As e-commerce businesses continue to expand, scaling marketing strategies becomes both a challenge and an opportunity. To stay competitive, e-commerce companies need to refine their marketing efforts, deliver seamless customer experiences, and optimise their operations. One tool that’s proving invaluable in this process is Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems.
While ERP systems are traditionally associated with managing operations such as inventory, finance, and human resources, they also play a crucial role in scaling and enhancing marketing strategies. By integrating an ERP system into your e-commerce business, you can streamline operations, gain actionable insights, and automate key marketing processes, all of which contribute to more effective and efficient marketing campaigns.
Let’s dive deeper into how ERP systems can transform and scale e-commerce marketing strategies.
Streamlining Data Management for Better Decision Making
One of the biggest hurdles that growing e-commerce businesses face is managing large volumes of data. As your business expands, so does the amount of data you have to track. Customer data, sales figures, inventory levels, and marketing metrics can become overwhelming, especially when they are stored in multiple systems.
ERP systems centralise this data, making it easily accessible from a single platform. This unified view of your business’s operations means that marketing teams have access to up-to-date information without having to dig through spreadsheets or multiple databases. This improves efficiency and allows teams to focus on the analysis rather than data gathering.
For marketing teams, this centralisation offers immediate benefits. With real-time access to customer data, they can make better, faster decisions based on actual trends and behaviours. For example, marketing campaigns can be adjusted on the fly, responding to changes in consumer buying patterns, seasonality, or inventory levels. This reduces the risk of running outdated or irrelevant marketing campaigns, allowing businesses to stay agile and competitive.
Enhancing Customer Experience with Personalised Marketing
Customer experience is one of the most critical factors in driving sales and fostering loyalty in today’s competitive e-commerce landscape. An ERP system helps enhance the customer experience by offering a 360-degree view of each customer, including their purchase history, preferences, and interactions with your business.
This holistic view allows marketing teams to send personalised communications that are more relevant to individual customers. Whether it’s through personalised email marketing, product recommendations, or retargeting ads, an ERP system enables marketers to tailor their messages based on the unique behaviours and needs of each customer.
Personalisation extends beyond communication. With accurate customer data, e-commerce businesses can also optimise their website and shopping experience. For example, personalised product recommendations can be displayed based on previous purchases, or special discounts can be offered for birthdays or anniversaries. These types of personal touches not only improve the customer experience but also increase the chances of repeat purchases, which is essential for long-term growth.
Real-World Example:
A customer who frequently purchases home décor items can receive targeted emails showcasing new products in their category. Furthermore, if the system detects that a particular customer has abandoned their shopping cart, the ERP can trigger a follow-up email with a discount or incentive to complete the purchase.
Streamlining Inventory and Demand Forecasting
Effective inventory management is crucial for scaling an e-commerce business. Too much stock ties up capital, while too little can result in missed sales opportunities and frustrated customers. ERP systems provide real-time visibility into inventory levels, helping businesses make better decisions when it comes to stock management.
ERP systems not only help businesses track current inventory but also forecast future demand. By analysing historical data, sales trends, and seasonality, ERP systems can generate more accurate demand predictions. This enables businesses to adjust their inventory levels accordingly, ensuring they have the right products available at the right time.
For marketing teams, inventory insights are invaluable. When products are running low, they can adjust their promotional strategies to focus on products that are still in stock. On the flip side, if a product is gaining traction, the marketing team can capitalise on the momentum and increase marketing spend on that product to maximise sales.
Automating Marketing Campaigns for Efficiency
As e-commerce businesses scale, the complexity of managing marketing campaigns increases. Whether it’s handling paid search ads, social media campaigns, email marketing, or content creation, it can quickly become overwhelming for marketing teams to manage everything manually. This is where automation comes in.
Many ERP systems include marketing automation tools that streamline campaign management. With automation, businesses can schedule and trigger campaigns based on customer actions or predefined conditions. For example, automated email sequences can be set up to engage customers who have abandoned their shopping carts or those who have recently made a purchase, offering them special deals or related products.
Automation also ensures that marketing efforts are consistent across channels. Whether you’re running a paid search campaign or posting on social media, automated tools help ensure that the messaging is aligned and that the right audience is being targeted at the right time. This can significantly reduce manual workload, increase marketing efficiency, and improve customer engagement.
Real-World Example:
An e-commerce business selling beauty products can set up an automated email campaign that triggers when a customer abandons their shopping cart. The email can include a personalised message along with an incentive, like a discount, to encourage them to complete the purchase. These automated follow-up emails save time and improve conversion rates.
