are experienced in using a state-of-the-art technology that is capable of discovering/reading/writing into ERP/CRM systems, using certified connectors.
e-commerce integration service

Using our advanced integration technologies, we provide our clients with the most necessary solutions for their online business:
  • Two-way exchange “eCommerce-ERP”, “ERP-ecommerce”.
  • Secure two-way data transfer.
  • Automatic exchange processing.
  • A stable, reliable, and proven solution.
  • Flexibility and scalability. The ability to expand the functionality of your online store at any stage.
  • Work with a large array of data.
  • Numerous connections with different eCommerce, Amazon, EDI, ERP, CRM, and other business and accounting systems.

Automated eCommerce order management process flow

We eliminate the need for manual data entry by automating the most important business processes, ensuring data exchange between eCommerce and almost all ERP, CRM, and accounting systems.
  • The EDI2XML integration platform connects your ERP/business systems with your online store.
  • Orders placed on your online store are sent automatically to your business system.
  • As you fulfill online orders, the integration platform extracts shipment data from your business system and sends it directly to your ecommerce store thus your clients always have the latest order status.
  • Automatically update inventory data in your online store as frequently as you wish.

Benefits of Integrated e-commerce and ERP

Integration is the best solution for optimizing all stages of order processing. It gives companies many opportunities:
  • You will be able to receive and process orders in one interface.
  • Integration allows you to effectively manage orders in a single structured system from various sales channels (such as your own online store, Amazon account, Facebook marketplace).
  • data synchronization ensures high speed of order processing and continuity of processes.
  • avoid human errors associated with manual order processing.
  • improve customer service and increase profits.

Integration and automation of processes are necessary for online stores with large sales volumes. Additionally, it gets much more necessary, when a company is selling via the multi-channel and omnichannel environment, where the same product is sold online through different channels, and in-store.

An excellent end-to-end solution is the Magic xpi integration platform, which will help automate the process and help speed up order processing.

The popularity of online shopping is skyrocketing like never

As many surveys have shown, more customers are shopping online now than before the pandemic, and this trend continues despite physical stores started re-opening. Thus, this fact is driving the need for digital transformation.

Over the years, we have been helping our clients build successful online businesses. We have extensive and strong experience in data synchronization between eCommerce and ERP/RCM systems as well as automation of processes in the online store built on Shopify, BigCommerce, Magento, and many others.

Contact us for a free consultation and we will help you choose the most suitable integration solution for your e-commerce business.

The following is a list of additional helpful information:

Must-Have Integration between E-Commerce and Business Systems

9 Major E-Commerce Trends That Will Help Grow Your Online Business

The main reasons why you need Microsoft Dynamics Integration with your Business Systems

Shopify and Microsoft Dynamics Nav Integration: Things you should know

Free Shopify Integration Whitepaper

E-commerce integration: How to integrate Shopify, BigCommerce, Magento, with ERP/CRM

What is eCommerce Integration?

E-commerce Integration is the action of synchronizing operations of an e-commerce website (online store) with an ERP / CRM or other business systems of a company.

Thus, the goal of e-commerce integration with Salesforce, JDE, SAP, or any other ERP / CRM is to create a unified information space, which is basically within the ERP/CRM in place at the company.

This means that both the ERP and the online store must contain consistent information (that is, the data of one system must not conflict with the data of another).

Therefore, the very first step in any integration project, is to define what data objects should be synchronized and what will remain outside the integration.

Best eCommerce Platforms to Build Your Store

It is not that difficult to start an online business. First, you need to select an e-commerce platform on which you will build an e-commerce website.

There are many e-commerce platforms to choose from, but whether you need an enterprise-level solution or a simple e-commerce website, here are the most popular e-commerce platforms that can meet all your needs:

If you want to learn more about eCommerce platform, read our popular article: E-commerce Integration with business systems – outperform the competition

ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) is software for complete and efficient enterprise management.

