What is ERP?

An ERP is the record of how the business actually runs. It knows what you've got in stock, what each customer pays, which orders are waiting to ship and who owes what. Most manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors run on one, and in B2B ecommerce it's usually the source of truth the website draws on.

An example. A distributor's ERP holds contract prices for every trade account and live stock in three warehouses. Its website takes prices and stock from the ERP, so each customer sees their own prices and accurate availability. When an order is placed online, it goes straight into the ERP to be picked, shipped and invoiced, exactly like an order taken by phone.

What an ERP usually covers

• Sales and orders, from quote to invoice.
• Stock and warehouses, including what's available to promise.
• Pricing, including customer-specific prices and discounts.
• Purchasing and suppliers.
• Finance: accounts, credit limits and payments.
• Manufacturing and planning, in many systems.

How it connects to the rest

The ERP sits at the centre, with other systems joined to it: the online store or customer portal, a CRM for sales and service, a PIM for rich product content, and EDI or punchout for customers who order from their own systems. The joins are usually APIs, sometimes through middleware, and they move prices, stock and customers out, and orders back in.

Why the join matters

When the website and ERP agree, customers see the right prices and stock, orders arrive ready to process, and nobody rekeys anything. It also gives AI search, assistants and AI agents the reliable data they need to be useful.

Doing it well

Start by agreeing which system owns each piece of data, then decide what needs to move in real time and what can move in batches. Plan for the moments systems are busy or offline, so orders queue safely rather than going missing. Done this way, a store and an ERP work as one.