Celigo named a Visionary in the 2024 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™

On Demand Webinar

How to Automate your Amazon Business with ERP Integration

With Amazon accounting for nearly 40% of U.S. ecommerce sales, it is no surprise that millions of merchants are partnering with Amazon as third-party sellers, vendors, or outsourced fulfillment partners. Whichever programs that your company is participating in or is considering to participate in, it is important to have data between Amazon Seller Central, Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA), and/or Vendor Central synchronized with your ERP systems such as Acumatica, Microsoft Dynamics, or NetSuite.

Without integration between your ERP and Amazon, manual processes can slow down your operations and make it difficult to scale with growing order volumes. Slow processes can also lead to poor customer reviews and put your Amazon listings at risk.

Join our on-demand webinar to learn how to most effectively integrate your Amazon business with an ERP system.

You will learn about:

  • Best practices and tips from working with Amazon and ERP customers
  • How to automate your Amazon business with ERP integration
  • How to get a quick start with Celigo’s pre-built Amazon integrations

Watch Now!

Full Webinar Transcript
Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. My name is Ebru, and I work in Product Marketing at Celigo. And I’m here with my colleague, Kelly, who is one of our integration experts. And so during this session, if you have any questions, you can enter them through the questions window, and we’ll be answering all questions at the end of the session. So first, some background on Celigo. We are an iPaaS, Integration-platform-as-a-Service company. And on our platform, you can connect any application with any other application and pass data between the different systems and automate business processes. For example, relevant to our topic today, you can connect Amazon Seller Central to an ERP, such as Microsoft Dynamics or Acumatica, and completely automate your order to cash business process. So we have a lot of expertise with e-commerce integrations and automating e-commerce-related business processes. We have been working with leading consumer product companies more than 10 years now. And you can see some of our customer logos here. So some of the more popular integrations we provide are for applications such as Amazon, Walmart, eBay, Shopify, and, of course, there are many more. And we are also very well recognized by analysts. So we’ve been in the Gartner Magic Quadrant over the past couple of years, and we are also a G2 iPaaS leader. So most recently, we actually made it to G2’s best software of 2021 list. And so this is totally based on validated customer reviews and ratings and shows that our customers allow us. So yeah, having given you the background on Celigo, now, let’s talk about effectively selling on marketplaces. Amazon is one of the best examples here as it is the number one marketplace to go for both consumers and also for sellers. For any business selling to their direct channels, marketplaces provide a great opportunity to get products in front of additional audiences, new audiences, and generate more revenue for them. But so for the same reason, marketplaces are also very competitive because, I mean, you all know millions of sellers are racing to bring products in front of all the buyers there. So then the question is, how do you really stand out from the crowd, and how do you manage a successful operation? And it all comes down to a good sales ranking and reviews. So processing and fulfilling orders with speed brings high customer satisfaction and then accurately managing items, inventory helps with high-quality listings and helps not running out of stock. And so real-time financial visibility helps assess what are the selling, cost, what are the profits. And these are all the things that are key in effective selling. And but so there are barriers to success and I personally have also hands-on experience with this, because I actually run my own ecommerce business for many years and sold on multiple marketplaces, and so I can relate to the challenges and I’m sure you might as well. So, first of all, operational costs, they can get extremely high when additional resources are needed trying to operate at high speeds, and then delays and errors across processes such as shipping and fulfillment can degrade customer experience. And worst of all, it’s a big challenge to scale with growth, so to be able to process increasing orders of volumes with the same mobile, maintaining the same level of quality. And that’s where integration comes into play. So by integrating ecommerce marketplaces with your ERP system, you can automate and streamline your entire business, so you can sync product data from your ERP into the marketplace such as Amazon, and ensure your listings and pricings are up to date, right? You can make sure fulfilled inventories account for across your systems by sinking inventory levels, and then you can process an order as soon as it comes, and update the status and tracking information on the marketplace once an item is fulfilled in the ERP. And these are just some examples, so there are many more possibilities for automation. And so the good news here is on Celigo’s integration platform you can connect any marketplace, whether it’s eBay or Walmart, to any ERP system like SAP or Acumatica, and many others. And so, last, I mean, before