According to research, companies from the Fortune 1000 and Global 2000 such as Walmart, Exxon Mobil, McKesson, General Motors, Costco Wholesale use SAP S/4 HANA. It is an ERP solution for large enterprises.


SAP S/4HANA is an ERP system that combines the functionality of on-premises software with cloud computing. It is often integrated with e-commerce platforms such as Magento to help companies run their online business more efficiently and profitably.

It should be noted that other SAP ERP solutions are no less popular, for example, SAP Business One designed for small and medium-sized enterprises.

The other popular ERP systems and leading vendors are:

  • Oracle (Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne, Oracle NetSuite ERP)
  • Microsoft (Dynamics NAV, Dynamics AX, Dynamics 365)
  • Sage Group (Sage X3, Sage 300)

Recognize warning signals: How urgent it is to integrate eCommerce with ERP?

The Best CRM Systems for Business

Customer relationship management (CRM) is software for managing interactions with customers and prospects.

As best practices show, CRM (Customer Relationship Management) systems are always among the key IT systems of companies.

The most popular CRM systems are:

As for the integration of e-commerce and business systems, today the most popular in terms of the number of requests is Salesforce Shopify integration. Of course, this is not surprising given the incredible popularity and availability of these two solutions for medium-sized businesses.

Integrating CRM with business software using Magic xpi

What Data Should Be Integrated With ERP/CRM?

To get the most out of e-commerce integration with ERP or CRM, you need to sync all important data.

Some of the information in your ERP/CRM and the online store is the same, however, they could be in different formats and structure in each system.

Typically, when integrating an e-commerce store with a business system, work is carried out with the following data:

– Product information (Item ID, description, dimensions (weight, length, height…))  
– Inventory and price information
– Customer Information and history Sales Order Information

Thus, typically, through e-commerce integration companies seek to solve the following issues:

Synchronization of Stock Status

Typically this is one-way synchronization from CRM system (i.e. Salesforce) to e-commerce.

Below is our typical synchronization flow for the “stock status”.

  • The Integration process starts runs every 6 hours.
  • The integration flow connects to the CRM/ERP instance to read “stock status”.
  • CRM/ERP should return the list of items, including their Stock available to sell.
  • Once the data is extracted from CRM/ERP, it must be filtered, and the flow will update the necessary items in e-commerce.

Synchronization of Sales Orders

This is one-way synchronization from e-commerce to the business system (ERP/CRM)

Here are the steps for the Sales Orders synchronization flow:

  • The integration process runs every 15 minutes.
  • The integration process connects to the e-commerce instance to read and retrieve the list of orders created since the last call and not yet migrated to CRM / ERP.
  • It brings those orders with their appropriate details
  • Our flow converts these orders into a format ready for transfer to the CRM / ERP system.
  • Orders will be submitted to the CRM/ERP system.
  • An email will be triggered for a mailing list to advise about a new order(s) sent to the CRM/ERP.

Synchronization of Order Fulfillment

One way synchronization from ERP/CRM systems to e-commerce

Here are the steps of this flow:

  • Upon fulfilling the order and shipping the order in CRM/ERP, the status of the order will change.
  • Our integration process runs every 15 minutes.
  • When it wakes up, it will do the following:

1. Extract the list of Orders that are originating from CRM/ERP that are not yet fulfilled

2. For each not fulfilled Order, it will check its status in CRM/ERP

3. If the order status in CRM/ERP is now fulfilled, it will extract the fulfillment necessary information and it will update the e-commerce instance.

4. It will also send an email to a mailing list, to advise about the fulfillment of the order in question.

Looking For the Best E-commerce Integration Solution?

If you need to integrate your online store, contact us, and get a free consultation with our integration expert.

Using advanced integration solutions and having more than 21 years of experience in the field of system integrations, we will quickly and reliably carry out an integration project of any complexity.

