These days customers demand lots of options when shopping. They expect to have choices, from brick and mortar stores to online stores and social media outlets like Instagram. As an eCommerce retailer, you need to provide them with those options in order to offer the best customer experience.
Brightpearl research shows 77% of negative reviews are related directly to issues shoppers have after clicking the “buy button”. Therefore, everything in an omnichannel retail operation needs to mesh. Your product SKUs and descriptions, inventory, delivery, and customer support, must be consistent and interconnected across every channel. Each new sales outlet can put pressure on your daily operations and the current system. Without accurate product and inventory information, you’ll end up with unsatisfied customers.
We’ve found a solution to the complex world of inventory and fulfillment management. Let's take a look at Brightpearl and why it can save midsize and enterprise businesses massive bottlenecks and headaches.
Six Main Issues That Can Take Your Retail Business Down
Obsolete retail technologies are unable to support new retail ecosystems. A retail operations system should have the ability to scale and support the new channels and must overcome these six issues:
- Inventory Issues – Glitches in inventory mean lost sales, unhappy customers, and losing your competitive edge.
- Customer Service Issues – Increasing customer returns, complaints, and replacements indicate a broken system.
- Inaccurate Data Reporting – This can negatively impact your forecasting, sales, ordering, and inventory.
- Difficulty in Changing Business Processes – Dysfunctional processes will add stress to your front and back-office employees leading to poor customer service.
- Inability to Synchronize Your Systems – You’re losing money if your POS, stock, ordering, sales, and warehouse are not synchronized.
- Speed and Reliability of Delivery - Difficulties in finding the right transportation solutions for all your outlets result in reduced on-time delivery.
Having any of these issues in your business can tarnish your image and create substantial losses. Upgrading your current retail management system with efficient back-office automation capabilities is the answer.
Retail Operations Platform
A complete retail operations platform like Brightpearl offers everything you need to streamline the back office, from order management to replenishment, retail accounting, inventory, warehouse management, and more:
- Sales order management
- Inventory management and planning
- Shipping and fulfillment
- Warehouse management
- Retail accounting
- Purchasing and supplier management
- Workflow automation
- Reporting and business intelligence
- Payments
- CRM
- POS
Through the system, store employees and management have access to the same information and functionality. It allows everyone to do their jobs more efficiently. A fully integrated retail operations platform automates much of the daily processes across all departments. Take healthcare educational supplies company, Anatomical Worldwide, for example, who saves 20 hours a month on order processing alone, and a further 10+ hours on accounting with Brightpearl powering their operations.
Does Your Business Require Retail Operations Capabilities?
It depends. Some of the indications are:
- The system takes longer to reconcile your monthly financial statements.
- Your team has trouble keeping up with the order volume.
- Customer service and satisfaction are waning.
- Your inventory is mostly “ballpark” figures and generating accurate financial reports takes “forever.”
- The back office is not fully integrated.
- The multi-channels are disconnected.
If your company experiences one or more of these issues, it’s time to upgrade your current system to a retail operations platform. The increase in efficiency and sales offsets the upfront cost.
Brightpearl Solves 3 Major Retail Business Issues
Brightpearl’s ERP retail operations platform will consolidate multiple channels into a single platform. It provides a seamless shopping experience to customers in multiple countries and currencies. Solutions include:
- Consolidates Transaction and Financial Information - Your management staff, front and back-office can instantly access data from each store, online channel, and supply chain from a single reporting tool.
- Reduces Inaccurate Reporting – Complete, end-to-end system integration from POS to purchase orders. Real-time reporting on demand.
- Increased Customer Satisfaction - Automated systems minimize overselling, handle returns, reduce vendor disputes, and manage purchasing based on accurate inventory and par levels.
Brightpearl is Cloud-Based Integrated Software
With a cloud-based system, you and your team can access the information from anywhere.
Brightpearl specializes in the retail and wholesale sectors. The system sets up in half the time compared to traditional ERP solutions such as QuickBooks, NetSuite, and Sage.
In addition, Brightpearl can simultaneously manage inventory, accounting, orders, customer relationship management (CRM), and fulfillment across all channels.
Here are some of the features:
Comprehensive Inventory Management - End-to-end order management tool that eliminates overbooking. You can create orders, view stock, process invoices, and manage all financial transactions with integrated accounting software.
Simplified Order Management - Create orders manually or automate the process. It integrates with all major e-commerce platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce, and Magento. The highly accurate inventory control ensures optimal stock levels. Real-time data creates improved strategies to boost sales and customer satisfaction.
Automate Your Shipping and Fulfillment - The shipping management software supports customization and automation. It easily integrates with most shipping fulfillment apps like Shipstation, Shipworks, and Metapack. Gain complete control over the entire order prioritization and the shipping process.
Did you know that 40% of Fed-Ex deliveries go to homes? According to a study by Walker Sands, shipping is a significant incentive to online buyers. 80% opted for free shipping while 54% went with fast shipping. Managing shipping and fulfillment is critical to customer satisfaction and repeat business.
Retail Consultancy Services
Usually, a retail company doesn’t have the time to set up and provide training for the new system. Brightpearl takes care of those issues by managing complete setup and training. Together with our full-service marketing company, the two teams work together to generate seamless implementation and post-launch growth support.
Brightpearl also provides full-service consulting in all areas of an omnichannel system. Here are just a few areas they can improve your business:
- Accounting
- Merchandising
- Inventory management
- API Integration
- Outsourcing your fulfillment to a 3PL
- Standardizing workflows for your team
- Multi-currency add-on
- Shipping integration
- Landed COG tracking
If you’re looking for a cloud-based integrated retail operations platform with capabilities to help your business scale, Brightpearl is the best option.
However, Brightpearl is not for every business. It works best for omnichannel retailers and wholesalers who generate between $1m to $100m in sales of finished goods.
Everything You Need to Run Your eCommerce Back Office
Brightpearl automates back-end operations, from sales and inventory management to CRM and logistics, so that merchants can focus on growing their business. Now over 1,400 companies use the platform to process more than $3 billion in orders and benefit from high-performing connectors to the major eCommerce platforms, including Shopify, Magento, and BigCommerce.
If you believe that Brightpearl might be the right fit for your business, don't hesitate to book a demo. Experience the features and functionalities with your team to see if this platform will fit your company’s requirements.
