Top 5 ERP Sync Errors That Hurt eCommerce Performance

Creating an ERP sync with your eCommerce site is a great way to streamline operations, automate manual tasks, improve customer service, and boost eCommerce operational efficiency. However, ERP integration comes with challenges, too, including the risk that your ERP sync could fail and harm your eCommerce performance.

Like any other complex moving system, both your website and your ERP eCommerce integration need regular maintenance and care. They’re not something you can just set and forget. Neglecting website maintenance can have serious consequences for your business, including lost sales and revenue.

In this guide, we’ll cover the top five ERP sync errors that could harm your business—errors that we usually see after companies neglect regular maintenance.

Need help with website maintenance? If you’re struggling to maintain your website or don’t know where to start, contact us today to get a personalized maintenance plan for your website.

Key Takeaways

• ERP sync errors and other ERP integration issues can directly impact inventory accuracy, leading to stockouts or overstock.
• Duplicate orders caused by sync issues hurt customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.
• Conflicting customer data can damage the shopping experience and reduce trust.
• Accounting and payment mismatches disrupt cash flow and create financial headaches.
• Product information errors confuse buyers and can result in lost sales.
• ERP order and inventory sync issues can result in customer frustration and damage to your brand and reputation.
• Preventing ERP sync errors improves overall eCommerce performance and profitability.
• Regular monitoring, proper integration, and choosing the right ERP system are critical for avoiding these issues.

Table of Contents

1. Why ERP Sync Matters for eCommerce
2. The Cost of Poor ERP Integration
3. Common ERP Sync Challenges
4. Top 5 ERP Sync Errors That Hurt ERP and eCommerce Performance
5. How to Prevent ERP Sync Errors
6. Optimize Your ERP for Maximum Online Sales
7. Contact Us
8. Top ERP Sync Errors FAQs

Why ERP Sync Matters for eCommerce

An accurate and seamless ERP integration is critical for streamlining operations and boosting efficiency.  When your ERP system syncs correctly with your online store, inventory levels, orders, customer data, and financial information remain consistent between platforms. The data updates in real time, ensuring that both staff and customers always have access to the latest information, which eliminates oversells and reduces errors.

A real-time ERP integration provides your team with real-time access to key financial and operational data. This means that you’re making decisions in real time based on the most recent data. Better data means better decisions for your business. Without a proper ERP sync, even small discrepancies can snowball into costly mistakes that hurt sales and brand reputation.

The Cost of Poor ERP Integration

In the short term, businesses save money by not implementing an ERP and eCommerce integration. They don’t have to pay for the tech, outside consultants to set it up, or ongoing subscription fees. Given this, it’s understandable why some businesses might be tempted to skip an ERP eCommerce integration and rely on manual processes and workarounds instead.

However, over time all those manual processes can add up and reduce operational efficiency. They also don’t occur in real time, which leaves your business open to oversells and resulting delays. While relying on manual order processing might work for a small company with a low order volume, we’ve consistently found that these manual processes become a challenge as companies scale. Eventually, they often hinder growth.

Not having an ERP integration can be expensive for eCommerce businesses. When systems don’t communicate or don’t communicate correctly, it leads to inventory mistakes, duplicate orders, and inaccurate financial data. These errors frustrate customers, slow down operations, and create more work for your team.

Beyond operational inefficiencies, a poor integration can also hurt revenue and brand reputation. Missed sales opportunities, delayed shipments, and accounting errors all add up, impacting your bottom line. Investing in a robust ERP integration ensures that your business runs smoothly, avoids costly mistakes, and delivers a better customer experience.

Common ERP Sync Challenges

Even the best systems can run into ERP data synchronization issues if they’re not properly integrated with your eCommerce platform or if system updates lead to incompatibilities.  Common syncing challenges include: data that doesn’t sync or syncs incorrectly, delayed order updates, or insufficient automation between platforms. All these issues can harm ERP and eCommerce performance.

When ERP data synchronization challenges occur, they can lead to stockouts, oversells, frustrated customers, and inaccurate financial reporting. Understanding these common pitfalls is the first step in preventing errors and ensuring that your ERP system supports, rather than hinders, your eCommerce operations.

Top 5 ERP Sync Errors That Hurt ERP and eCommerce Performance

ERP integration is critical for keeping your eCommerce operations running smoothly. When ERP integration issues occur, they can directly affect sales, customer satisfaction, and overall business efficiency. We’ve found that these are the top five most common ERP sync errors in eCommerce that can hurt ERP and eCommerce performance.

1. Inaccurate or Inconsistent Data – If the data in your ERP is inaccurate, those errors will sync into your eCommerce platform and be visible to your customers.  Inconsistent product SKUs, duplicate customer records, ERP inventory mismatches, ERP accounting discrepancies, or incorrect pricing can all disrupt sync processes or cause customer confusion if they appear on your website.

2. Missing or Duplicate Orders – Syncing errors can result in lost orders, where an order from your eCommerce site never makes into your ERP for processing, or duplicate orders, where the same order gets processed multiple times. This can result in confusion for your fulfillment teams and frustrated customers who may not get their packages or may get charged for multiple products when they only ordered one.

3. Incompatibilities – As previously mentioned, an ERP data sync may fail due to version incompatibilities. Technical systems like ERPs, eCommerce platforms, and your ERP eCommerce integration have periodic updates. These updates are necessary for fixing security vulnerabilities and adding additional functionality. However, updates can also break an existing integration and result in data syncing errors.