Synchronizing Accounts in Salesforce with Customers in NetSuite using Magic xpi

 

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The following is a list of additional helpful information:

Must-Have Integration between E-Commerce and Business Systems

9 Major E-Commerce Trends That Will Help Grow Your Online Business

The main reasons why you need Microsoft Dynamics Integration with your Business Systems

Shopify and Microsoft Dynamics Nav Integration: Things you should know

Free Shopify Integration Whitepaper

E-commerce Integration with business systems – outperform the competition

The purpose of this article is to highlight the major points of e-commerce integration with business software systems such as ERP or CRM and others.

Let us start with a high-level definition of important terminologies.

What is an e-commerce platform?

An e-commerce platform is software platform, that enables companies to launch, host, and manage their online eCommerce store, normally in a “self-service” model.

According to various sources, there are more than 300 different e-commerce platforms in the marketplace. They all offer different features and terms of use but allow merchants to create an online store to sell their products.

In other words, thanks to e-commerce platforms, companies and individuals can create or expand their e-commerce business without coding and web design skills; most importantly, without the need of a large budget to implement such projects.

Online shopping is one of the most popular online activities

The incredible number of e-commerce platforms, as well as the huge number of online stores opening every day, are driven by the growing interest of consumers in online shopping.

Moreover, in connection with the Covid-19 pandemic, the popularity of online shopping in the grocery segment and among local businesses has also grown.

According to Statista, online shopping is one of the most popular online activities worldwide, thus a global number of digital buyers is growing rapidly. Over 2.14 billion people worldwide are expected to buy goods and services online, up from 1.66 billion global digital buyers in 2016.

Why is e-commerce important in 2021?

Just some 5-8 years ago, it was common for a small business to work offline only. The companies did not have their e-commerce sites and did not run online sales. It seemed to them that this was not necessary to invest time and effort in the e-commerce business.

Times have changed and companies began to develop more and more online businesses. However, the turning point came in early 2020, caused by the global Covid-19 pandemic and massive lockdowns. Due to restrictions, many sellers, especially those who did not expand their e-commerce business, were on the verge of collapse. Continue sales despite the closure of physical stores has become vital even for a local business.

Now the company may no longer have an offline store or even not have an office with employees. Everything goes online. Workers around the world had to switch to a “work from home model” (WFH)

Huge sales happen through online stores or marketplaces like Amazon.

However, creating your own online store does not guarantee success yet. The next challenge is customer satisfaction.

According to HubSpot 80% of respondents said they had stopped doing business with a company because of poor customer experience.

Thus, customer satisfaction depends on how you are going to handle online sales in the future. How quickly, efficiently, and accurately you can process orders. How fast and correctly you will manage inventory, etc. To do this you need to synchronize your e-commerce website with your internal business system (ERP/CRM or accounting)

In other words, the success of online sales largely depends on the level of your ecommerce integration with other business systems of the company.

Leading e-commerce platforms in 2020

Despite the fact that there are huge varieties of e-commerce platforms, there are certainly unchanging leaders among them.

In the top of e-commerce platforms are:

If you want to learn more about e-commerce platforms, check out this article: The Top 9 Absolute Best Ecommerce Platforms for 2021

Why you need e-commerce Integration?

If the online store operates independently, for example without connecting the company’s ERP system, employees have to manually upload product data; enter customer delivery addresses, tracking codes, etc. Each order placed through the online shop must be manually transferred to the business systems. The manual data entry always carries a high risk of human error. Moreover, it is ineffective and leads to delays in fulfilling. Besides, if the process is completely dependent on the staff, order processing cannot be processed on weekends.

Thus, achieving high efficiency and profitability of a company business, as well as customer satisfaction, is almost impossible.

To increase the efficiency of its online store, a company needs to integrate its back-end systems with its e-commerce platform. In this case, all key information such as customer data, delivery information, orders, and warehouse stock levels will be automatically synchronized and do not require human intervention.

