Enterprise resource planning is a critical retail function. With the right ERP solution, merchants are able to reduce costs, improve productivity, better use their personnel and achieve other mission-critical objectives.

The problem for many merchants, however, is that ERP solutions are not often designed to accommodate the needs of online sellers. This can be a significant setback, particularly given the competitive retail landscape in which most online merchants participate. If they want to be successful, they need to understand their customers and their needs. Unfortunately, many ERP solutions don’t allow them to do that.

The problem is twofold. First, many ERP systems simply aren’t designed with the retail industry in mind – they don’t have the features online sellers need. On top of that, many retailers do not know what to look for in an ERP solution.

Merchants that opt for more generic, industry-agnostic ERP solutions face another cost-related challenge. Many of these systems have limited scopes, and because they don’t have specific features, retailers need to spend a lot of time and resources customizing them to better suit their demands. This leads to scalability issues as well as frequent maintenance, which can hinder the growth of thriving eCommerce operations.

However, retailers do have options – they’ll just need to take a careful look at all the different ERP solutions out there and carefully select the right one. A recent infographic we produced explores the different ERP systems available to merchants. Choosing the right vendor will be critical in the implementation of the appropriate solution and will play an important role in helping merchants evolve alongside the ever-changing retail landscape.