4. Customization Conflicts – Companies typically customize their ERPs and workflows and may also have custom add-ons or coding on their website. These powerful customizations may not align with standard sync processes, leading to missing or corrupted data.

5. Network or Server Downtime – If your ERP, website, or ERP integration goes down, the data sync may go offline and result in delayed updates and missing data.

Fortunately, most of these errors can be addressed or avoided completely with ongoing support and by ensuring that you have the right ERP sync for your business.

How to Prevent ERP Sync Errors

Preventing ERP sync errors starts with choosing the right integration approach. While many ERP eCommerce integrations offer broadly the same functionality, there are key differences in how they handle certain tasks and their level of customizability. It’s important to choose the solution that works best for your business.

We typically recommend that our customers go with a solution that creates a real-time, automated data exchange between your ERP and eCommerce platforms. This reduces reliance on manual data entry, which is one of the biggest sources of mistakes.

We also recommend that our clients go with a solution that stores data so that, even if the sync temporarily goes offline, orders and information updates will still go through.

It’s important to evaluate the customizability of your ERP data sync and ensure that it provides the functionality your company needs both today and tomorrow as your business grows.

As we’ve already mentioned, regular, ongoing maintenance also helps prevent syncing errors. It ensures that you keep your systems compatible and in top shape. Many maintenance service providers perform extensive testing to ensure continued compatibility after updates and will make other changes to your system as necessary to ensure their continued operation.

Optimize Your ERP for Maximum Online Sales

In addition to focusing on your website and ERP sync, it’s also important to focus on your ERP, too. Work with your implementation partner to ensure that your ERP supports the custom workflows necessary for processing eCommerce sales. Your ERP needs to be able to accurately handle all the data associated with your products from SKUs to product information and inventory.

We’ve found that automation is a key part of this process, including automatically updating stock levels, syncing customer data, and more. A well-configured ERP reduces errors and frees your team to focus on growth. Regular monitoring, data audits, and selecting the right modules tailored to your business needs further enhances performance.

It’s also important to go with the right ERP sync provider. Go with someone who understands the unique needs of your eCommerce business and understands your systems inside and out.

Proper planning, configuration, and ongoing support goes a long way toward keeping your operations running smoothly and error-free.

Contact Us

Don’t let sync errors cost you sales, frustrate customers, or slow down your operations. Contact us now to for a personalized website maintenance plan to fix existing issues and optimize your systems for seamless, error-free eCommerce performance.

Top ERP Sync Errors FAQs

What is an ERP sync error and why does it matter for eCommerce?

An ERP sync error occurs when your ERP system and eCommerce platform don’t exchange accurate, real-time data. These errors can lead to inventory mistakes, duplicate orders, or mismatched customer information, which can harm sales, customer satisfaction, and operational efficiency.

How do inventory mismatches affect online sales?

When inventory levels aren’t properly synced, you run the risk of oversells or running out of stock. This can lead to canceled orders, disappointed customers, and lost revenue.

What causes duplicate orders in ERP systems?

Duplicate order errors in ERP often result from sync errors, manual data entry, or integration issues between platforms. These can result in delays in filing orders, shipping mistakes, and frustrated customers.

How can customer data conflicts impact the shopping experience?

Conflicting or outdated customer information can result inaccurate shipping details, missed shipments, and a poor shopping experience. Over time, this can erode customer trust and loyalty.

What are common accounting and payment errors caused by ERP sync issues?

eCommerce ERP problems can lead to mismatched invoices, missing payments, or incorrect refund processing. These errors disrupt cash flow, complicate financial reporting, and create unnecessary administrative work.

How do product information errors hurt eCommerce performance?

Incorrect product names, descriptions, or pricing due to sync failures can confuse buyers, trigger returns, and reduce online sales. Clear, accurate product data is critical to creating a positive customer experience and boosting sales.

Can ERP sync errors be prevented, and if so, how?

You can prevent ERP sync errors with an automated, real-time integration and by performing regular system audits. Monitoring for discrepancies and partnering with an experienced ERP provider also minimizes risk and helps prevent ERP syncing errors.

What tools or integrations help ensure ERP and eCommerce systems stay in sync and prevent eCommerce ERP problems?

There are a variety of middleware solutions, API-based integrations, and ERP modules available to integrate your ERP and eCommerce website. It’s important to choose the right systems for your business and ensure that they’re compatible with one another. Choosing compatible systems and enabling real-time updates reduces sync issues.

How often should businesses audit their ERP data for errors?

Depending on your traffic and order volume, we recommend doing monthly or quarterly audits to catch discrepancies early.  You can also set up automated alerts to flag mismatched inventory, orders, and payments.

What are the long-term costs of ignoring ERP sync problems?

Ignoring ERP sync errors can result in lost revenue, higher returns, and lost customer trust and confidence. It also has internal costs, including a higher workload and reduced operational efficiencies. Over time, these issues can significantly harm both profitability and growth.

How ERP errors affect online sales?

ERP sync errors lead to inventory mismatches, duplicate or missing orders, and incorrect product or pricing information. These mistakes frustrate customers, delay fulfillment, and can result in lost sales and revenue.

What’s the best way to prevent ERP integration mistakes?

The best way to prevent ERP integration mistakes is to automate syncing, regularly audit data, and monitor for errors. Ongoing website maintenance is a critical part of preventing ERP integration mistakes.

What’s the best ERP system for eCommerce?

The best ERP system for your eCommerce business depends on your specific needs, such as company size, industry, and budget. We typically recommend Sage and Odoo.