Most common third-party eCommerce Integration

Systems listed below are commonly integrated with e-commerce platforms for product master data, customer records, financial transaction, and supplier management and so on:

  • ERP (Enterprise resource planning)
  • CRM (Customer Relationship Management)
  • PLM (Product Lifecycle Management)
  • SCM (Supply chain management)

Typical Integration Tasks

– Automate online orders, improve efficiency, and meet delivery times.

– Improved data accuracy

– Stop using employees to enter data and perform repetitive tasks

– Perform integration without internal IT specialists.

Integration platform

It is very important to choose an integration solution that connects your e-commerce online store with back-end systems, as well as for real-time integration and a robust scalable integration platform.

We provide a fully managed and cost-effective integration solution to integrate your e-commerce store seamlessly and quickly with all leading business systems such as:
e-commerce ERP integration

With Magic xpi integration platform, we integrate quickly and seamlessly using a no-code visual drag and drop approach as well as large numbers of certified connectors.

Integrate easily, quickly, and efficiently with the best experts and solutions

At any stage of the development of your online store, we can quickly and efficiently set up data exchange with your business system. Bi-directional data exchange such as
  • customer information
  • sales orders
  • order status
  • stock information and so on.

To find out more about synchronizing with an online store, contact us.

Call (450) 681-3009 or use the form below to contact our integration specialist!

Free Consultation

SAP Business One Integration

What is SAP Business One (SAP B1)?

SAP Business One is an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software, specifically designed for small and medium businesses; it is developed by SAP SE (Germany). SAP Business One, is an effective tool for small business management.

SAP Business One modules

SAP Business One has 15 business modules that are enough to solve most of the business problems, regardless of the industry of the organization. Each SAP B1 module can independently perform a specific business task. But at the same time, different modules can be linked together.
  • Administration
  • Business Partners
  • Banking
  • CRM
  • Inventory
  • Financials
  • Opportunities
  • Sales – A/R
  • Service
  • Purchasing – A/P
  • Production
  • Project Management
  • Resources
  • Material Requirements Planning (MRP)
  • Human Resources

SAP Business One Architecture

SAP Business One has a Client-server model architecture and can run on-premises or in the cloud.

There are various options for running SAP Business One for a business:

– SAP Business One on a SQL Server database.

– SAP Business One on Analytics in SAP HANA (if you need more analytical capabilities).

– SAP Business One Cloud – SAP’s cloud-based platform for SAP Business One.

Why SMEs need SAP Business One Integration?

Integration can help reduce errors and improve overall efficiency.

SAP Business One integration is essential to maximize the performance of every business system in an enterprise, including e-commerce account(s) on Amazon, Shopify, or BigCommerce.

When SAP B1 and other business systems or e-commerce in a company operate separately, they become isolated information systems. Information in different systems often overlaps, and there is a large amount of duplicate data that must be manually updated to ensure consistency across all systems.

As a result, enterprises are faced with the need to manually enter or transfer data, where the risk of human error is very high. All this slows down working processes and increases operating costs.

Employees who need to work in multiple unconnected business systems within an enterprise will have an increased level of frustration and reduced efficiency as they must switch between different systems.

Suggested Readings:  Efficient Salesforce and SAP Integration with Magic xpi Integration Platform

Simple, streamlined SAP B1 integration – is it possible?

The short answer is YES, it is very possible with the Integration platform Magic xpi.

SAP Business One connector of Magic xpi, the integration platform, allows performing a wide range of integrations between your SAP Business One application and other business systems.

Critical integration projects can be completed quickly and easily with Magic xpi due to built-in connectors and a no-code, drag-and-drop approach.

Integrate and automate processes with Magic xpi to benefit from the ease of maintenance and a quick return on investment.

Integrating SAP B1 with other business systems

Let’s look at a few examples of how SAP B1 can be integrated with various business systems using Magic xpi integration platform.

1. E-commerce integration with SAP Business One

Timely and error-free transfer of information to and from many e-commerce platforms such as Shopify, Amazon, BigCommerce, Magento, eBay, etc.

