Is it difficult to integrate your website with your inventory?
April 17, 2015 6:00 PM   Subscribe

I'm looking for some examples of e-Commerce / ERP inventory integration...

I am investigating e-Commerce solutions for website / online store and ERP solutions for business and warehouse/inventory management. One important aspect of this sort of system will include integration between the ERP system and the e-Commerce solution for inventory and order fulfillment.

An important aspect of any solutions to consider is appropriate API functionality. So there will need to be some HTTP requests for sending and receiving data between the systems, as well as some data field/table remapping. (Are there any other important considerations?)

What I'm looking for is some examples of code for such an integration. I'd like to get a feel for how this is being done and what languages are being used. I'm not looking for any specific inventory management or e-Commerce solutions, because I haven't determined what the solutions will ultimately be, and how easily this integration can be implemented will be a factor.
posted by doomtop to Computers & Internet (7 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Where are the vendors in this discussion?

This isn't an abstract concept. You are going to buy an ERP from someone, if you use one. Each ERP will have different integration possibilities. I do not think there is a generic answer to this question.
posted by ch1x0r at 6:08 PM on April 17, 2015 [2 favorites]


Response by poster: @ch1x0r: I guess I was hoping you'd supply your own :) I'm not looking for a generic answer, I just don't have specific vendors in mind. I'll take any examples. I'd prefer solutions with RESTful API, but I'm just looking for any examples.
posted by doomtop at 6:26 PM on April 17, 2015


How big of an operation are we talking about here? What is your budget, how many SKUs do you deal with, order volume, etc.? Do you have an in-house development team or will all of the technical work need to be outsourced? Do you have any systems in place right now that will remain, or is this a blank canvas?
posted by primethyme at 6:34 PM on April 17, 2015 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: @primethyme: Blank canvas. Just looking for examples here. This is only one part, albeit an important one, of the overall decision. I'll take suggestions, but I'm not looking for solutions here, just examples that exist for this particular type of integration.
posted by doomtop at 6:46 PM on April 17, 2015


The big players are NetSuite as mentioned above, and JDEdwards. Everyone (at least, every programmer working with them) hates all of them to some degree, but if you're looking for options, I'd investigate those.
posted by ch1x0r at 7:11 PM on April 17, 2015


Response by poster: Thanks for the suggestions, all. I'm really looking for more of like a "design pattern" than a list of specific vendors. Maybe I am asking the wrong question.
posted by doomtop at 7:24 PM on April 17, 2015


Writing the code for such an integration is a pretty hefty task - you're probably going to want to use a 3rd party solution. I'm not going to mention any specific products because I work for a company that sells one, but there is already software out there that integrates your e-commerce platform and your accounting software or ERP.
posted by radioamy at 10:51 PM on April 17, 2015


« Older Mitgrating swarms of bees? Is that a thing?   |   How to transition from stay-at-home parent to... Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.