Improving Reporting and Analytics for Data-Driven Marketing
To scale marketing efforts successfully, businesses need to track and measure their performance. ERP systems offer detailed reporting and analytics capabilities that help marketing teams monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) and identify areas for improvement.
Real-time analytics allow businesses to track everything from sales data to customer acquisition costs, conversion rates, and return on investment (ROI). With this data, marketing teams can quickly identify which campaigns are working and which need adjustment. For example, if a paid search campaign is underperforming, the marketing team can dig into the ERP system’s analytics to identify the root cause and make necessary changes.
Furthermore, ERP systems allow for more accurate budgeting and forecasting. With data-driven insights into marketing performance, businesses can allocate their budgets more effectively, focusing on the channels and campaigns that deliver the highest ROI. This helps ensure that marketing spend is being used efficiently and that resources are allocated to where they’ll have the most impact.
Real-World Example:
An online retailer might run multiple marketing campaigns, such as paid search ads, email promotions, and social media ads. Using ERP-generated reports, they can track which campaign brings in the most sales, allowing them to reallocate marketing funds to the highest-performing channels.
Supporting Multi-Channel Marketing
As e-commerce businesses expand, many choose to sell on multiple platforms, such as their website, Amazon, eBay, and even social media. Managing marketing efforts across all of these channels can be challenging, but an ERP system helps by centralising product information, stock levels, and pricing.
When product information, inventory, and pricing are synced across all platforms, businesses can ensure that their messaging is consistent. For example, if a special promotion is running on the company’s website, the same promotion can be applied to listings on Amazon and eBay, ensuring a seamless customer experience across all touchpoints.
An ERP system also allows marketing teams to track the performance of each channel individually. This insight helps businesses determine where to invest their marketing budget and identify which platforms are driving the most traffic and sales.
Real-World Example:
A company selling clothing might run a promotion offering a discount on jackets. By using an ERP system, the company can ensure the same promotion runs across their website, eBay store, and Amazon listings. In addition, the marketing team can track performance metrics from each platform to identify which one delivers the best return on investment.
Enhancing Collaboration Across Teams
As e-commerce businesses grow, communication and collaboration between departments become increasingly important. Marketing, sales, and operations teams must work closely together to align their efforts. An ERP system improves cross-departmental collaboration by providing a centralised hub where all relevant data is accessible by everyone.
This collaboration ensures that marketing teams have the most up-to-date information when launching campaigns. For example, if there’s a new product launch, marketing can easily access inventory levels and sales forecasts to determine how much focus to put on promoting that product.
Real-World Example:
When a new product line is being introduced, marketing, sales, and operations teams can use the ERP system to track product availability, expected sales, and customer demand, ensuring a coordinated launch strategy across all departments.
Best ERP Systems For E-commerce Businesses
1. Oracle NetSuite
Oracle NetSuite is a leading cloud-based ERP system that offers a comprehensive solution for e-commerce businesses . Its SuiteCommerce platform integrates e-commerce functionality with ERP features, giving businesses a unified system to manage online stores, track inventory, and gather customer data. SuiteCommerce provides tools for personalising product recommendations, optimising SEO, and managing promotions, all of which are essential for running targeted marketing campaigns. In terms of pricing, NetSuite is on the upper level, so is well suited for medium to large size companies.
2. Shopify Plus
Shopify Plus is an enterprise-level e-commerce platform designed for high-growth businesses. It offers advanced features such as unlimited staff accounts, higher API limits, and dedicated support. Shopify Plus integrates with various marketing tools, enabling businesses to create personalised marketing campaigns and track performance effectively.
Its user-friendly interface and scalability make it a popular choice for e-commerce businesses aiming to expand their marketing efforts. Shopify plus starts at $2,300 per month, and varies depending on business requirements.
3. BigCommerce
BigCommerce is a powerful SaaS platform for designing and managing multiple e-commerce websites. It centralises product information and helps distribute catalogs across marketplaces, social media, and business websites. Users can manage inventory, orders, and shipping from any device and set up unique automation to increase productivity and avoid errors.
BigCommerce's open and headless architecture allows for customisation and integration, making it a flexible choice for businesses looking to scale their marketing strategies. BigCommerce starts from $39 per month so it is a great option for small businesses.
Conclusion
An ERP system is not just for managing day-to-day operations; it’s a powerful tool for scaling marketing strategies in e-commerce businesses. For e-commerce businesses looking to scale and stay competitive, integrating an ERP system is a smart move that will drive growth, improve efficiency, and deliver better marketing results.