2. FedEx / DHL/ UPS SAP Business One Integration

Courier Integration allows your company accurate transfer of order information to your courier(s).

3. Procurement Management with SAP Business One

With SAP Business One supplier Integration, you can perform error-free import and maintenance of up-to-date supplier data into SAP Business One.

4. Inter-Company Trading

Efficiency and accuracy improvements by automating processes between companies’ business systems.

5. Enterprise Mobility

Fast and reliable mobilization of SAP data and processes for use in Order Entry, Proof-of-Delivery, Field Service apps, and more.

Have a question about integration? Book a FREE one-on-one consultation with our integration expert.

The Benefits of SAP Business One Integration

The benefits of integrating SAP with various business systems are enormous and affect almost every function in an enterprise.

Increased productivity

Integration makes employees more efficient because the technological cycle becomes shorter and employees spend less time switching between different systems or communication. In addition, they are freed from non-productive tasks and can concentrate on real tasks.

Reduced costs

Savings by significantly reducing errors in all processes. Including time to correct incorrectly entered data. There is no need to involve employees to transfer information between different systems.

Increased Revenue

More opportunities to close deals, because information about buyer and the stock is accurately available at any time. Direct access to a complete customer profile, purchase history, and new product shipments increases the opportunity for additional sales.

Increase in customer satisfaction

As the ordering cycle gets shorter and faster, the quality of customer service improves.

Customers receive quick and accurate responses to their inquiries so they are more satisfied with the service. Thus, the business will benefit from increased customer loyalty, repeat purchases.

Fully Managed Shopify Integration with EDI2XML

Ecommerce (or online retail) has been a growing trend over the last few years. Due to this, online retailers are always on the lookout for efficient processes in order to better serve today’s well-connected, tech-savvy and wise online consumer. Successful brands are those that are able to find a balance between affordable prices, fast & low-cost shipping, and availability of products.

Download our Shopify Whitepaper to learn more about:
– Shopify & the e-commerce trend
– When you should integrate your Shopify store with EDI
– Integration between Shopify and an internal software management system (like ERP, CRM…)

Interested in fully managed Shopify Integration service?  Take the next step to request our Shopify Integration pricing plans

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– 9 Major E-Commerce Trends That Will Help Grow Your Online Business

– PRICING PACKAGES: Shopify Integration

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– Best Practices for Improving E-Commerce Supply Chain Management

Best Practices for Improving E-Commerce Supply Chain Management

This post was updated to reflect current trends and information.


Currently, many businesses are operating their own eCommerce stores on Shopify or Amazon to sell their products and services over the Internet to clients and consumers, all over the world. This is a great way to increase sales and brand awareness.

United States: top 10 online stores

The e-commerce market in the United States is constantly evolving. According to Statista’s forecasts, in the coming years, retail sales of B2C e-commerce in the US will grow rapidly: from 315.6 billion US dollars in 2018 to more than 565.7 billion US dollars in 2023. The most popular online store in the United States is, of course, Amazon.com, the second most popular is Walmart.com
United States: top 10 online stores

As you can see in the graph above, at the top of the e-commerce rating are the 2 largest retailers:

Amazon.com, Inc. is a global e-commerce corporation that provides online retail, consumer electronics, digital content and other services such as daily deals and local groceries. The greatest part of the company’s revenue is generated from third-party seller revenues, subscription services, and AWS activities. Due to quality standards and global reach, Amazon is considered one of the most valuable brands in the world.

Walmart, Inc. is one of the biggest retail chains offering low prices and immensely varied products, giving Walmart a competitive edge.

Challenge of efficient e-commerce transaction

Whatever you choose, open your own online store on one of the most popular e-commerce platforms such as Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Magento or sell on Amazon, or deal with Walmart, Home Depot, Target, etc. it is very beneficial for companies of all size and various industries to expand their online business.

However, many executives still do not consider a full integration between there online store, and their business management system (ERP, CRM), as a must and important option to adopt.

