As a player in the digital commerce industry, the primary goal is to increase revenue, therefore maintaining different technology solutions for operations can seem time-consuming. However, this isn’t necessary!
With the advancement of eCommerce technology, capacities grew, systems became more automated, and less time was required to manually update the same information across multiple solutions.
What allowed for this to happen? ‘Integrations,’ is the single word answer.
But, first and foremost, what exactly are integrations?
Let’s look at what they signify and how they might benefit your internet business.
What does it mean to integrate?
Integrations are simplified workflows that connect two separate systems to allow for the easy exchange of necessary data for improved performance. They don’t merely link systems together; they also improve them by adding new capabilities and features.
Consider how your Shopee shop and your warehouse management system are linked.
What happens when a customer places an order at your shop?
Because Shopee and your warehouse management system are linked, as soon as an order is placed, all of the order’s information are sent to your warehouse management system automatically. So now your warehouse’s ground personnel understands what to pack, how much of it they need to pack, and how to send it to the appointed last-mile carrier. And it’s all happening right now. Because there is no back-and-forth information exchange, your Shopee shop supplies are quickly changed, and the cycle continues until the next order is placed.
Clearly, ‘Integrations’ are the key to becoming more productive, efficient, and agile. Their mission is straightforward: to integrate your existing systems with third-party applications to provide a cost-effective solution that will help you run your business more efficiently.
Let’s look at some of the most frequent connectors that practically all APAC eCommerce enterprises require on a daily basis.
Integrations that simplify eCommerce operations
Advantages of integrations
The top five advantages of integrations for an eCommerce company are depicted in the image.
Now, let’s look at some of the most important advantages of integrations in terms of boosting your company’s daily productivity:
The following are some of the advantages of having ready-to-use connections with eCommerce platforms and systems:
Having ready integrations in your eCommerce ecosystem allows you to provide a better online experience while also allowing your back-end business operations to be more agile. It will enable you to successfully manage cross-channel sales and fulfillment, track client sales journeys, automate day-to-day operational operations, and obtain actionable insights. Let us take a closer look at each one:
1. Lessening human intervention and increasing data accuracy
Order and inventory management, product information management, and even warehousing and logistics management are all procedures that multichannel operations entails.
However, you spend the most of your time updating several sources with the essential data. This clearly necessitates a significant amount of manual intervention, as well as frequent checks and monitoring.
An integrated system can double-check incoming data such order source, quantity, delivery address, payment method, and so on, and precisely update all necessary solutions like the pick & pack system. This eliminates inconsistency and inaccuracies all over the place. It also means that accurate data is saved in safe company databases so that everyone can get the information they need when they need it without having to worry about the information’s authenticity or validity.
2. Improving Productivity
According to econsultancy.com, roughly 18 percent of Southeast Asian eCommerce enterprises struggle to manage their multichannel operations due to a lack of data integration.
The capacity to quickly access data in a single system improves process agility and transparency. This rapid syncing ensures that every component of your integrated system is updated exactly when it should be, increasing the speed and efficiency of your operations.
Without having to deal with separate processes, you can keep track of inventory across many markets, improve your order processing flow, and even manage peak-season specials. As a result, integrations enable you to manage all of your operations from a single location, automate common activities, and increase the efficiency of your company.
3. To boost customer satisfaction
Customers are aware of their purchase history, order status, and shipping tracking because integrations enable quick modifications in customer records as well as inventory and order data. Integrations allow you to deliver a huge array of information to your clients right away by allowing you to easily acquire updated order tracking details and product information directly from the ERP system to the sales channels.
This encourages customers to shop online more frequently because they know what to expect after each action.
4. To simplify operations and shorten turnaround times
According to the ‘State of B2B Ecommerce in ANZ, Southeast Asia, and India’ survey, 34% of Southeast Asian businesses improved their multichannel management experience after using back-end operations and supply chain software interfaces.
Because real-time integrations occur, every function has quick access to pertinent operational data. As a result, any needless delays are eliminated, and the appropriate process and order alerts are triggered. This means you can simply obtain control over each company process and make operations more efficient and intuitive. While integrations help you improve productivity, efficiency, and other aspects of your organization, they also assist the bottom line in the long run.
5. Increase the efficiency of sales
For every online business, a lack of key sales data can be a major issue. However, by combining and monitoring all of your sales channels and marketplaces on a single platform, you can track the performance of each product and channel.
You can receive answers to queries like “which product is being sold on any certain channel” or “what promotion appeals to a specific consumer” based on these insights, and develop a stronger sales plan to accomplish each business goal.
To be more specific, there are two ways to boost your bottom line: lower selling costs and/or increase sales. Having available integrations favors both of these approaches to achieving your business objectives. Your business will increase when your top-line starts to perform successfully. While a better online experience boosts conversions, avoiding operational snags boosts efficiency.
To make your eCommerce operations run more smoothly, understand how connectors function.
As a result, enabling ready integrations with partners and systems can alleviate tension and assist you in meeting your growth goals more quickly. As a result, integrations not only help you automate procedures and boost productivity, but they also assist you achieve your entire business goals.
