Can anyone recommend a business management software solution to support a Magento business?

[BrightIdeas]

I'm planning on upgrading our Magento site to the latest version. As part of this, I would like to integrate a solution that will support inventory management, financial management, etc.. Currently, I spend waaaay to long ordering stock across multiple suppliers. Not to mention needing to export reports and fiddle about on Excel far too much to get access to business info.

Any recommendations appreciated.

 

[GraemeL]

Linnworks plus Clear Books

 

[GraemeL]

No 1 priority is Linnworks - deal with the accounts seperately

G

 

[SimonGNoBlue]

Hi,

Have you looked at NetSuite as a possible solution? I know there is a connector for NetSuite available with Magento. If you would like me to send you any information about how it could help you, then please just message me your e-mail and i will get some info sent to you.

Cheers,
Simon

 

[antropy]

Another vote for Linnworks, but perhaps look at Sage as the accounting solution?

 

[BrightIdeas]

For some reason, I thought Linnworks was primarily designed for multi-channel ecommerce businesses... Will take another look.

Anyone have any experience with Brightpearl?

 

[SimonGNoBlue]

I know lots of customers who have looked at Brightpearl but not chosen them as their solution. They are good at what they do, but it does depend on the the size of organisation and what their growth expectations are. I also think they are now focussing their attention to the US.

 

[Jack@GillespieBS]

For some reason, I thought Linnworks was primarily designed for multi-channel ecommerce businesses... Will take another look.

Anyone have any experience with Brightpearl?

Hi BrightIdeas

We are Brightpearl accounting partners so deal with lots of clients who use the software and in our experience it has been extremely beneficial for these companies. A couple of things to consider whilst thinking of using Brightpearl are;

1. That BP is a correct fit with your company and it's needs
2. The implementation of BP is done correctly, (I cannot stress enough the importance of this)

I'd recommend getting a feel for it by taking out a free trial which you can access from our partner page http://www.gillespiebs.co.uk/brightpearl.

If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to get in touch.

Jack

 

[AlexPallex]

All of the 2nd gen multi-channel software ends up being very expensive for a growing business and are often limiting in terms of capabilities. I speak from personal experience of working with one and looking extensively at the capabilities and pricing of all of the others (esellerpro, channel advisor, channel grabber, linnworks, bright pearl etc). They're tailored for the masses rather than your business. If I were you I would look at combining a number of low cost or free extensions to give you the capabilities you need at a lower overall cost. Examples would be M2E Pro multi channel (if you need it - free), Moogento's order processing extensions (£150 for both), auto ordering (we have a custom build at £250 - automates all supplier ordering), Magecore reporting (free), Magmi product import/export and Xero/Carrytheone for accounting (monthly about £40). Give me a shout if you want any more info or a copy of the custom ordering extension - there are paid versions such as ecommhub or unirgy dropship but they're pricey. Sage is also a big investment!

 

[8420PR]

My suggestion: If you have time, try out openerp (now called odoo). It's a very complete solution, but you do need some technical knowledge (as the magento-openerp connector module means you have to host openerp on your own server), and also a broad knowledge of accounting and inventory management if you want to use those modules.

You would get the most benefit from openerp if you also have sales outside magento. If all sales are within magento I would go with the previous solution and buy a module for magento.

 

[BrightIdeas]

Thanks Alex. Well, you must have evaluated very extensively to have arrive at this combined solution, I must say. I'll look at all the ones you mention. Do you have first hand experience of using all these? Moogento's extensions look interesting. To be honest, I've mainly used Aheadworks... never sure who to trust when it comes to extensions.

I've also been looking at Kashflow for accounting - although this doesn't offer real time synchronisation. Don't know if this is a must? I suppose it depends on whether I'm using the Kashflow interface for order processing.