Efficient supply chain management and prompt exchange of the necessary information between trading partners is the key to the success of your electronic business and the high satisfaction of your customers.

Download our whitepaper for more information about Shopify integration.

The main problems that online store owners may encounter when they omit a full integration between their store and their ERP are as follows:
  • They must hire more staff to manage their supply chain, in order to respond to growing customer demands.
  • It is difficult to balance incoming demand and production (in case the company is a manufacturer)
  • Problematic transfer of inquiries and information between several business partners involved in the supply chain channel.

The challenge with supply chain management is to synchronize the supply chain with consumer demand and measure the productivity and success rate. Therefore, below are 3 useful tips to overcome these challenges:

Integrated ERP Solutions

Having one platform to manage and run a business can make all the difference. A fully integrated software system will be able to efficiently manage an eCommerce and retail business and eliminate the need to key-in information from the online store to the management system manually.

Useful reading: Must-Have Integration between E-Commerce and Business Systems

EDI Integration

As mentioned previously, the ability to balance product demands from an eCommerce store and supply chain demands is very important. Therefore, to do this would be to empower the eCommerce platform with EDI capabilities, to exchange data in real-time with suppliers and partners.

Useful reading: The most used EDI messages in the supply chain management

Modern Business Solutions

A scalable integrated IT solution, such as the one suggested by EDI2XML, is needed to be able to electronically exchange information by parsing data of different formats, like X12/EDIFACT, XML, CSV or Json, and translate EDI from one format to another. On top of that, the solution should be able to easily integrate with different systems and communicate with different partners using modern and secured communication protocols such as AS2, sFTP or API (Web services).

Improve your eCommerce management and supply chain by implementing and integrating with the best tools and solutions.
Free EDI Consultation

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Must-Have Integration between E-Commerce and Business Systems


This post was updated to reflect current trends and information.

Must-Have Integration between E-Commerce and Business Systems

Prior to addressing the e-commerce integration with different business systems and applications, let me start by asking the obvious question, and try to answer: “What is integration?“

In a short sentence, “Integration” is the process of orchestrating processes and synchronizing data between two or more different business software systems, without human intervention.
The integration between online eCommerce store and one or more systems, allows a company to overcome important challenges such as:

– Maintaining up-to-date product information on the e-commerce store (availability, price, specifications)

– Connecting online payment services (payment on the website via bank cards, Authorize.Net, PayPal, Google Checkout, Amazon Payments, etc.);

– Using various support services (statistics services, online consultants, and many others) and many more.

Does Your Business Need Systems Integration?

Do you know how to determine whether your business needs to automate and orchestrate flows and data? Here are some of the most common reasons that indicate the need to integrate your online store with your CRM:
  • Your Online Store receives more than 150 orders per month. With this volume, manual data entry and processing takes a lot of time and resources, thus becoming ineffective.
  • Your e-commerce store needs to improve the customer experience. Constantly, you have problems with orders, due to incorrect inventory status.
  • You have an issue with getting the shipment tracking number from your business system, into your eCommerce store, immediately after the product is shipped.
  • Your online store accumulates orders that are waiting to be processed. which directly affects your delivery timeline.
  • You have no real-time inventory update, such as inventory available to sell. Of course, here you are risking to under sell your goods.

Cost-Effective Integrating Solution

In today’s age and time, there are sophisticated technologies to bridge any system to any system and build an efficient integration. There is a lot of integration approaches. However, for entrepreneurs and large corporations alike, the important aspects they look at when planning integration projects are the budget and the timeline to implement the integration project while having a powerful technology capable of delivering.
Integrating your e-commerce store with other business systems, allows your company to benefit from:

– An enhanced customer service experience, with accurate and quicker handling of orders.

– An outstanding quality of information, free of human errors.

– An Increased efficiency, accuracy and timeliness.

