In our introduction to Acumatica on August 7, we briefly discussed some of the manufacturing aspects of this flexible ERP software. In future installments of Warehouse Wednesday, we will provide in-depth coverage of the Manufacturing ERP features of Acumatica.
As I told you last week, Acumatica isn't just a Manufacturing ERP – it provides a wealth of functionality for contractors, distributors, retailers, and many other businesses. So today, we want to introduce you to a different side of Acumatica.
If you are considering migrating from QuickBooks Desktop before Intuit "pulls the plug" and want to find a cloud-based ERP for your Retail or eCommerce business, Acumatica is a great alternative. Now, let's look at the multifaceted features Acumatica offers for brick-and-mortar and cloud-based retailers.
In today's retail world, eCommerce is critical because it makes buying easier since customers can place orders from anywhere without traveling to a storefront. However, this buying ease also means retailers must fulfill those orders faster. The smoother you make it for your customers to place those orders, and the faster you fulfill them, the more repeat business you gain.
That's why, with seamless connectivity to your storefront, shopping cart, marketplace, or order fulfillment platform, Acumatica can connect your omnichannel operations to your back office and automate every aspect of your inventory and fulfillment operations.
Acumatica's native eCommerce integration capabilities include Amazon, BigCommerce, and Shopify. These popular platforms can easily connect to Acumatica's financials, inventory, product management, and order fulfillment processes. However, eCommerce connectivity doesn't stop there; other proprietary integration connectors, like the one to connect Acumatica with Magento, make various other eCommerce options available to Acumatica users.
Acumatica is designed to simplify inventory using flexible item management, quality traceability, and robust replenishment to balance inventory supply with customer demand. The warehouse operation features of Acumatica will ensure your inventory is error-free while automating inbound and outbound processes to increase productivity and streamline order fulfillment. And, speaking of order fulfillment, Acumatica's integrated order system will simplify the fulfillment process to ensure your customers are happy with on-time order delivery.
However, eCommerce isn't the only thing left of the retail business; many retailers still operate storefronts that require a point-of-sale interface. Acumatica's Point-of-sale (powered by Heuristyc) allows retailers to manage their brick-and-mortar store transactions using a mobile-friendly, touch-screen application with connectivity to cash drawers, barcode scanners, receipt printers, and credit card terminals.
This POS allows you to manage your inventory in real-time from a single order screen and gain accurate cash register and credit card terminal reporting that streamlines the reconciliation process with your bank account import.
However, some retailers want a specific look and feel for their POS when they set up their storefront operations. That's why Acumatica doesn't limit users to a single POS interface. In addition to the POS powered by Heuristyc, Acumatica also offers an integration with Fusion POS powered by Kensium LLC. This POS is designed to serve the needs of retailers from wherever and however they do business – from storefront to events, from tradeshows to customer site visits; the Order Pad functionality of Fusion POS running on iPad tablets extends the reach of today's retailers.
Believe it or not, there is another option. Acumatica also offers 1Retail POS powered by One Channel North America, providing deep integration into Acumatica functionality like customers, discounts, employees, inventory, pricing, order fulfillment, and warehousing. With 'work from anywhere' capabilities and both online and offline transaction processing, 1Retail is another POS option from which Acumatica retailers can choose.
Last but not least, we can forget that Acumatica has a native Shopify integration that supports the Shopify POS. This means you can easily manage your entire Shopify experience with a storefront POS front-end and your eCommerce online Shopify store. All your transactions, including customers, products, inventory controls, sales, purchases, and fulfillment, are efficiently synchronized between Shopify and Acumatica. This real-time performance allows merchants to provide exceptional service to their customers.
I've mentioned Acumatica's inventory functionalities multiple times in today's article, so let's look at it a little closer. No matter your inventory requirements, Acumatica has it covered. From location management and warehouse transfers, non-stock items to kits and assemblies, lot and serial traceability to matrix items, pricing, discounts, inventory valuation, turnover, and dead stock detection – Acumatica has a feature and process to meet your needs. Best of all, you determine the level of inventory management your retail and eCommerce business requires.
Inventory management frequently centers on warehouse productivity. That's why Acumatica can provide warehouse management to reduce inventory errors, manage product inflow, optimize product turnover, and streamline order fulfillment. The Acumatica warehouse management feature can even manage your eCommerce marketplace and fulfillment centers as if they were your warehouses to provide total transparency and ensure your customers get the right things quickly.
Acumatica's order management provides everything you need to bolster your customer's confidence in your business with flexible pricing, rules-based discounting, and item alternates. And customer buying trends can directly drive your purchasing profiles on an item-by-item basis. When it comes time to fulfill those orders, Acumatica's fulfillment automation affords pick, pack, and shipment of orders, package tracking, and customer notification of shipments in progress.
Speaking of order fulfillment and shipping, you must know that Acumatica offers a direct integration with ShipStation, a leading web-based shipping solution. Via ShipStation, you can access discounted rates for major carriers and fulfillment providers like USPS, UPS, FedEx, FBA, DHL, and many more. With features like automated shipping preferences, easily customized shipping rules, and multi-rate computation and comparison, you can finally put your shipping issues behind you.
Disclosures:
Acumatica, as used herein, refers to one or more registered trademarks of Acumatica, Inc., a privately held, multi-national corporation headquartered in Kirkland, WA (USA). Since 2019, Acumatica has been held by the private equity firm EQT of Stockholm, Stockholms Lan, Sweden.
All other trade names used herein refer to products that may be registered, trademarked, or otherwise held by their respective owners; they are referenced for informational and educational purposes only.
Feature product-related content derived from Acumatica media source materials. Content derived from Acumatica sources is published by Insightful Accountant for informational and educational purposes only.
This is an editorial feature, not sponsored content. No company or other person mentioned in this article has paid Insightful Accountant or the author any remuneration to be the subject of this feature. The article is provided solely for informational and educational purposes.
The publication of this article should not be interpreted as an endorsement by either the author or Insightful Accountant.