All of the 2nd gen multi-channel software ends up being very expensive for a growing business and are often limiting in terms of capabilities. I speak from personal experience of working with one and looking extensively at the capabilities and pricing of all of the others (esellerpro, channel advisor, channel grabber, linnworks, bright pearl etc). They're tailored for the masses rather than your business. If I were you I would look at combining a number of low cost or free extensions to give you the capabilities you need at a lower overall cost. Examples would be M2E Pro multi channel (if you need it - free), Moogento's order processing extensions (£150 for both), auto ordering (we have a custom build at £250 - automates all supplier ordering), Magecore reporting (free), Magmi product import/export and Xero/Carrytheone for accounting (monthly about £40). Give me a shout if you want any more info or a copy of the custom ordering extension - there are paid versions such as ecommhub or unirgy dropship but they're pricey. Sage is also a big investment!

 

[James.C]

Hi,
Netsuite, Brightpearl and Megaventory are three solutions which come to mind.

 

[AlexPallex]

Hi, I've certainly shopped around! I've used them all apart from xero/carrytheone which we're just about to implement following our end of year. I think Kashflow, Quickbooks and Xero are pretty even and much comes down to personal preference but the integration of Carrytheone makes it all smoother.

Aheadworks are a great publisher. I generally look at their Magento Connect reviews and go off those, along with any recommendations from others. I've had a few conflicts but they're not too bad to fix, just back up before any changes and you can't go wrong. Moogentos extensions are v useful, ship easy for shipping in bulk and pick pack is great for invoicing - both are 100% necessary with multiple staff using our platform.

In terms of subscription services, I know esellerpro are great but v expensive and only cost effective beyond a certain revenue level. Channel Advisor are slightly behind them tech wise and they do offer some great consulting alongside, but they are also horrendously expensive, alongside high monthly payments, they set you a revenue target which if you hit you have to pay them a portion of your profits. No thanks! When I've looked at Linnworks - I wasn't impressed with the listing capabilities and it doesn't run on mac. Channel Grabber doesn't integrate properly with Magento despite their sales pitch so wouldn't go near them. I've not looked into Brightpearl so can't comment. There are new players coming into the market all of the time, I stumbled upon ShoppingCartElite.com the other day - it looks great but setup costs are massive!

 

[BrightIdeas]

Amazing, thanks Alex. Your feedback great to know.

Have you ever looked at the Embedded ERP extension (by Boost My Shop)? This looks attractive for many reasons. On initial research, it seems to offer most things that I need plus allow for scale (although not accounting - although to be fair, it's not designed for that). Not sure if it's familiarity with the Magento interface but the functionality seems very easy to understand (compared with other systems, such as Linnworks... where I definitely would need a demo to even get my head around the features).

I looked at Xero but noticed their basic package doesn't support multi-currency - and their other packages are expensive for what value we would get from it. Shame, the frequency of synchronisation with Carry the One seems better than Kashflow/onesaas.

Hi, I've certainly shopped around! I've used them all apart from xero/carrytheone which we're just about to implement following our end of year. I think Kashflow, Quickbooks and Xero are pretty even and much comes down to personal preference but the integration of Carrytheone makes it all smoother.

Aheadworks are a great publisher. I generally look at their Magento Connect reviews and go off those, along with any recommendations from others. I've had a few conflicts but they're not too bad to fix, just back up before any changes and you can't go wrong. Moogentos extensions are v useful, ship easy for shipping in bulk and pick pack is great for invoicing - both are 100% necessary with multiple staff using our platform.

In terms of subscription services, I know esellerpro are great but v expensive and only cost effective beyond a certain revenue level. Channel Advisor are slightly behind them tech wise and they do offer some great consulting alongside, but they are also horrendously expensive, alongside high monthly payments, they set you a revenue target which if you hit you have to pay them a portion of your profits. No thanks! When I've looked at Linnworks - I wasn't impressed with the listing capabilities and it doesn't run on mac. Channel Grabber doesn't integrate properly with Magento despite their sales pitch so wouldn't go near them. I've not looked into Brightpearl so can't comment. There are new players coming into the market all of the time, I stumbled upon ShoppingCartElite.com the other day - it looks great but setup costs are massive!