Regardless of which e-commerce platform your company adopted, be it Shopify, Magento, Volusion, BigCommerce, OpenCard, eBay or Amazon, etc. your online store will be always in sync with your ERP/CRM or any home-grown system your company might have adopted.

If you what to find out all about selecting an Integration platform, take a look at our article: How to Choose the Right Integration Platform? It will help you figure out the issue and make the right choice! 

The Most Common Integrations to E-commerce

Warehouse Management System

One of the most popular integration is to build an integration between an eCommerce store and a company’s Warehouse Management System (WMS).
A warehouse management system is a software that automates a company’s warehouse operations. This operation may include inventory management, picking processes, and auditing, among other processes.
There are different types of Warehouse Management System:

• Standalone systems – usually deployed on-premise
• Cloud-based systems – SaaS solutions
• ERP modules –as a component of enterprise resource planning.

The demand to integrate e-commerce stores with Inventory Management Systems is quite high that is why, an integration platform such as Magic xpi, has more than 100 pre-built connectors and adapters for quick and easy integration. This makes integrators’ life much easier; integration time is greatly reduced and saves customer’s money.
No matter what warehouse management system your company adopted, or plan to adopt, SAP EWM, Oracle WMC, NetSuite ERP, NetSuite Warehouse, Zebra Warehouse, WIMS 2.0, etc. it’s always worth remembering that integration is best done with proven experts and technologies.

If you want to know more about Warehouse Management System (Types,  Features, and benefits of WMS)  read the article here

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Another not less popular is the integration of an e-commerce store with the company’s CRM. If your online store has been successfully operating for a long time and sales are growing, it is likely that you are thinking about using a CRM system (Customer Relationship Management). Maybe you already use it and now it’s time to integrate your CRM and your e-commerce store.

But how to maintain the relevance of information in CRM and organize the work of employees in such a way that they are not torn between the work in the administrative panel of the e-commerce site, the mailbox, and the CRM system? In case of integration of your CRM with the online store, orders and other relevant information will appear directly into the system. According to financesonline.com, the best CRM systems are:
  • Salesforce CRM
  • Hubspot CRM
  • Freshsales
  • Pipedrive
  • Insightly
  • Zoho CRM

DropShipping

Currently, there are a lot of online shops who offer the Drop-ship concept to their suppliers. “Drop-ship” is a popular fulfillment method where an online store (eCommerce) doesn’t keep stock. The process is that the online store sends information about customers’ orders to the manufacturer and then, the manufacturer ships the goods directly to the consumer. This method eliminates the need for the merchant to handle the goods. In this business model integration of the company’s internal systems with the drop-ship eCommerce store, becomes very critical for a successful dropship experience.

For more information about Dropshipping integration read our blog: 4 Challenges of EDI and Drop-Ship in eCommerce

When Discussing third-party integration options, you should not forget about the delivery service. Certainly, one of the key factors influencing clients ‘ decisions about purchasing is delivery.
An integration platform like Magic xpi can also easily connect your online store to the most Populaire delivery services such as DHL, FedEx, or UPS.

Payment systems

Another popular integration is the integration with payment systems. By payment systems, we understand service providers that allow you to process financial transactions, and the provider would charge a percentage of the commission to cover his fees. Many payment systems have already developed API (application programming interface) of their payment gateways, for integration purposes.
If you are wondering what kind of system to connect, here are some of the most popular Payment system:

  • Paypal
  • Amazon Pay
  • Google Pay
  • American Express
  • Apple Pay
  • Stripe
  • Square
  • Visa Checkout
  • Masterpass
  • 2Checkout (now Verifone)

Everything you Need to Know about Online Payment Processing: Online Payment Processing Guide

Leave your e-commerce integration to the experts

E-commerce Integration needs a professional approach. It takes time, resources and skills, and in case of an error, the company may incur significant losses.
Therefore, if you have any questions or need integration with any service, feel free to contact us. We have a great experience with integration between e-commerce and different systems.
We will be more than happy to help and assist!
Shopify integration price list

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