HomeDigital IconsInterview with Josh Fischer from Acumatica

Interview with Josh Fischer from Acumatica

What led to the development of Acumatica’s integration with Shopify’s B2B capabilities? What business problem will this solve? 

Mid-market B2B companies have been calling for a cost-effective, flexible, intuitive and capable SaaS B2B commerce solution for years – particularly a solution that can integrate with a cloud-based business management solution. The development of Acumatica’s integration with Shopify’s B2B capabilities was inspired by these demands.

Acumatica and Shopify have worked closely together to develop a SaaS B2B solution with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) integration capability that meets the real-world needs of businesses – especially as manufacturers and distributors look for more opportunities to broaden their market presence.

Together, Acumatica’s robust business management capabilities and Shopify’s industry-leading e-commerce platform can enable merchants to save time and costs in back-office processes and empower staff to spend time on high-value work that will move the needle for their business.

Can you explain the key benefits of integrating an ERP system with the Shopify e-commerce platform for businesses looking to sell directly to B2B buyers?

Integrating the business management capabilities found in a modern ERP system with Shopify’s e-commerce platform provides merchants targeting B2B buyers a competitive advantage in several ways. The integration bridges the gap between modern online shopping experiences and traditional B2B purchasing methods. It ensures real-time data synchronization, reducing errors and ensuring up-to-date product information and pricing. This synchronization covers a comprehensive range of data points, including products, orders, payments and fees, shipments, inventory levels, returns, etc. Acumatica and Shopify take it one step further to address the unique needs of B2B merchants.

These businesses rely on their ERP system as the single, reliable source for all business data, managing customer accounts and dealing with complex customer hierarchies. B2B merchants typically have multiple buyers. These buyers are the primary users of the Shopify interface, where they place orders, check inventory and manage their accounts. For B2B buyers, it’s crucial that data flows seamlessly and uniformly between Shopify and Acumatica to ensure an optimal buying experience.

Moreover, one of the paramount expectations of B2B buyers is the visibility of product pricing based on their negotiated rates with the merchant. These negotiated rates, skillfully managed within Acumatica, can depend on several factors such as buyer size, location, length of the relationship and buyer groups. Buyers rely on the accuracy of these calculated product prices to make informed and prudent purchasing decisions. 

These two aspects — efficient data flow between systems and accurate pricing based on negotiations — stand out as the most critical benefits of the integration. This combination of functionalities enhances efficiency, minimizes manual work and results in a more cohesive and customer-centric experience, making it essential for attracting and retaining B2B customers in today’s competitive business landscape.

How does integrating ERP functionality with an e-commerce platform improve the overall efficiency and accuracy of order processing and orchestration for B2B customers using Acumatica’s solution?

Integrating Acumatica’s functionality with Shopify’s platform significantly improves order processing and orchestration efficiency and accuracy for B2B buyers, so customers always have an optimal buying experience. B2B buyers want an easy-to-use, self-service solution that makes it fast and easy to research products, gather information, review specific pricing, create orders and manage their accounts.

For example, imagine a manufacturer who is buying parts used for assembling their own finished goods. The buyer needs the right product, delivered at the right time, to the right place, at the right price and without friction. Acumatica’s ERP integration to Shopify orchestrates this purchase and ensures the B2B buyer’s supply chain isn’t halted by challenges with their vendor.

What features or functionalities does Acumatica provide to enhance inventory management and order fulfillment when selling to B2B clients through Shopify?

Acumatica delivers key features like real-time inventory oversight, preventing overselling or under-stocking. Meanwhile, visibility into multiple warehouses simultaneously allows for efficient distribution, which reduces shipping costs and delivery timelines. Acumatica also delivers native integrations with shipping and fulfillment solutions such as ShipEngine, which calculates shipping costs and provides a variety of options to minimize costs while ensuring customer needs are met.

Users can also create custom pricing structures within the solution for different B2B clients, ensuring personalized pricing and tailored order fulfillment, which are key factors in meeting the specific needs of B2B customers.

How does the integration help e-commerce leaders better manage and scale their business as they expand their reach and product offerings within the B2B market?

What all merchants want is the ability to continue scaling their sales without over-extending their resources or introducing back-office complications. Acumatica customers have indicated that using Acumatica Cloud ERP’s native integration with Shopify releases their employees from creating processes to achieve that level of integration. With ERP functionality combined with Shopify’s e-commerce capabilities, staff are no longer burdened with tasks such as manually transferring data, double-checking inventory, calculating inventory levels and making replenishment decisions. This valuable time could be spent on creative initiatives to build the organization’s brand, improve relationships with existing customers or invest in consultative relationships with new customers. 

When integrated together, Acumatica and Shopify provide merchants with software that replaces the manual tasks that drain time. By tapping into a unified, automated solution for managing the entire B2B omnichannel sales experience, businesses can grow and adapt to changing market demands more efficiently.

Alf Alferez
Alf Alferez
Dedicated writer with a strong track record of developing customer loyalty and managing general office operations. Enjoy being a part of a company where my skills and creative ideas will benefit the overall productivity of the organization. I have a strong desire to work in helping make the world a better place. Please reach out to me on alf@ecommercenext.org
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