 

[Raw Rob]

I looked at Xero but noticed their basic package doesn't support multi-currency - and their other packages are expensive for what value we would get from it. Shame, the frequency of synchronisation with Carry the One seems better than Kashflow/onesaas.

You can also use Carry The One to sync between Magento and Kasflow. (I currently use it to sync between ZenCart and Kasflow and it is real-time.)

 

[BrightIdeas]

Thanks Rob, although I should also mention that I also ideally wanted to integrate Campaign Monitor too. (Currently have to manage two separate lists - not ideal!).

Do you like Kashflow? Do you use it mainly for accounting or for other features?

 

[Raw Rob]

Do you like Kashflow? Do you use it mainly for accounting or for other features?

It's not bad! I use it only for accounting, at the time I set everything up it seemed to be the only way to automatically get the data from ZenCart into an accounting package easily (although of course there are more options now). No major faults with Kashflow, just that it seems to be getting worse and is sometimes very slow. But I hardly have to use it, I have an external accountant and bookkeeper who access it directly, which is my only reason for using cloud software.

 

[BrightIdeas]

Thanks Rob. Hmmm.... slow doesn't sound ideal! Do you ever use it to analyse sales (e.g. GP margin for the week's sales)?

 

[Raw Rob]

Maybe it's my internet connection, I live in Portugal and use satellite internet, but the rest of the internet works fine for me.
No, I only really use Kashflow to enter invoices (sales and purchases) and then the accountant prepares the accounts from that.

 

[Linn Systems]

Hello everyone,
Just to comment on a couple of the comments raised on this thread.

(Linnworks)it doesn't run on mac

Linnworks does not naively run on a Mac OS, however it is achievable by installing a program called parallels to install a virtual windows computer onto your Mac to then in turn run Linnworks. Here is a guide for this. this being said we are hoping to roll our our fully featured web-based variant of Linnworks by the end of the year, If you have an active Linnworks account or trial you can log into www.linnworks.net for a taster of some of the functionality and the new interface that we are due to release at the end of this year.

(compared with other systems, such as Linnworks... where I definitely would need a demo to even get my head around the features).

Here is our recently updated Webinar that we host live every Thursday at 3pm. This will cover the majority of the features available in Linnworks and aims to answer the most common initial questions raised by our customers when starting out using Linnworks.

They're tailored for the masses rather than your business.

This is true, however a custom bespoke system can be at a huge cost. Linnworks is designed to be highly configurable to appeal to all types of businesses so you can set up the software as you best see fit. If you find that there is some features that may be lacking it may be possible via custom scripting to meet these requirements.

If anyone has any questions regarding functionality please get in touch I would be happy to help.

Kind Regards

Richard Maxed
Business Development Executive
Linn Systems LTD

 

[serpyre]

What is always fascinating about this area is the lack of understanding of the basis of it all. Every eCommerce platform has a very mini ERP (order management and master data management - products & inventory). The big companies like L'Oreal (Fortune/FTSE) use SAP which is largest most integrated solution for supply chain and business management (hence ERP). ETL is the glue that conects all the systems together.

Everything else is derived from that. So online and small-app providers are mini pre-configured cut-down ERPs with hardcoded ETL, be it suppliers or anything else. When you start adding integration, you start adding headaches as you have sync issues - the solutions are pre-configured functionality with bits missing in increasing amounts as you go from SAP down to WooCommerce.

Then it comes down to one very simple fact, does the out of the box solution fit your needs - what works for one will ruin the business for another. If it doesn't then you need business process analysis to do best fit solution platform. What happens when none of these work for you - use Excel - but as that is already causing the headache you are full circle back to off-the-shelf or getting someone to analyse the fit. Best target is to allocate ~2% of revenue to it on a yearly basis, or amortise if for a one off purchase.