I hand it off to Kelly for his demo, just a few more things about our platform. So, our platform has an intuitive user interface and it also has advanced features for integration, monitoring, and error management. And all of these makes it very easy for business users to manage their integrations with minimum or with no technical resources. And so, when it comes to integration, there are really two options: so you can either build your integrations from scratch or you can leverage one of our pre-built integrations and achieve faster time to value. So we have many pre-built integrations available on our marketplace for popular applications, and so what these are– really these cover 90 to 95 percent of the use cases, and anything beyond those you can still cover them by building custom integration flows. And now I will hand it off to Kelly so that he can walk us through some examples on our platform. So let me make you the presenter, Kelly. Thank you, Ebru. Okay, now you are the presenter. All right, let’s see here. All right, you should be– Okay, we can see yours. Right. Perfect. Thank you. So, what you’re looking at here? This is our integration integration platform. This is what really allows us to build out integrations between really any system out there. As Ebru was saying, we are system agnostic. Meaning, we have the ability to connect to any API or EDI or FTP-based system out there. We can work with flat files like CSVs, XML, JSON, Excel. We have the ability to support all of those formats. With the platform here, what you’re looking at here, this is a home dashboard of one of my etail demo accounts where you can see we already have some of our integration apps installed. Particularly around Amazon, Walmart, eBay, and such. From this main dashboard, this is where a user can see quickly what’s going on within their environments. If everything is running well, this is where you see the nice green success notification. If there are errors or exceptions, you can see here that can be displayed here. We also have connection management in the tool here. What that does is, prior to processing any data, we first pick an end point and make sure it’s online. If it is not, what we will do is the integration tool will queue up that data until the connection comes back online. That way, we ensure that there’s no data loss due to a down connection on either end there. Now, this tool, I always equate it to kind of like the breaker box in your house. And once it is configured and wired up, a user does not have to come in here every day. It simply functions in the background. It’s going to process the data as defined by these integrations. Now, if there are exceptions or errors, the tool can be set up to push those notifications to your inbox. So that way you’ll receive those in your inbox, you can then jump in and address the issue as necessary. But otherwise, once it is set up and configured, it will run in the background and there is not a need to come in here every day. If I expand on menus out here on the left-hand side, this is where you can quickly see some of the different areas within our platform. If you’re building a custom flow or building flow from scratch, we have our flow builder tool. This is where, again, we can build integrations between anything and anything, many common databases out there, a lot of different integrations and systems and such. Here are the individual resources within the tools. If you want to jump straight to your connections and import or export that’s been built, our tool does support scripting. Within it, we have a JavaScript editor built directly within the tool. We can also support on-prem applications with our own PrimeAgent. You also have access to a help center here, which will link you to our knowledge base which has thousands of articles around our platform. And if a user wants to get some more info, they can. We have access to our What’s New section. I would like to highlight this because we’re constantly enhancing our integration platform. As we do, we will roll out those new releases. And those are hot releases. Meaning, there is no downtime to an end user as we push out those enhancements. And then we also have a very robust support team built around the platform as well that is accessible via our ticketing system here. In conjunction, we also have Celigo University, which is our online learning center, where users can go in and take courses in modules here around different areas within the platform. So really what we’re doing here is really giving a user full functionality with the tool, making sure that you have the resources to either build your own successful integration, or basically, you can also maintain some of these integrations that you may install from our marketplace. So as Ebru was stating, you’ll see here within our marketplace, what we have is these tiles for different integrations that we have worked or different applications we have worked within the past. What we have done is taken some of the flows and integrations that we have built and we have bundled them up into what we call template sets. So if a user were to go in and maybe they want to go down here and they’ve got a QuickBooks integration and they say, “Well, I want to integrate some QuickBooks data.” We can come down here, find our QuickBooks tile, click in here and you can see we have many template sets here around the QuickBooks environment with these different endpoints. Amazon, I can come in here, I can go in, find my Amazon