Brightpearl - order management system CMS

[iKam]

Hi guys,

Not so long ago we raised an interest in the Brightpearl system from what it used to be it looks like its come a long way and it does way more than Linnworks (we are current users of Linnworks). So I got an email back asking if I would like a someone to call me and talk more about the system which I accepted as we from what we could see it looks like a fantastic system.

We spoke about the system and then the chap offered to give me a demo of how things are done.

However near to end they got very pushy with the sales side of things. Even though I mentioned at first I do not take pressure sales however we are serious to learn more about the system and are concerned about your pricing structure on your website but the guy said we can work something out for you.

The guy on the phone kept trying to sell us the system. We were convinced and we thought it was worth the extra money with their CMS system and accounting built in. However they charge 12 months money upfront.

£69 per each user. £79 for the multi channel e commerce. £20 for support. This is all per month but they charge you per annum plus VAT.

So if you wanted a 5 user licence you'll be looking at around £5K plus VAT.

Compared to linnworks fee structure Brightpearl didn't seen all appealing after all! I can understand them charging for the software, however the amount they ask for to add on each user automatically prices many out the market.

Just a little rant!

Any thoughts on which one you prefer Linnworks vs Brightpearl ?

 

[GraemeL]

Surely you are not comparing like with like. Brightpearl is an accounting system, Linnworks is not.

G

(Linnworks user)

 

[iKam]

Surely you are not comparing like with like. Brightpearl is an accounting system, Linnworks is not.

G

(Linnworks user)

Hi G,

Thanks for the input. I wasnt making a direct comparison. However the Linnworks/Tradebox/Sage combination does get your accounting sorted as well. Its just not in one system.

I was just wondering what people thought about the two since Brightpearl claimed that 'many' people were coming off Linnworks going to Brightpearl.

 

[Kalsan]

We have just started to use Brightpearl and to be honest I am not that impressed with the sales team. I think the sales guys told me the system would do everything I wanted and more, just to get me to sign up. I think this is a good system for small businesses who deal with simple products. If you are a Medium or large business then I think you will find this system limiting.

They sell it as a complete all in one package, CRM, Stock Management and Accounting which can integrate with Magento, Ebay, Shopify, BigCommere, Amazon.
The integration with online platforms is good and the accounting is not bad either.

I think where Brightpearl falls down is the CRM. It is very basic and many people who currently use a CRM system would find it limiting. Funny that they don't actually use the CRM themselves.
They have a Marketing module which does not link very well to the customer database. Also say you do a marketing campaign to all your ebay customers and you get orders from that campaign, brightpearl will not tell you which orders that come into your system are from what source. Marketing does work well with MailChimp if you do email marketing but this is very basic.
The user permissions is very basic, you can only limit users to main modules and not the individual parts of a module.
Another major failing is the inventory system, it struggles to cope with large number of SKU's. If you are a small business with around 10,000 to 50,000 sku's It will be fine any more it will start to slow the system.
There are other little funny limitations which you may not find out until you really test the system. A few weeks ago I found out that BrightPearl sales order can only have a maximum 50 products on one order. Again this is ok for small businesses but if you are a large business like some of my suppliers, it is very limiting.
When importing products and exporting products there is a limit of exporting 20,000 sku's and with the uploading it is a really bad limit of 500 sku's. The system can't handle any more it crashes.
Another funny thing which I still haven't got a firm answer back from Brightpearl is about the magento integration. Some sales guy told me we will need to have separate brightpearl stores installed and another guy told me no, you can have one magento installation with multiple stores which most people would have.

I think Brightpearl can only get better with time and funding. If you are a small business and can afford their high costs then go for it however if you are a large business then I would look at alternatives first.

 

[boltexfasteners]

Evening,

We have just started to use Brightpearl ourselves. We have three users, which is quite costly and it cost us an initial £2,500 for our 25,000 product integration to our Magento website, as Brightpearl apparently disabled the ability to integrate yourself. Our products are very complex, but the system actually works very well. Before choosing to go with Brightpearl, we looked at software packages including Sage 50 Accounts Professional etc, but it was only Brightpearl that could do what we needed our back office system to do. I definitely recommend it and found Ti Osnat very helpful!

Nick

 

[Kalsan]

Hi Nick
Yes as I said for a small business with 25,000 products Brightpearl should be fine. It is just for medium/large businesses with 50,000+ products BrightPearl will start to struggle.

Nick, what makes your products complex? Do you have many variations/options?

 

[Jack@GillespieBS]

Hi all,

I usually pop up on these Brightpearl threads due to being a Brightpearl Accounting Partner (makes sense really). Always interesting to hear the thoughts of Brightpearl users on here, as well as our own clients who use the system.

Kalsan you are spot on when you say that it is definitely most suited to Small businesses. Ideally you'd have an eCommerce store provided by one of the integration's i.e. Magento and Shopify. What integration's do you currently use and how are you finding them?

Nick I am pleased to hear that everything is going well for you. For a system that practically 'does it all' then making sure it is working well is paramount! I agree with your sentiments about Ti, very good member of the team. Also it would be interesting to hear how your accountant finds the system?

Jack
GillespieBS

 

[Kalsan]

Hi Jack
We have integrated multiple Magento, EBay and shopify stores. Problem is that these E-commerce platforms can handle 100,000+ products but BrightPearl can't so the integration can't work properly. All products on your sites need to be on BrightPearl.