What do we do, that is a bit different so not applicable here. Some SAP consultants took SME tools and made them work to like SAP business processes - best of both worlds - lower cost (relative) and higher productivity (5-10:1 revenue:effort compared to SMEs 1:1). We used to resell some of the tools - but SMEs didn't have any idea how SAP multi-channel, realtime dynamic pricing, 30min supplier onboarding or mdm would help them (bit like trying to explain to a Cessana pilot how to fly a 777) - so we decided to get in to the retail business instead.

Pick your budget level and then research the tools, but remember at SME levels finding one to do everything correctly is next to impossible - they are cut-down ERPs, MDMs, ETLs, CRMs, BIs - so it all depends what they cut out, you will need to pick and match 'best fit'.

 

[BrightIdeas]

Hello everyone,
Just to comment on a couple of the comments raised on this thread.

Linnworks does not naively run on a Mac OS, however it is achievable by installing a program called parallels to install a virtual windows computer onto your Mac to then in turn run Linnworks. Here is a guide for this. this being said we are hoping to roll our our fully featured web-based variant of Linnworks by the end of the year, If you have an active Linnworks account or trial you can log into www.linnworks.net for a taster of some of the functionality and the new interface that we are due to release at the end of this year.

Here is our recently updated Webinar that we host live every Thursday at 3pm. This will cover the majority of the features available in Linnworks and aims to answer the most common initial questions raised by our customers when starting out using Linnworks.

This is true, however a custom bespoke system can be at a huge cost. Linnworks is designed to be highly configurable to appeal to all types of businesses so you can set up the software as you best see fit. If you find that there is some features that may be lacking it may be possible via custom scripting to meet these requirements.

If anyone has any questions regarding functionality please get in touch I would be happy to help.

Kind Regards

Richard Maxed
Business Development Executive
Linn Systems LTD

I submitted an enquiry via your contact form last week, but have yet to hear from you guys. Better to ring??

 

[BrightIdeas]

What is always fascinating about this area is the lack of understanding of the basis of it all. Every eCommerce platform has a very mini ERP (order management and master data management - products & inventory). The big companies like L'Oreal (Fortune/FTSE) use SAP which is largest most integrated solution for supply chain and business management (hence ERP). ETL is the glue that conects all the systems together.

Everything else is derived from that. So online and small-app providers are mini pre-configured cut-down ERPs with hardcoded ETL, be it suppliers or anything else. When you start adding integration, you start adding headaches as you have sync issues - the solutions are pre-configured functionality with bits missing in increasing amounts as you go from SAP down to WooCommerce.

Then it comes down to one very simple fact, does the out of the box solution fit your needs - what works for one will ruin the business for another. If it doesn't then you need business process analysis to do best fit solution platform. What happens when none of these work for you - use Excel - but as that is already causing the headache you are full circle back to off-the-shelf or getting someone to analyse the fit. Best target is to allocate ~2% of revenue to it on a yearly basis, or amortise if for a one off purchase.

What do we do, that is a bit different so not applicable here. Some SAP consultants took SME tools and made them work to like SAP business processes - best of both worlds - lower cost (relative) and higher productivity (5-10:1 revenue:effort compared to SMEs 1:1). We used to resell some of the tools - but SMEs didn't have any idea how SAP multi-channel, realtime dynamic pricing, 30min supplier onboarding or mdm would help them (bit like trying to explain to a Cessana pilot how to fly a 777) - so we decided to get in to the retail business instead.

Pick your budget level and then research the tools, but remember at SME levels finding one to do everything correctly is next to impossible - they are cut-down ERPs, MDMs, ETLs, CRMs, BIs - so it all depends what they cut out, you will need to pick and match 'best fit'.

