Best ERP for SMB CPG company who is mainly B2C eComm?

I forgot to mention we are currently considering Netsuite, Intacct, Epicor, possibly Sage and MS Dynamics, and recently had CentralBOS and Odoo come on our radar.

Joseph,

I am sure a lot of advice will start with a needs analysis. I would start with your dream system/s and imagine what your information system structure will look like. I would ask your different departments to write up what their wants and needs (capabilities/features) currently and in the next 3-5 years.

Once that is hammered out, you can evaluate the different ERP packages as far as how they can answer your requirements relative to pricing. Each package has it's pros and cons (and each individual has their biases in as far as favorites are concerned) but the ultimate test is being able to answer a majority (if not all) of your requirements at a price you can live with. You can narrow the choices down (based on the evaluation) to 2-3 and then you can ask for feedback from actual same industry users (and also from here), which the software companies should be able to refer you to.

I am from the Bay Area and if you need further help, please do not hesitate to reach out.

P.S. I would not base my requirements on the revenue dollar figure but on the number and types of transactions.

Emerson, great points. We are turning about 7,000 orders per month with about 200 active SKUs, but growing rapidly. We are less than 2 years old with most of our employees fairly young as far as being in business and can adapt to almost anything. I guess what I am really looking for are experiences with specifics from people to stay away from this package or definitely love that package because of xx. We have done a preliminary needs analysis and I am in contact with the main ERP players already. I am looking for others' real world experiences now. Let's grab lunch or something next time I am in the bay area. I would love to pick your brain.

I have had a great experience with Netsuite. It is flexible enough, cloud-based, and you can pick and choose the modules you need. You can implement in phases.

I've had another experience with Blue Cherry + MS Dynamics SL, which was more expensive, difficult to implement, a lot more robust, but requiring building of all reports from scratch.

In both instances, we were manufacturing at multiple contract manufacturers, using bills of material, standard costing, etc. If you aren't manufacturing, building your own products, there are more ERP solutions which would suffice.

What I liked about Blue Cherry was having a master bill of material for a product and then having color or flavor and size variations within that BOM, a clever and time saving structure.

If ERP is new to your company, keeping it as simple as possible has advantages as that will ease the transition, however, for your team to get behind implementing it, there have to be valuable perceived benefits which may not be as apparent if the system is simple.

I am glad to hear that you have done a preliminary needs analysis, that is the place to start. I have seen too many firms/individuals make ERP decision based on a testimonial that did not apply to their business.

Yes, determine your needs based on your business model (can’t emphasize this enough), transaction volumes, geographic locations and future growth needs.

Having built the systems for a multi-billion dollar startup company, I can attest that you need to anticipate your growth trajectory and take that into consideration in your ERP selection process. The selection of an ERP system should be part of an overall IT strategy. By looking at only the ERP systems you may overlook critical systems and integration that may hinder your business down the road.

If you feel you need some additional input, feel free to contact me when you’re in the Bay Area

Howard and Frank, thanks for the input. It looks like Frank and Emerson and I need to meet up on my next trip to the Bay area.

Joseph, you didn't mention what platform your company is using for ecommerce or how system is used for handling customer service? Are you wanting an ERP to include those capabilities/operations or just interface with the ERP?

James, the eComm is highly customized, starting off on a Spree Commerce platform but soon to be completely home-grown. We will continue to use our customized eComm. As for CRM on both Sales and Customer Service front, we are using a hodge-podge of systems that works, but is not terribly efficient. So, choosing an ERP with good CRM may be desirable.

Hi Joseph,

The next version of Microsoft Dynamics flagship ERP - AX, is going to fully cloud based and suits best for 30 users onwards.

I'm keen to explore the business requirements to gauge a high level fitment with Microsoft Dynamics AX.

Regards
Rahul Mohta
Independent Advisor for Microsoft Dynamics AX

There is no BEST, there is the best for your company. It may be a suite of products from the same publisher or it is a best of breed collaboration from many publishers.

You need to ascertain what you need, where you think you'll be down the road, create that RFP, interview publishers, then vendors and make your decision.

Remember to run the demo, not be run. You must create the scenario that is being shown so you can compare apples to apples, not what the publisher/vendor wants you to see!