tile, select it here. Now here, you can see we have links to both our integration apps, which are pre-built integrations, which are basically 90% complete, around many of the common use cases out there. We also have template sets available to help users get started when building out integrations around these environments. So what’s going to happen is when one of these gets installed, what we have done is we have already pre-built many of the common use cases around these platforms. So, for example, if I select this Amazon, the NetSuite integration app. When I open it up, you’re going to see down the left-hand side here, what we’ve done is we have already built out common flows around these different areas, like products. We’re going to give you the ability to manage your products in this case within your ERP system. This one is using NetSuite so you can manage your product within NetSuite, save it, and have it exported out to those external systems. You can manage your inventory. So what you can do is to find your available quantities. Our tool’s going to take that data, export it from that suite out to your ERP order flows, and such. Now, what we have done is if we look at these different flows and such, if I open one of these up, what you’ll see is we’ve actually used the APIs of these different systems in order to move the data in the appropriate direction. So you saw there I just opened it up for products going out, for our order flow. So here with Amazon, if I hit the export side, you’ll see our tool. It’s just we’ve used the API in order to define our action. This is where we’re going to get our data. Once we get that data, we can transform it into the appropriate format that we need so that we have a usable JSON object. We can add filters in so if we need to filter data. Also, this is where we have our JavaScript editor that can be used in order to define some scripting if necessary. So that way we’re making sure our data gets formatted in the proper way in order to post it into a destination. Now, from here, we can take it– in this regard, we went into NetSuite. So you’ll see here we’ve already defined our action saying we’re going to go to the sales order object. It’s an add function. Then our tool makes it easy to define the mappings between these two applications. So when I click on our mapping icon here, what you’ll see it opens up,and then it simply shows us the field mappings between Amazon and NetSuite for the order import. Now, as you look down here, you look and see there’s standard mappings. We’re simply taking the postal code to the zip code. We also have the ability to hard code values designated by this H here. So if I open up this settings icon, you can see this is where we have the ability to hard code values. We can also do lookups, so if we need to do some lookup data or lookup functions here, we can build out a lookup. Here you can see we’re going out to another record, and then we’ve got some look up here to find another set of data. So we also can support what we call multi-field. So we have a list of functions that are available here. So this is an if statement here, but we also have this whole list of different functions available. Compare statements, data, date format We have regex expressions available here. So again, what this does is makes sure that our tool has everything available. It needs to make sure the data is formatted properly so that it can be moved between different applications. So again, you can see here I’ve got my Amazon NetSuite integration for many of these key flows. Let me switch accounts here real quick. If I go over here around an Acumatica environment, you can see here we also have these flows for many of these common systems already set up for Amazon, Magento, Jira. And the same concept, if I were to open up one of these integration tiles we can now see, here would be our flows in order to move the data between these different applications, Acumatica items into the Amazon product. And you can see these flows can be multi-step as well. So we have the ability to add in any additional steps necessary. So if I need to add an initial step here, I could go in. I could hit the plus symbol. Our tool’s going to open. I’ll say, “Great. Where else do we want to post this data to?” And this is where you can see we have direct database integrations here. We have our universal adapter, so we can go out to just HTTP endpoints, rest endpoints. And then here’s our quick connect adapters for many applications out here in the world. And these are systems that we have worked with in the past. Where we have taken their API, kind of included into our system, so that the user can select from a drop-down menu around the actions they want to perform with these different systems. So you can see again, this list is quite extensive here in regards to systems that we have included within the application. Once an integration has been built, you have the ability to run these either in a real-time state or in this case, these are all batch-based for batch-based flows. You can see I can open this up. A user has control over a scheduler. So I could say, “Great. I want this flow to run every hour.” I can specify a start and end time. So I could say, “I want it to run every hour between 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM” We can also select the day of the week we want this to be executed on. So I want it to run between 8:00 and 5:00, Monday through Friday. For any batch-based flow, we can also run those on-demand at any