Serpyre, well quite. I think most ecommerce business owners understand that there will be some form of compromise when it comes to finding a suitable system when the budget does not stretch to bespoke. As you say, it's about trying to align your business priorities and model with an out-of-the-box solution (or mix of solutions).

 

[FineWinesUK]

Hi BrightIdeas
Sadly can't shed light on any solutions as I'm in the same situation, almost!

But maybe you can give me some insight into why you chose Magento (Free Version?) as we're about to go with Prestashop, but only as it looked like Magento would be rolling more future "improvements" into the paid version only? Open cart was also considered but the development seemed to be a much smaller team with less resilience if a key member left. Our goal is for a product that will at least keep up with and benchmark the developments for eCom generally, if not be leading the way ...! So be interested to hear why you picked Magento.

On the ERP/Accounts front, we've been evaluating WebERP, FrontAccounting and Opoo (was OpenERP) all have unique elements we like, none offer a complete solution, and we have complex duty and import CCT which will need custom development, so want to get the right package as doing that twice would be a costly mistake. Anyone got feedback on using any of these or general observations?

Frankly, I'm amazed at the lack of ecom/cart to accounts integration, as I would have thought that it was a key component for any business ... but then again there is a lack of integration for CRM as well. I've used Act! since DOS days but now want to move to Sugar/Vtiger as integration and other issues mean Act! is no longer viable.The aim is to use SuiteCRM (SugarCRM Fork, so supposedly able to use all the addon's/third party modules of Sugar) Vtiger looked Ok, it was more than a coin flip, but not much! Again integration is the issue!

To bring all this together it looks like a 3way sync is not possible, and that the eCom will be the "sync hub" and the CRM and ERP become spokes, both syncing to the hub ... any views on this?

Based on this scenario, my thoughts are to develop our own order automation around the ERP software, keeping the front end eCom/cart as close to original/simple as we can, and keep the complex data and business rules in the "back office" so to speak. Clearly some extra data/modification is needed in the front end to give delivery costs and timeframe estimates at time of check out etc as needed but the heavy hitting and multiple extra database tables I felt better kept separately to lighten the load on the front end server. Should I be considering a separate AUTOMATION product and drop the idea of developing our own ... ?

Sorry for the multifaceted post, but the issues seem aligned to my own dilemma
thanks
Richard

 

[Charlie McBroom]

No 1 priority is Linnworks - deal with the accounts seperately

G

I know Linnworks are looking into a direct integration with Quickbooks in the near future.

 

[BrightIdeas]

Hi FineWinesUK, I believe we chose Magento as it allowed the most scalability and flexibility. But, that was nearly five years ago so things may have changed since then.

Re: integrating systems, yes, probably any CRM/ERP would seem like spokes to the main system. I suppose it will always be this way as no system covers all specialisms - hence you end up with an overall piecemeal feel to the whole thing - even if it works fine, I'm sure there'll always be some glitches along the way.

I'm afraid that I can't really comment on the technical aspects of your situation though, sorry. Although, would you have sufficient ecommerce expertise to develop a system that supports you to be ahead of the curve?

 

[FineWinesUK]

Thanks for the reply, Magento back then was a stand out system based on the sate of the others, things certainly have moved ahead by all parties (and lots have fallen away too).

I think to develop a new Ecommerce system would be a big mistake, in terms of time, reliability and functionality. Recreating the wheel on that would be a monstrous challenge

I think that's why the specialist segments have developed, it's a shame no-one thought about the need for data interchange for between Cart, ERP/accounts and CRM amongst all the other needs! (well I guess that's where SAP used to come in, but it looks like the wheels are falling off that too!)

Development of the back-end engine to process our raw data, new products, new prices etc is bad enough!! We are about to integrate a new logistics and warehouse partner, and that is turning into a major project as they handle almost everything differently than our previous/current operation, and we'll be running both side by side for some time.

