E-Commerce Integration
Integrate your online store with your accounting software, for an automated business flow
E-Commerce Integration
You need to manage your stock levels and capture sales from your online store into your accounting system - why not automate it?
Consolidating your business operations into one, manageable platform is essential to growing your business without scaling resources. Your accounting forms the base of all your financial, stock and reporting controls. Integrating your business data with an eCommerce store means your customers have an up-to-date view of stock and pricing levels, reducing “we don’t have this, but you may like to try that”, or “this was last month’s prices, we’ve updated this recently so let me send you a new quote”.
Preferred Solutions have partnered with the best, and trusted, e-commerce integration suppliers in South Africa to ensure you can get access to a tried-and-tested solution to integrate your online shop with you accounting software or ERP system.
How Does E-commerce Integration Work?
While the entire e-commerce integration process can become a daunting list of tasks and information, Preferred Solutions have refined the process and has made it as simple as possible for the customer. In layman’s terms, the e-commerce integration process entails the following:
- You have an accounting or ERP system in which your products are already loaded and have unique product codes (SKU codes). In your accounting or ERP system, the amount of stock per product is set up, as your stock levels will indicate availability on your online store once connected.
- You have your online store set up with your products (images, descriptions etc) and have the same product codes (SKU codes) matching with what was set up with your accounting system / ERP.
- Once the accounting software and online store are both ready, we use a specialised API connection to connect your accounting software and online store, to feed information to each other. This include the capturing of sales from the online store into the accounting system, the updating of stock levels between the accounting system and the online store, capturing sales to specific client accounts (if you need this functionality), and capturing information that need to be sent to your warehouse to prepare the order for the client.
- The aim is to completely automate the process and eliminate manual process that can take time – and cause delays in the purchase process for your clients. The faster and more fluent the purchase process, the bigger the chance of a successful sale.
Preferred Solutions can integrate your online store with the following accounting / ERP Software: Sage Business Cloud Accounting (previously known as Sage One), Sage 50cloud Pastel Xpress, Sage 50cloud Pastel Partner, Sage 200 Evolution, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
What information gets synchronised between the accounting / ERP software and the online store?
- Orders – Store orders get pushed back to an account into the accounting/ERP system, with all line-items, price & quantity with customer details
- Pricing – Price levels update with the sync. Additional pricelists update (for wholesale pricing) too
- Stock levels – Stock levels update to be current (you may choose to show/ignore stock levels)
- Product codes – Product SKU codes match the description and pricing between the accounting / ERP software and online store
- Customer-accounts – Accounts created on your online store can automatically be created in your accounting software or ERP, and are available to log in to the store for unique pricing (bulk discounts, B2B pricing etc)
5 Key Business Problems Solved by E-Commerce Integration
1. Out-of-stock items being ordered
Updated stock levels on your website indicate to customers what’s available. Refunding/changing orders for out-of-stock items become a thing of the past.
2. Manual entering of sales-orders
Double capturing data from a phone-call or email into your accounting software increases the scope for typo errors. Generating this data in your accounting saves you time, reduces errors and expedites turnaround times.
3. Incorrect prices paid
Updating product pricing in your accounting means that if it hasn’t been updated on the website, your customer will see R84.99 online, yet received an invoice for R98.50. This may lead to a refund (extra admin & costs) and an unhappy customer. Updated pricing means you always get the right price for your product.
4. Manually handle wholesale customer orders and pricing
Sending out a spreadsheet with product pricing means your wholesaler may not have the latest spreadsheet. Pricing must also be hidden online and take “quotes” only because you can let competitors/retail customers see your discount pricing. An integrated e-commerce platform allows you to show one pricelist online to retail, and the wholesaler to log in to the store and receive a different price list.
5. Manually reconcile payments
Payments for orders may get lost in your bank account if the incorrect/no reference number was used. This means time spent to try to allocate to an invoice. Using Netcash for payments, your payment is automatically allocated to the sales order/quote. No hunting for order numbers and payments.
Let Us Assist with your E-Commerce Integration
Simply fill out the form below to contact us for your website or e-commerce enquiry. We will contact you within business hours to have a quick discussion regarding your specific requirements, and advise on the steps going ahead. We are ready to help and advise.