What to Consider Before You Start an ERP and B2B eCommerce Integration Project

How to Plan Your B2B Integration Around 10 Key Integration Points  

For many manufacturers and distributors, launching or modernizing a B2B eCommerce site is a critical initiative. But success hinges on more than just creating a website with a sleek front-end.  To deliver a seamless, scalable experience, companies must tightly integrate their eCommerce platform with their backend ERP system. 

At Briteskies, we’ve implemented dozens of ERP-integrated eCommerce systems, and we’ve identified 10 major integration points that every B2B organization must address. Just as important, we’ve also developed a framework of strategic considerations that can make or break a project. 

In this blog, we’ll walk through the 10 core integration points and the key project planning areas that businesses must address before diving in. 

10 Core Integration Points Between ERP and B2B eCommerce 

By integrating your ERP with a Commerce platform, companies can transform their digital commerce capabilities, improve adoption of online purchases, and significantly increase revenue. Integration offers a unified view of customer information, allowing for personalized experiences and efficient order processing.

1. Catalog Master Data:  Your ERP holds the authoritative product data—item numbers, descriptions, categories, units of measure, and more. This data must flow into the eCommerce system, ideally in a structured and automated way.
2.  Customer Master Data:  B2B eCommerce sites must reflect each customer’s specific account information. This includes billing and shipping addresses, customer groupings, payment terms, and any special designations (tax-exempt status, etc.). 
3. Inventory Balances: Inventory data is often provided in real time or near-real time from the ERP to the eCommerce platform. Customers want to know: Is this item in stock? How many are available? Is it available at my regional warehouse? 
4. Customer-Specific Pricing: B2B buyers expect the pricing they’ve negotiated to be reflected online. This often requires real-time pricing calls to the ERP or cached logic that mirrors complex ERP pricing rules. 
5. Sales Tax: Tax calculations are typically handled by third-party applications like Avalara or Vertex. These may be integrated directly with the eCommerce platform or pulled from the ERP if it handles taxation. 
6. Shipping Charges: B2B shipping can be complex, especially with truckload (TL), less-than-truckload (LTL), or multi-warehouse fulfillment. Some logic lives in the ERP, while others rely on integrations with UPS, FedEx, or freight brokers. 
7. Payment Methods: B2B eCommerce typically supports credit cards, gift cards, and on-account purchasing. These transactions often tie into external payment gateways and internal credit validation workflows managed in the ERP. 
8. Order Creation (in ERP): Once a customer submits an order online, it needs to flow into the ERP system to trigger fulfillment (picking, packing, shipping, invoicing). Timeliness and data accuracy are crucial here. 
9. Order Update / Shipment Confirmation: Once shipped, data must flow back from the ERP to the eCommerce site, enabling customers to track their orders. This includes carrier details, tracking numbers, and shipment status. 
10. Omni-Channel Order History: B2B buyers want visibility into all their transactions—whether placed online, by phone, through a CSR, or with a sales rep. This often requires aggregating orders from the ERP and the eCommerce system into a unified customer portal.
    
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The Briteskies team really understands JD Edwards and Commerce software, which was critical when they rebuilt our integration points between the two software environments.  The new integrations streamlined our processes, cleaned up the integration pain points, and greatly enhanced the overall performance of the site.
Brent Glendening, Carlstar

Strategic Considerations Before You Begin an ERP eCommerce Integration Project 

While these integration points form the technical backbone of a successful solution, execution depends on clear strategy, cross-functional alignment, and careful planning. Here are 10 key areas to consider when defining your B2B eCommerce integration strategy: 

1. Project Governance & Stakeholder Alignment: Before writing code, define who owns what. Who is responsible for data accuracy? For customer experience? For system uptime? Get buy-in from all business units early, including IT, sales, customer service, finance, and operations. 
2. Data Governance & Synchronization: Your ERP data is only useful if it’s accurate. Clean up product descriptions, standardize customer naming conventions, and eliminate duplicates. Decide what data is managed in ERP vs. eCommerce, and how frequently it will sync. 
3. Integration Architecture: Will you use APIs? Batch files? Middleware like Boomi or MuleSoft? Choose an integration approach that fits your IT capabilities and future roadmap. Avoid hardcoding connections that are brittle and hard to update. 
4. Customer Experience Design: Customer expectations are high. They want accurate pricing, inventory, order status, and account history. They also expect streamlined workflows: quick reordering, quote requests, and mobile-friendly interfaces. 
5. Performance & Scalability: Integration-heavy sites can be slow if not optimized. Real-time calls to the ERP should be limited and cached when possible. Design for scale,  especially if your product catalog or customer base will grow. 
6. Change Management & Training: Your internal teams will need to learn new tools and processes. Train customer service teams, sales reps, and warehouse staff on what’s changing and how it benefits them and the customer. 
7. Testing Strategy: This can’t be overstated. Build robust integration tests, QA environments, and sample data sets. Test not just the happy path, but also complex scenarios—multi-line orders, backorders, multiple ship-to addresses, etc. 
8. Information Security (Infosec): Security must be embedded from day one. Use encryption (TLS/SSL) for data in transit. Store sensitive information securely. Restrict API access using tokens or OAuth. Monitor for anomalies. Be aware of PCI DSS, GDPR, and other compliance obligations. 
9. Support Model Post-Go-Live: Decide early who supports each part of the stack. If an order fails to post to the ERP, who gets the alert? If pricing is wrong, where do you check first? Define SLAs and escalation paths. 
10. Future-Proofing: Your solution should evolve with your business. That means using flexible integration frameworks, building modular components, and avoiding vendor lock-in. Think ahead to mobile apps, customer portals, and expanded channel capabilities. 

 Conclusion 

An ERP-integrated B2B eCommerce project is a high-impact, high-complexity initiative that can transform customer experience and operational efficiency. But success depends not just on choosing the right technology —it depends on building the right strategy, the right integrations, and the right team. 

If you're considering a project like this, Briteskies can help. With deep experience in IBM i,
JD Edwards and Adobe Commerce, we specialize in connecting the dots between your ERP and your digital front end.  Let us know if you’d like a free consultation or a more detailed checklist to get started. 

About Briteskies

Briteskies, headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, is a trusted leader in eCommerce and ERP solutions with over 25 years of expertise. We specialize in integrating platforms like IBM i and JD Edwards, providing seamless technical support and innovative digital marketing strategies for B2B and B2C businesses. Our team of certified developers excels in creating tailored solutions that enhance operational efficiency and drive growth. At Briteskies, culture is paramount—we embrace teamwork, curiosity, and customer compassion as core values that inspire trust and collaboration. By fostering long-term relationships, we deliver impactful results that empower our clients to achieve lasting success