What Is an ERP For Fashion Brands (And Do You Actually Need One)?
If you've started hearing the term "ERP" thrown around by other fashion brands, your accountant, or a sales rep who cold called and you're still not entirely sure what it means for your business, you’re not alone.
Most growing fashion and apparel brands hit a point where the business has outgrown the tools that got it started. You have your Shopify, POS, returns software, accounting software, sales channels, 3PL, JOOR, NuOrder, The Iconic… Suddenly, running your business out of spreadsheets and across multiple platforms has become overwhelming. This is where an Enterprise Resource Planning software comes in.
What is Enterprise Resource Planning?
Enterprise Resource Planning is a simple idea: one system that holds all of your business’ core operational data. Your inventory, orders, purchases & financials all in one place, so that your other tools are all reading from the same source of truth.
For a fashion brand specifically, an ERP is the main hub for your:
Inventory: how many units of each style, colour, and size you actually have, and where
Sales channels: your Shopify store, wholesale orders, in-store POS, wholesale marketplaces like JOOR & retail marketplaces like The Iconic
Purchasing and production: what you've ordered from suppliers or manufacturers, and when it's landing
Financials: so that your accounting platform reflects what's actually happening in the business, not a delayed or manually re-entered version of it
Reporting: so that your team can make informed decisions on sales data and forecast for future purchasing.
An ERP software is designed to make sure everyone who interacts with your business - your warehouse staff, your accountant, your agents, and your customers - are all working with the same numbers in real time, instead of five slightly different versions of the truth.
Do I need an ERP?
There’s no magic revenue number or team headcount that signifies the next step for your business, but the spreadsheets and systems in place when you started your business will become inadequate as your business scales. It’s a good problem to have, but the work accumulates, and keeping your business organised and customers satisfied is key to that next level of growth.
