As a retailer, you rely on your POS technology for store operations, and you may well have an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system as well or be considering one. But rather than seeing them as two essential – but separate – entities, the retailers who get the most from their POS and ERP systems are those that integrate them.

In this article, we dig into the five key benefits of integrating your ERP and POS and look at how out-of-the-box connectors can streamline the process of integration, delivering these benefits to you faster and more efficiently.

The benefits of integrating your POS Software with your ERP are:

1. Data synchronization in real-time – when your POS and ERP are connected, all sales data is immediately synchronized into your ERP. So all your key business data – such as inventory levels, sales and customer data – are up to date and available to you for analysis and decision-making.

2. Accurate inventory – POS/ERP integration means that your stock system is automatically updated in real time every time a sale is made. This significantly improves your stock management and demand forecasting processes – for example, fully accurate inventory across multiple locations reduces the risk of stock outs, and/or of being left with unsold stock. You can readily see what inventory is where and operate an ‘endless aisle’ to move it to where it can be sold, or a drop ship operation to the customer’s home – reducing lost sales and giving customers the satisfaction of buying the goods they want.

3. Manual data entry eliminated – when your systems are not integrated, data from one must be manually entered into the other. This can be very time-consuming and is massively open to the risk of human error. Integration, on the other hand, means that all financial transactions – sales and refunds – are sent automatically to the accounts module of your ERP, with no human touch and no errors. Tax calculations are based on 100% accurate data, for greater compliance, and your data is instantly visible for reporting.

4. Customer experience enhanced – many of the services that today’s customers demand, and which influence their choice of retailer are greatly enhanced by integration. For example, integration, with a single view of customer purchase history, makes it much more straightforward to offer personalized promotions and loyalty programs, a smooth and seamless returns process and omnichannel experiences such as click and collect.

5. Faster checkout – POS/ERP integration enables faster checkout, and better customer experience, through:

1. Synchronization ensures that product details such as price, promotions and taxes all come from a single source and are always up to date.
2. Discounts and loyalty rewards are applied automatically, without manual cashier intervention.
3. Seamless connection from the ERP to the payment gateway(s) makes for faster transaction processing.

We can see that the benefits of ERP and POS integration are compelling, but – what about the time and effort it takes to actually implement an integration between the two systems? That’s where pre-built ERP connectors play their part. Pre-built connectors significantly reduce the complexity, time and cost of integration.

The iVend approach – pre-built connectors for every ERP

iVend knows that our clients understand the value of integration and we make it as easy as possible for them to achieve it. iVend comes with the widest range of pre-built connectors for the world’s leading ERPs.

We have an out-of-the-box connector for every ERP in the market – including SAP Business One, SAP S/4HANA, SAP IS-Retail, Sage 300 Cloud, Sage X3, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, along with the thousands of other ERPs.

Retailers who have integrated their iVend POS with their ERP and seen enormous business value include:

1. Sporting goods retailer Monkey Sports, who have integrated iVend POS with SAP B1, and delivered 99.99% uptime, faster checkout and a new customer loyalty program.
2. Construction sector retailer TYM Forest, whose integration with MS Business Central 365 has delivered reduced downtime and faster checkout.
3. Liquor retailer Crown Wines and Spirits, who integrated iVend POS with their SAP B1 ERP and have benefitted from a digital loyalty program, faster checkout, synchronized data and better financial reporting.

These customers, and many, many more are examples of successful integration of iVend POS with their chosen ERP, for valuable time and cost savings, greater accuracy, the ability to deliver new and better service and the opportunity to streamline their operations and enhance their decision making.

FAQs

My business is growing – is this the right time to integrate POS and ERP or should I wait?

Now is the time! Having your POS and ERP integrated can help your business to scale, so if you are actively growing now, you shouldn’t wait to do your integration. Adding new stores is actually easier when you have an integrated ERP and POS. For example, you can replicate pricing, promotions, and customer loyalty settings across locations. So as you plan for growth or see it start to accelerate, the time is absolutely right for integration.

I want to automate my inventory replenishment system – can POS/ERP integration help?

Yes. The pre-requisites for successful replenishment automation are having a single view of your inventory, no matter where the goods are located (store, DC, warehouse, returns centre) and having that inventory updated in real time. POS/ERP integration delivers these pre-requisites. Automation will only work successfully if it is operating with accurate, real-time, full picture data – and integration is the way to deliver it.

*Sources: Deloitte, Forbes, Microsoft, Forbes