time by selecting the run now function, which would kick that flow off and manually execute that dataset. Once flows are being executed, you will have a dashboard view here. This dashboard will show you which flows ran at what time, how long they took to execute, how many records were pulled, and such. If there are any errors or exceptions, this is where they would also be displayed and can be shown there as well. As I was stating before, this is where notifications can be defined. So you can see with our dropdown you can select which flows you want to be notified of. So if you have a testing flow, you don’t want to have that being pushed to your inbox every time you’re testing something. So you can pick and choose which flows you want to be notified of, as well as connections. So if a connection goes offline, you can also set that up there. Our tool will give you an audit log This audit log will show you any changes made to the application. It’s not going to show you data, oh, like an hour ago you pushed X amount of records through. That’s available on the dashboard. This is going to show you any changes made to the integration app, the configuration, the mappings, or anything like that. That’s going to show you that information here. You have the ability to add in additional users to the system and they can be added in either manage or monitor rights. So you do have the ability to control that as well. So, again, what this is going to do is really give you the ability to build out these integrations around these different endpoints and such that you may need Amazon to basically, any of these different applications you’re going to see listed here. Here would be an Amazon and Microsoft Dynamics business central integration set that we have. Same concept here. You’ll see if I open it up. We’ve got many of the common flows already set up here for orders from Amazon into Dynamics. So you see, we get our orders, then we get the order items, and then we will perform our different steps in the business central, making sure the companies exist or not. So we can do an add or update function there. So as we import orders, we can first look to see if a customer or a company exists. If they do, we can attach orders to existing customers. If they do not, we can add the customer record. Then we can add in the orders. Again, same concept as I was showing before. You need to find your mapping for your field mapping between the two systems, using functions to make sure you get the appropriate data sets. So that’s what integrator I know is going to support and allow you to do around these different environments that you may need to integrate with here. It allows us to build flows to the appropriate API endpoints, to move the data sets accordingly. We can map our field-level data. We can add functions and formulas to make sure the data is formatted properly. If there are any exceptions or errors, the tool will alert you of that so that you can then worry about running your business and only look at this when there’s an exceptional error or such that needs to be dealt with. So that is Integrator IO. That is our integration platform and how it can be used. All right, [inaudible]. Back to you. Thank you, Kelly. Just give me a second here. Yeah, sure. Okay, so we will have a Q&A shortly after a few more slides. And if you have any questions, so right now is a good time to type them into the questions window. So, yeah, before that, I would like to go over a customer story here. So this is Perfect Keto and they develop and produce Keto supplements and foods and they were a very fast-growing business. They saw over I think over 600% growth in their direct-to-consumer sales channels through Amazon and Shopify within one year. And so at that time, they had to manually export transactions, run reports for inventory and financials so this was really resource-intensive, slow, and error-prone. And then they adopted an ERP system, so they picked NetSuite. And then they automated e-commerce business processes with one of Celigo’s prebuilt integrations for Amazon, and also, they did the same for Shopify. And on top of those, they also built custom integrations to their 3PL for automated fulfillment. And as a result, they were able to gain a real-time visibility into their sales orders and inventory levels, and this helped them improve business decisions and also demand an inventory planning. And so by eliminating the manual tasks and automating the order processing, they were able to– their teams were able to cut back like 10 to 15 days a month of work. And they also saw thousands of dollars in cost savings by not having the need to hire external contractors for data entry tasks any longer. And so if you would like to learn more about this case study, also want to check out other customer stories we have, so you can visit our website on celigo.com and go to Resources. And we also have other webinars coming up, so you can also sign up for those. And then in addition to that, we also have a selection of e-books available, so you can, again, go to our Resources and download these. And if you’re just getting started with automating your processes and looking into how to start with integrations, so I would really recommend The Executive Guide to Best Practices for eCommerce Integration ebook here because it gives you a roadmap to follow for your integrations and then also explains in detail about the bits and pieces that go into each of the e-commerce business processes. And now, we will be