The ERP is the system most ecommerce and marketing leaders never pick and never stop hearing about. It holds critical operational and financial data that storefronts, order tools and marketing platforms depend on, and when the ERP cannot support a requirement, ecommerce teams have to change their workflows, add another system or build around the limitation. The buyers describe promotions the ERP will not support, stock that oversells because the sync lags, and martech projects parked until an ERP migration finishes, which can take years.
What is an ERP?
An ERP, or enterprise resource planning system, connects a company's core business operations, typically including finance, accounting, purchasing, inventory and order records. In ecommerce businesses it often serves as an authoritative source for operational data such as stock, item records and pricing, although those responsibilities may be shared with specialized systems.
For ecommerce it is usually the upstream source the storefront and other tools read from — “ERP is our source of truth, our system of record for inventory, and then it just feeds real-time inventory updates to the e-commerce platform,” as one buyer puts it. The ERPs buyers name most are NetSuite, SAP and Microsoft Dynamics.
What the interviews add is how the ERP looks from the ecommerce and marketing side:
In these interviews the ERP is rarely owned by ecommerce or marketing, yet it limits what the rest of the stack can do, and ERP migrations hold up other projects — about a quarter of the companies that have been through or are in one say so.
Which ERP a company runs follows its size, and the category rates among the lowest of any buyers describe: its products average about 6.4 on a ten-point scale, against about 7.25 across every product buyers rate.
What is the difference between an ERP, an ecommerce platform and an OMS?
The ecommerce platform takes the order; the ERP records the order, the stock and the money; an order management system coordinates fulfillment between them. The lines blur, and much of the trouble happens where they exchange data.
Product, price, stock and order data move between the ERP and the storefront through a connector or middleware, often several times a day rather than continuously. Smaller companies connecting a Shopify store to NetSuite often use Celigo, and buyers describe the upkeep: “there's always something every month when we're trying to reconcile, there's always something that we have to manually go in and fix.”
For when a separate order system is worth it, see what is an order management system.
ERP
The backbone for financial records and core operational processes, often supplying inventory, order, product and pricing data to other systems. Finance or IT typically owns it, although the authoritative source for each type of data varies by company.
Ecommerce platform
The storefront that takes the order, which depends on the ERP for stock, price and product data.
Middleware
The connectors that move data between the ERP and everything else, such as Celigo or MuleSoft — where sync failures and manual fixes concentrate.
Who owns the ERP?
IT or finance, and sometimes a parent company — rarely ecommerce or marketing. Among companies that say whether ecommerce or marketing has a say in the ERP, about two-thirds say they do not. “I don't touch our ERP or I don't own that decision, that's really more on the IT side,” one ecommerce leader says, and another describes skipping the ERP meetings and asking only that it work with the website.
Which ERP follows company size. NetSuite is named most, mostly at companies under $100 million in revenue; SAP mostly at companies over a billion dollars; Microsoft Dynamics in between. Many specialist businesses run industry ERPs for apparel, furniture or distribution, each used by only one or two of the companies here. Fit is the most common stated reason for a choice — “I think NetSuite is overkill for our situation,” one smaller brand says of the market leader — followed by standardizing on a parent company's or an existing vendor's stack.
What does an ERP do for ecommerce?
Five main jobs, led by orders. Among companies that describe what their ERP does, these appear in this order:
- Orders and order management
- Product data
- Inventory system of record
- Finance and accounting
- Customer records
Pricing is a smaller, separate job.
Orders and order management
Where orders from the storefront, marketplaces and wholesale are recorded and often fulfilled from: “the source of truth is the ERP system for a lot of orders.”
Product data
Item records, attributes and descriptions synced to the storefront or a PIM — and sometimes standing in for a PIM the company does not have.
One buyer: “for a lot of product data, NetSuite is the source of truth, and then we sync that into Shopify.”
Inventory system of record
The stock count the storefront shows, which is only as accurate as the sync behind it.
Finance and accounting
The transactions behind every order: “It stores our financial information. It stores all of our transaction data and our inventory as well.”
Customer records
Customer and account data, sometimes pressed into service as a CRM, with poor verdicts: “we're trying to use that as a CRM, but it's not.”
ERP limitations can become storefront limitations — or force additional workarounds. Companies describe ERPs that could not support order-level promotions or exchanges, or reserve stock for ecommerce — “I really need to be able to reserve stock for the eCommerce business. And that simply was not possible within the ERP solution,” one buyer says — and syncs that oversold stock or ran only a few times a day. Others say the ERP decided which commerce, returns or marketing tools they could buy, and several that bought commerce or CRM from their ERP vendor for the fit are unhappy with the result.
