Have you grown your e-commerce enterprise to a level where you're no longer just a budding startup? That's commendable! Yet, as your shipping volumes escalate, so does the associated operational burden. At some point, streamlining these multifarious processes becomes imperative. This is where Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, like plentymarkets, enter the scene.
plentymarkets is a holistic ERP solution from Germany tailored for online retailers. This software endeavours to seamlessly integrate and automate every facet of your online shop's operation. How does it stack up against other shop system contenders? To facilitate an informed decision on the ideal ERP for your e-commerce venture, let's delve into the pros and cons of plentymarkets.
Advantages of plentymarkets
Cloud-based
plentymarkets offers a cloud-based solution, operationalised via a Software as a Service (SaaS) model. This guarantees predictable monthly or annual expenses, eliminating unforeseen charges.
Seamless Scalability
Being cloud-native ensures that your system can expand without the common hitches associated with on-premise solutions.
Efficiency Through Automation
In the e-commerce realm, automation, be it in logistics or ERPs, equates to time and cost savings. plentymarkets excels in this domain.
Customisation and Compatibility
Interfaces
One of the German company's primary selling points is its numerous and seamless interfaces. With plentysystems, you have access to over 150 sales channels worldwide. From large platforms such as Amazon or eBay to industry-specific, local, and specialised marketplaces. Integration isn't limited to sales platforms; payment gateways, price comparison sites, and third-party logistics providers can be effortlessly amalgamated. Furthermore, indispensable tools such as order and inventory management, as well as PIM and CRM, are incorporated.
Frontend
plentymarkets aligns itself with leading e-commerce platforms, offering a search function to enhance customer experience among other features.
Hosting & Safety
One of the strengths of the ERP system is its security. Together with AWS, the world's leading hoster for cloud products, plentysystems offers a powerful package. A major advantage is that updates, security patches and new software updates are carried out automatically. This means you have one thing to worry about. According to their information, only high-quality and modern servers are used, which leads to faster loading times. On the one hand, this is important for the customer experience, and on the other hand, since June 2021, this has also been used as a ranking criterion by Google.
Geared for Growth
Particularly popular amongst mid to large-scale businesses, plentymarkets caters adeptly to this demographic.
plentyShop
The plentyShop allows users to build their own online shop with the help of a Ceres-Template. The drag-and-drop setup allows users to build their webshop without deeper knowledge of how programming works. It offers multiple helpful tools. Plentimarkets’ biggest advantages are:
- Good set-up for SEO (search engine optimisation)
- Customizability
- Designs
- Focus (B2B or B2C)
- Connection to 40+ sales platforms
- International setting
- Multiple languages
- Multiple Currencies
- Interactivity
- Wishlist, Smart Search, etc.
- Trust-building
- Includes reviews
- Various certificates
- Facilitates communication
- Social Share buttons
- Connection to e-mail marketing systems
- An offer of a wide range of Webinars and educational content
Disadvantages of plentymarkets
Daunting for Smaller Enterprises
The initial setup demands substantial resources, posing a challenge for smaller outfits.
Expertise Essential
Given its intricate nature, expertise or collaboration with an agency becomes almost obligatory. However, support, albeit paid, is accessible.
Paid Support
Unlike some competitors, plentymarkets doesn't offer complimentary phone support free of cost.
Dependency for Extensions
Extensions necessitate reliance on the software provider.
Advantages and Disadvantages of plentymarkets at the same time
The administration backend is the heart and brain of every webshop. Among other things, products are set and updated here. plentymarkets' backend has both advantages and disadvantages over its competitors. First of all, the control is not as intuitive as elsewhere. On the contrary, some functions seem rather complex at the beginning. This is because plentymarkets is not just an online store system, but rather a solution that covers almost all the functions of a store. This also includes merchandise management, warehouse management, and numerous connections, for example, to fulfillment partners such as byrd, who also offer a plentymarkets fulfillment integration. If you are willing to invest some time to get used to it, the initial complexity will increasingly become an advantage of plentymarkets. By the way, numerous tutorials and explanatory videos will help you with this.
In Summary
plentymarkets emerges as a potent solution for e-commerce businesses. While it might present initial hurdles compared to platforms like Shopify, its strengths in integration, hosting, and security make it a formidable choice. Ideal for established e-commerce entities, it's a gateway to scalable success.