I think BrightPearl sales teams should be open about it's limitations when talking to prospective customers and finding out if they have 50,000+ products and maybe have a turnover of £1+million. I think the sales teams are trained too never say no to prospective customers and of course they want to have good sales figures and bonuses etc. But it is the customers who end up loosing and having a bad experience with brightpearl.

 

[stephbaychic]

Surely you are not comparing like with like. Brightpearl is an accounting system, Linnworks is not.

G

(Linnworks user)

Not sure when you last saw Brightpearl but we just started using it and it's NOT just an accounting system.
Inventory, purchasing, orders, yes they have accounting but def not "just" accounting.

We're very happy with it FWIW.

 

[boltexfasteners]

Hi Kalsan,

You alright?

Our products are that complex I don't know when to start haha!

As a distributor of industrial fasteners and fixings to the construction contracting industry, all of our products are prices per 1000, 100, 10 or 1. So for example, we can quote some bolts for £5.00 / 100 but if the customer types in only 1 piece, the price will come up as 5pm. Secondly, all of our products have quantity price breaks which are different for every single product. So for example, we have 1-99 pcs at one price, 100-499 at another price and 500+ at another price. On top of that, some products can only be purchased by box quantity - mainly screws. If a customer wants to order 100 screws, but we only sell per 200 pieces - it will notify the customer so that they can only order in multiples of 200.

We hold a lot of stock for our products, where stock levels are shown live. However, should we run out of stock, a lead time is automatically placed onto that product - for example: available to us within 1-2 working days, depending on the supplier. Our prices work on a cost plus basis and we are in a market which fluctuates a lot. It is not simple for us to upload one price and stick to that price, because should we run out of stock and our cost price changes, we will lose out on much needed margin. As per the pricing structure, we add a percentage onto the cost - so if our cost price changes, the sales price will also automatically be changed. As I say - very complex!

Jack - no problem. Ti is very knowledgeable, honest and will own up if he makes an error in judgement. Not too pushy either. It took us around 3 months to finally decide to go with Brightpearl because we wanted to make sure that we were going with the right company. Many of Brightpearl's competitors called me up every single day trying to make a sale. Ti didn't, which I appreciated because of how busy I was/am.

Nick

 

[Kalsan]

Hi Nick

I understand your product structure. I wish we had products like yours. Ours are stupidly complex. For one product we can have upto 300 different options. I have had to limit it to 160 to save our sanity but even then I may have to reduce it to around 60 for Brightpearl to work ok. Also our pricing is complex for one product we can have upto 18 different prices and this is not related to order qty or pack size. I'm having to create 18 price lists in Brightpearl per product. I think our pricing structure will have to change to suit brightpearl.

Brightpearl can only get better the more people sign up and use it. If there are 10 people who are having the same problem out of 10,000 customers then brightpearl will put that problem to the bottom of the list. Same as Sage and any other software company.

 

[Jack@GillespieBS]

Stephbaychic, yes totally agree, it definitely wouldn't be a competitor to accounting only systems such as Xero and Sage for example. Though as mentioned on a previous thread the accounting function is pretty good.

Nick, from what I've seen Brightpearl can handle price breaks pretty well so I'm sure in that aspect it must of certainly helped the business. Again as mentioned before, because the system does so much getting the set up spot on is key which it sounds like you've done, then in theory it should work well for you!

Kaslan, that does sounds rather complex and yeah it is a classic catch-22 situation. Unfortunately a lot of issues only crop up when it is being used day in day out by a business.

Great feedback again.

Jack

 

[Linn Systems]

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen.

My names Richard I am from the business development team at Linn Systems.

After reading a few of the posts in this conversation I believe its important to remember that due to the ever changing environment that is e-commerce, different solutions have their strengths and weaknesses. And all credit to Brightpearl they do a fantastic job at their accountancy packages.

However Linnworks is aimed as a flexible, customisable solution targeted at all business environments from small home sellers to large corporate businesses.

Our software utilizes an integration with Tradebox to Sage Line 50 and Sage Instant. Having previously worked in recruitment I can confirm these are the by far most popular choice of accountancy software packages (at least in the UK). This combined with our software you have a very comprehensive automation solution.

I was just wondering what people thought about the two since Brightpearl claimed that 'many' people were coming off Linnworks going to Brightpearl.

All cancellations through Linnworks are handled through our channels and we are proud to say have had very few reports of our customers leaving us for other specific solutions so I am very surprised to hear this, because it is just not the case.

iKam I would like to speak to you personally and see if there is anything we may have missed with regards to your set up and operation of Linnworks and offer you some help getting the most out of our software so please get in touch. This also goes for all of our customers (future and present) if you have any questions regarding the software feel free to ask or contact us directly.

We would also like to wish everyone on UK Business Forums a very merry Christmas and happy new year. And good luck with choosing a suitable software solution for there business.

Kind regards

Richard

 

[Kalsan]

hi i was just reminded of another strange flaw in brightpearl. The unique reference for customers and suppliers does not work. In brightpearl it states the reference is unique and cannot be duplicated which makes sense however it does not work and you are able to create customers with the same account reference. Brightpearl are still scratching there heads about this one.