Which ERPs do buyers rate highest?
SAP rates 6.6 and NetSuite 6.4, with SAP S/4HANA around 7. Every one of them rates below the typical product in these interviews.
| Tool | Rating | What it means here |
|---|---|---|
| SAP S/4HANA | around 7 | Too few buyers for a decimal. SAP's current ERP, the destination of many large-company migrations. |
| SAP | 6.6 | The ERP at most large companies here, often on older versions with an upgrade on the roadmap. |
| NetSuite | 6.4 | The most-named ERP, mostly at smaller companies, often connected to Shopify through middleware. |
Major ERPs
NetSuite · SAP · Microsoft Dynamics · Oracle · Epicor · Acumatica · Infor · Odoo
Commerce-focused, industry and middleware
Brightpearl · Fulfil · Cin7 · STORIS · BlueCherry · ApparelMagic · Celigo · MuleSoft
What does an ERP cost, and how long does a migration take?
For buyers describing complex ERP migrations, time is a major cost: some projects run for years, and other technology initiatives wait behind them. No prices are published here.
About a third of the companies discussing their ERP describe a completed, ongoing or planned migration. Several report lengthy projects, particularly at larger organizations, and some describe timelines still extending — “that project is a five-year project that started in 2021. And it's probably going to be a seven to eight year project,” one buyer says of a large upgrade still underway. About a quarter of those through or in a migration say it held up other work: a CDP, a loyalty program, an ecommerce launch, vendor evaluations. “They're not going to start any of these conversations until they're done with the ERP,” one buyer reports. Complexity, slow implementations, reliance on consultants and customization that makes every later change harder are the complaints buyers raise most, followed by cost; buyers' AI use so far works on ERP data rather than inside the ERP.
Due for a stack physical?
Book mine →Should ecommerce and marketing teams get involved in the ERP?
Yes — the ERP sets the limits your tools will work within, so get a seat before it is chosen or changed. The teams that live with its constraints are rarely in the room when it is selected.
Three things follow from the interviews; the recommendations are ours, not practices buyers describe. First, list the storefront capabilities that depend on the ERP — promotions, stock reservation, exchanges, pricing — and test them before an ERP is chosen or a commerce tool is bought. Second, ask how often inventory and orders sync, and what happens when the sync fails, because overselling starts there. Third, if a migration is coming, decide which martech projects can run alongside it rather than finding out halfway through.
For the systems around the ERP, see what is an order management system, PIM vs. DAM and what is headless commerce.
Common questions
What is an ERP?
An ERP, or enterprise resource planning system, connects a company's core business operations, typically including finance, accounting, purchasing, inventory and order records. In ecommerce businesses it often serves as an authoritative source for operational data such as stock, item records and pricing, although those responsibilities may be shared with specialized systems. For ecommerce and marketing teams it is usually the source the storefront, order management, PIM and marketing tools read from. The ERPs buyers name most are NetSuite, SAP and Microsoft Dynamics.
What is the difference between an ERP and an ecommerce platform?
The ecommerce platform runs the storefront and takes the order; the ERP records the order, the inventory and the money behind it. The two exchange product, price, stock and order data, usually through a connector or middleware, and much of the trouble buyers describe happens in that exchange.
How does an ERP affect ecommerce?
It often constrains what the storefront can do, or forces workarounds. Buyers describe ERPs that cannot support order-level promotions, reserve stock for ecommerce or handle exchanges, and syncs between the ERP and the storefront that oversell inventory or update only a few times a day. Some also say the ERP dictates which other tools they can buy.
Which ERP do ecommerce companies use?
It follows company size. NetSuite is named most and mostly at companies under $100 million in revenue, SAP mostly at companies over a billion dollars, and Microsoft Dynamics in between. Many smaller and specialist businesses run industry ERPs built for apparel, furniture or distribution.
How long does an ERP migration take?
It varies with company size, system complexity, customization and the number of integrations. Buyers in these interviews describe complex programs lasting several years, including ongoing projects expected to run past their original schedules. About a quarter of the companies that have been through or are in an ERP migration say it held up other projects, such as a CDP, a loyalty program or an ecommerce launch.
Who owns the ERP decision?
Usually IT or finance, and sometimes a parent company. Among companies that say whether ecommerce or marketing has a say in the ERP, about two-thirds say they do not, even though those teams live with its limits.
Why do buyers rate ERPs so low?
ERPs are among the lowest-rated categories in these interviews, averaging about 6.4 on a ten-point scale against about 7.25 across every product buyers rate. The complaints are complexity, slow implementations, the need for consultants, customization that makes every change harder, and cost.
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