moving on to the questions part. So if you have any questions, please type them into the questions window. So let’s see. So one question is, “So you mentioned integration monitoring. Can you talk more about that? Do you have automated notifications to your users?” Can you answer that, Kelly? Yes, we do. [inaudible] once you’ve got the ability to do it you can actually set up your notifications per user. We have that notifications area there that I was showing where you can go in, configure it. You can get bigger per flow as well as per connection. That way, again, it’s a lot like your breaker box in your house. You don’t have to log into the tool every day. You can configure the notifications to be sent directly to your inbox, and then you can jump in an address from there. Okay. Thank you. Another question is, “Do I need technical staff to maintain the integrations?” And I can answer this one. So as, I mean, we mentioned during the presentation, so our platform is really very intuitive, and then it provides you with all the tools you need to, as Kelly mentioned, to monitor your integration but also to troubleshoot your integration and so we have today many customers actually that are just business users who work in finance, accounting, and operations, and they all manage the integrations themselves without any help from their IT teams. So I think I can say once your integrations are up and running, as a business user, you can easily manage your integrations yourself if you want to. And then next, I’ll move to the next question here. Do you offer training? And I can answer this one as well. I mean, Kelly showed you during his platform demonstration. We have Celigo University available in the system. And through the university, we have courses that cover a very wide range of topics. And so you can learn about the different features of the platform and the different pre built integrations we have through these courses. And also we have– in addition to that, we have extensive knowledge base articles. And these articles really are very detailed and guide you through the nuances of all the integrations. So let’s see. So another question is, so if I go for one of the prebuilt integrations, can I add additional flows to build custom use cases? Can you answer that one, Kelly? Yes, you can. So the pre built integrations are built, managed and maintained by Celigo. And again, those are built around the common use cases that are out there. If you have additional requirements, you do have the ability to use integrator IO to build out custom flows to augment those integration apps. Okay. Great. Thank you. There’s another question. So can I modify the directions or the frequency of the flows included in the pre built integrations? You cannot modify the direction. So the core functionality of those flows are set there. So for example, they’re going to take orders from Amazon to your ERP– customers from Amazon to your ERP. Now, that’s where in conjunction with that previous question, if you needed to go in the opposite direction, you do have the ability to build a custom flow to take that data and go in the opposite direction. So although you cannot modify the integration apps directly to the flows themselves, you can build custom flows to augment that if necessary. Now you do have the ability to modify the schedule. So as an end-user, yes, you can come in and control the scheduling, the frequency. You can also run those on demand as necessary. Okay. Thank you. So here’s another question. So can I connect to multiple Amazon stores with the pre built integrations? And also, does your system support connecting to international marketplaces? Yes and yes. So we do support all the different Amazon domains out there. So we can connect to different international marketplaces and such. What was the second half of that one [inaudible]? Can we connect to multiple Amazon accounts? Yes. That was– Yes, you do have the ability to connect to your multiple accounts and domains. Okay. Great. Thank you, Kelly. And so if there are no other questions, so this brings us to the end of this webinar today. So thank you very much everyone for joining us. So if you have any questions after this session or if you would like to learn more about our integration solutions, you can visit us at celigo.com and contact us through the chat window there or just email us at [email protected] and we will be happy to answer any questions or provide you with any information you need. So thanks again for joining us and have a nice rest of your day. Bye.

About The Speaker

Ebru Saglam

Sr. Product Marketing Manager
Celigo

Ebru has a diverse background with over a decade of combined experience in marketing, technical sales and customer services roles across startups and enterprises. She also has hands-on experience in the e-commerce landscape, she has spent more than 5 years running her DTC multi-channel e-commerce business.

Kelly Izer

Sr. Solutions Consultant
Celigo

Kelly joined Celigo over 8 years ago. He has over 20 years in the integration industry, with a focus on helping companies capture the benefits of SaaS platforms with iPaaS.

Meet Celigo

Celigo automates your quote-to-cash process with an easy & reusable integration platform-as-a-service (iPaaS), trusted by thousands of eCommerce and SaaS companies worldwide.

Use it now and later to expedite integration work without adding more data silos, specialized technical skillsets or one-off projects.

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