Shopify ERP Integration Increases Online Sales 30%

As the world economy moves further online, communications between online systems will become more common and necessary. This case study reviews HD Buttercup (HDB), an established furniture company, who looks to Endertech, a software development company to increase efficiency by integrating ERP software. A popular furniture POS inventory software program, and Shopify, a popular e-commerce platform, unite through custom built middleware to increase online sales by 30%.

HD Buttercup has locations across multiple cities in California, and recognizes the importance of serving customers online and in-store. With decades of interior design experience, HDB understands how their customers shop for high-end decorative pieces. Their customers start with an online search before visiting the store to complete their purchase. But, this is part of the full story.

When HDB approached Endertech, they had a clear vision: a revamp of their website in order to better track sales, keep tabs on inventory, update products, and maintain their customer databases between their online store, and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). After the initial planning phase, Endertech knew exactly how to get this done, and created a plan to execute.

In their old system, HDB’s Magento – based website did not communicate sales and inventory data to their ERP very reliably. This caused a big mess because the inventory data was unreliable, and sales and customer records weren’t getting reported accurately. There were also added setbacks. Online product inventories weren’t updated across locations, and keeping records in sync was taking a ton of manual time and attention.

Knowing what the inventory count is for a particular furniture piece is crucial when multiple locations sell the same piece across multiple channels. Labor resources were being pulled from other responsibilities trying to input, update and refresh all of this data, at times with human error. HDB needed a system in which all metrics of its business worked in conjunction and with zero errors.

Our Concept-to-Launch approach allowed Endertech developers to analyze code and metrics of HDB’s goals, and the solution was a Shopify API to an ERP integration that connects through our middleware. Through this custom cloud technology, updates easily sync between both systems. Now every user is able to view the correct price, location, and inventory directly from the HDB website, at the same time providing necessary information to complete the purchase in-store. From the outside, this looks like simple arithmetic, but with multiple locations, a centralized inventory, and the ability to simultaneously connect new sales and customer data, is better described as a modern timepiece with virtual moving parts.

The hub where all activity moves between their ERP and Shopify is made possible by the custom built middleware that lives’ in the cloud. This cloud-based middleware acts like a traffic cop directing requests to their proper destination while pausing all errors. One common error that can be flagged between these two systems involve the manual entry of product data where the wrong product SKU is keyed in.

Because web merchandisers are manually creating product pages in Shopify, mistakes can be made, but before Shopify and their POS system sync, a product with the wrong ID, the cloud-based system will flag it, queue it and notify administrator(s) to make corrections. To do this, the middleware runs cron-jobs that check what errors need to be reviewed and corrected at set intervals. Minimizing these errors simplifies the day-to-day operations for HDB, which translates to a better web experience for customers.

The exchange of information taking place in the cloud gives HDB, and its customers, an experience that is seamless, trustworthy, informative and appealing. Soon after the new website launch, online sales increased 30%.

HDB’s ability to understand their customer’s experience helped them to recognize the necessary steps to improve their site and inventory systems. Endertech experts in working with the owner and designer to develop their ERP and Shopify middleware integration, helped to catapult HDB to a higher level of customer experience, productivity and sales.