If anyone has any pointers regards the current Pros/Cons of Magento/Prestashop/OpenCart I'd be really pleased to hear about them, or any of the ERP systems.
thanks
Richard

 

[Charlie McBroom]

Magento
Pros: Flexible, powerful, 1000's of extensions and themes, has a free version.
Cons: You will need a decent host/server as it is a resource hog, may take a little learning.

Opencart
Pros: Flexible, 1000's of extensions and themes, free.
Cons: Self hosted, not as many resources as Magento, I don't think it is as scaleable as Magento personally.

Prestashop
Pros: Flexible, 1000's extensions and themes free.
Cons: Not very mobile friendly, not as SEO friendly as the above.

I will mention my knowledge of Prestashop is a little dated so this may have changed, but I personally out of the 3 would recommend Magento for the long term plan.

Though if you don't want to invest in a semi decent host then look at Open Cart.

All the best,

Charlie McBroom
Ecommerce Specialist
@McEcommerce

 

[FineWinesUK]

Thanks, I think Prestashop has the current edge in terms of SEO over OpenCart, but new versions can change that, and I think OpenCart is about to bring out a new version that will probably equalise with or leap frog Prestashop.

I think Magento is too heavy for our needs as of now, although again a new version is supposedly slated for release that is supposed to be lighter on resources, but the feeling that the paid version will always have the "better" bits, counts heavily against it.

I was hoping for a more hands-on pro's and con's from someone who actively used both (switched) or develops for both/switch camps, to see the practicalities of upgrade frendlyness and the daily management issues etc.

But all comments and feedback appreciated ...

Thanks
Richard Lukins

 

[Charlie McBroom]

In previous roles, I have used Magento, OpenCart and ZenCart alot.

Magento is great, I would say if you clear the Cache often and have a semi decent server then the speed should keep at a good pace.

I preferred listing with Magento compared to OpenCart and ZenCart.

The themes and extension are so more vast too.

What cons have you been facing at the moment?

All the best,

Charlie McBroom
Ecommerce Specialist
@McEcommerce

 

[FineWinesUK]

No specific Con's yet, just developing some elements and testing them before we launch a live "test" shop, but wanted to hear about any specific issues others had found, especially after using a system for some months, through upgrades etc, to see if there were any serious niggles or other issues.

I guess we want to avoid developing too much on a platform that we might have to abandon later, so asking upfront to see if anyone can help avoid a costly mistake!

Thanks
Richard Lukins

 

[ResearcherMagento]

Hi everyone,

I am currently doing a deep research on usability issues that Magento users face. I am not a developer and never worked with it, so I am very keen to find out what value/insights a marketer or an ecommerce manager can/can't take from Magento.

Thanks very much for the help!

 

[Charlie McBroom]

Hi @ResearcherMagento

Magento is a great system but it is resource heavy which can cause the site to slow down.

Though there are ways around that like investing in a good host, clearing the Database logs, configuring and clearing the Cache and if you're knowledgeable with SQL then you can optimize the database a little too.

But to be honest and in most cases, if you invest in a decent host then Magento will work just fine.

All the best,

Charlie McBroom
@McEcommerce
Ecommerce Specialist at Linnworks

 

[ResearcherMagento]

Thanks very much for the advice!! Really appreciate it.

All the best,

Rita
@ResearcherMagento

 

[Tradebox]

If you do go down the Sage Accounts route for your accounting, Tradebox integrates directly with Magento and can be used to create your invoices directly in Sage 50 or Sage Instant Accounts. This affords a level of order management and stock control, albeit not as sophisticated as some of the order management tools such as Linnworks and ChannelAdvisor etc. If you think of Tradebox as an automated bookkeeper your not far off. We have a number of 'bells and whistles' as well . However, we can take feeds from both of the aforementioned multi channel solutions if you do choose them. We also integrate with other platforms such as eBay, Amazon, Play etc.

 

[SidmouthPT]

Hi. @BrightIdeas, have you made a decision about what to go with?

Very interesting thread. It's clear there are lots of choices and lots of limitations in most cases unless you have an unlimited budget for something bespoke.

 

[serpyre]

It's all comes down to max efficiency, Shopify/WooCommerce 50%, Prestashop 100%, Magento CE 200%, Magento EE 200-500% (with external tools like Heiler). NetSuite is a 500% ERP, SAP ECC is 1,000%, Linnworks <200%. Most service providers/retailers change the base install - it reduces efficiency from the standard 200% - therefore most small business run at ~50% 'true' efficiency, Amazon are 1,400%, Google are 2,000%.

Previously during the 'good times' Google and corporates looked the other way allowing small business to over-optimise their efficiency thereby ranking higher. Now that growth is hard to find small business are being ranked on 'true' efficiency - that is the complete business revenue stream not any one area - IT is only 5%.

Which is the best ERP, you need to match across the board all the tools, putting SAP ECC (1,000%) with Magento CE (200%) will limit your online revenue to the lowest common denominator - yes some do it but growth will be a disaster. We run at 950% on Magento CE but they stripped all the inefficient parts out and replaced them with enterprise grade processes.

Embedded ERP, Linnworks, will all run <200%, SAP B1 200-500%, NetSuite ~500%, SAP ByDesign 500-800%, SAP ECC/Oracle Financials 1,000%. The whole point of ERP is to improve efficiency, but if you match it with the wrong middleware, make too many changes, have a customised ecommerce install, you are going to reduce not improve efficiency - that occurs in 95% of cases.

So if your Magento CE is low efficiency ~50% (many will be) then Embedded ERP will be fine, the next level are Linnworks but there are not many 200% ERPs - OpenBravo is probably the best choice. After that you get in to the larger companies such as NetSuite & SAP - choosing a no-name platform will again reduce efficiency - they won't have the optimised business process automation.

For us this is all very simple, we work at 500%+ levels, the consultants above us 1,000%+, almost everyone here will be running at <200% and most ~50% - at that level there are 1,001 ways to do the same thing so there's no right answer.

The lower the efficiency the more it is time based and growth is restricted by number of employees, the higher it is the more that is automated and the faster you can use compound growth as per the graphic - https://twitter.com/Serpyre/status/526786661066477569 - ignore the HEIC part - annoying low efficiency solution!

 

[SidmouthPT]

Sorry to be a real pain here and please excuse my ignorance but here is my question: efficiency as measured objectively by what? is there a standard model for measuring efficiency, to enable the comparisons like the ones you make above?

 

[serpyre]

Not that a small business would understand, it's qualitative and quantitative - ie. experience - we get them from 800-1,000% consultants who tell us immediately - supposedly as you go down to small business it becomes more qualitative - too many variables as they like to 'fiddle' with their structure - which is what makes them inefficient in the first place.

You can look at the growth projections based on business efficiency - https://twitter.com/VanquishCmce/status/526792027921719297 - small business is limited to 200% (tools, service providers, retailer experience) and normally run at ~50% as they seem to think they know better than 100,000s of man hours working out the optimal business processes for the platform and environment.

An example, we helped a small business (first and hopefully our last) who were a $14mil company with 250% efficiency, their main competitor was 800% - when trying to explain 500% growth processes they started to implode. The consultants asked them to move to another host as you want to distance yourself when that happens - they were getting 24 organic visitors per $1 but the corporates were starting to ramp up pressure at 800% and they wanted a slow growth plan at 250% - you're not going to last long with that approach! Google said their efficiency is 2,050% but who's going to argue about 50% at those levels!

If you want higher platforms then max Magento CE is 200% ($1,000s install), Magento EE is 200-500% (with external Heiler type tools & $10,000s install), Hybris/Demandware are 500-800% ($100,000s install) & ATG/WebSphere 800-1,000% ($millions install).

 

[Charlie McBroom]

@serpyre, I really like all these stats but could I have some sources please?