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Deep Dives #

Multi-Store ERP Integration: How to Get Every Store, Register, and Your Website to Agree 

Multistore-erp-integration

What is multi-store integration, in plain terms? 

What people mean Example What the ERP has to map Hard part 
Physical stores or branches with registers 12 shops, or 6 distributor branches with trade counters Each store as a location, its sales, tenders, returns, transfers Store operations: end of day, cash, offline selling, counter pricing 
Multiple online storefronts A B2C site and a B2B site, or one site per brand or country Each storefront to a company, currency, price list, and warehouse Publishing the right catalog and prices to each site 
Multiple stock locations inside one storefront One Shopify store fulfilling from two warehouses and three shops Each ERP warehouse or store to a platform location ID Showing sellable inventory per location, not one blended number 

Multiple storefronts vs multiple stores: how does each map to one ERP? 

Why companies run several storefronts 

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Mapping each storefront to the ERP 

Storefront decision What it controls Example 
Which ERP company or subsidiary Where its orders and revenue post UK site posts to the UK company; US site to the US company 
Which currency Prices shown and the currency the order is booked in EUR site books in EUR, not converted from USD 
Which price list or price book What each visitor pays Consumer site uses retail list; trade site uses customer-specific price books 
Which warehouse(s) or locations feed stock What “in stock” means on that site Trade site sells from the central DC only; consumer site also shows store stock 

Publishing one ERP catalog to several sites 

What changes when you also have physical stores 

What changes when you go from one location to several, and why do you end up updating three systems? 

With one location With several locations 
Is it in stock? Is it in stock at the Main Street store, right now, and not already promised to someone? 
What does it cost? What does it cost at this register, for this customer, with this week’s promo? 
Who is this customer? Is this the same customer who bought online, and what’s their loyalty balance or account limit? 
What did we sell today? What did each store sell, in which tenders, with which returns, and has it posted? 
Where did that stock go? Was it sold, transferred to another store, received short, or counted wrong? 

What data syncs between POS and ERP, the website, and your stores? 

What Data Sync Between 1024x1024
Data Usually owned by Direction Timing Watch out for 
Products and catalog ERP ERP to website and POS Scheduled (hourly or daily) Web-only content (images, copy) often lives on the platform; decide which fields the ERP overwrites 
Variants and barcodes ERP ERP to website and POS Scheduled A barcode that exists in the POS but not the ERP means a sale nobody can post 
List prices ERP ERP to website and POS Scheduled, plus on change Rounding and tax-inclusive vs tax-exclusive prices across countries 
Customer-specific prices ERP ERP to website and branch counter Real-time price at checkout, or synced price books Counter and web must show the same account price 
Promotions ERP or POS/platform (pick one) Owner to the other channels Scheduled before start date Promos built in two places drift within a week 
Stock by location ERP or POS (pick one per location) Both ways Near-real-time stock updates Publish sellable inventory, not on-hand 
Reservations (BOPIS pickup) Website or order system Website to ERP and store Near-real-time reservation updates A reservation that doesn’t reduce sellable stock becomes an oversell 
Customers ERP for accounts; platform for consumer sign-ups Both ways Scheduled, plus on create Duplicate customers when the same person buys online and in store 
Loyalty balances One loyalty system Owner to website and POS Near-real-time balance updates Points earned in store must be spendable online the same day 
Gift cards and store credit One system (often the POS or platform) Owner to the others; liability to ERP Real-time balance; scheduled accounting entries Outstanding balances are a liability finance has to see 
Web orders Website Website to ERP Real-time order sync, or every few minutes Ship-from-store orders need the store’s location, not the DC’s 
POS sales POS POS to ERP Scheduled (per sale or daily summary) Posting every sale as a full order floods the ERP 
Returns and refunds Channel where the return happens To ERP, linked to the original order Real-time stock update; scheduled finance posting BORIS (buy online, return in store) touches two channels 
Tenders and payments POS and payment provider POS to ERP Daily Card, cash, gift card, and charge to account each post differently 
End-of-day totals POS POS to ERP Daily End-of-day reconciliation needs an account for cash over/short and a named owner 
Store transfers ERP ERP to POS; receipt back Scheduled Stock in transit is not sellable at either store 
Receiving ERP (purchase orders) ERP to store; receipt back On event Short receipts must update sellable stock before the website sells it 
Cycle counts ERP or POS (pick one) Store to owner On event A count posted twice, or posted against moving stock, corrupts on-hand 
Tax Tax engine or ERP To website and POS Scheduled rate updates; real-time tax calculation Store sales are taxed where the store is; shipped orders often where they go 

The store data that gets forgotten 

How do you get one source of truth for stock, price, customer, and the sale? 

How Do You Get Source Of Truth 1024x1024

What are the four multi-store setups, and which stacks use each? 

Setup Who owns store truth Typical stacks Where it breaks if designed badly 
A. The ERP runs the stores The ERP’s own retail/POS layer D365 F&O + Dynamics 365 Commerce (Store Commerce, Commerce Scale Unit); Business Central + LS Central; NetSuite + SuiteCommerce InStore or NetSuite POS (retiring Jan 2029) The website connects to the ERP’s data, not its retail engine, so web and store calculate prices and stock differently 
B. Shopify runs the stores Shopify (online store + Shopify POS + locations); the ERP is the finance and supply-chain back office Shopify Plus + POS with NetSuite, Business Central, F&O, or SAP B1 ERP pricing and trade terms don’t reach the register; every POS sale posts as a full order and floods the ERP; transfers and receiving live in two places 
C. A separate POS sits in the middle A standalone POS product Adobe Commerce/Magento or BigCommerce (neither has a built-in POS), with any ERP; also NetSuite businesses replacing their POS Three systems, three stock numbers, and nobody decided which one is master 
D. An OMS orchestrates fulfillment A separate order management system routes fulfillment Larger multi-region operations Adds a fourth system; overkill below a certain scale 

Setup A: The ERP runs the stores 

Setup B: Shopify runs the stores 

Setup C: A separate POS sits in the middle 

Setup D: An OMS orchestrates fulfillment 

How do Shopify, Adobe Commerce, and BigCommerce handle physical stores? 

How Do Ecommerce Physical Store 1024x1024
Platform Native POS? How store stock is modelled Pickup notes Usually leads to 
Shopify / Shopify Plus Yes, Shopify POS Each store or warehouse is a location with its own ID; the ERP maps its locations to those IDs Stores are usually set lower in fulfillment priority than warehouses so web orders use warehouse stock first Setup B (or C if stores run a different POS) 
Adobe Commerce / Magento No; stores use a third-party POS Multi-Source Inventory (MSI): stores and warehouses are sources, aggregated into stocks that serve sales channels Depends on the POS and extensions chosen Setup C 
BigCommerce No; connects to partner POS products Inventory by location Native BOPIS APIs support pickup on a single storefront channel and don’t support in-store stock transfers Setup C 

Shopify and Shopify Plus 

Adobe Commerce and Magento 

BigCommerce 

Where Dynamics 365 Commerce fits 

How do NetSuite, Dynamics 365, and SAP Business One differ for stores? 

How Netsuite Sap Differ From Store 1024x1024

NetSuite 

Dynamics 365 Business Central and Finance & Operations 

SAP Business One 

What needs real-time stock and price, and what’s fine on a schedule? 

Near-real-time sync (seconds to a few minutes) Scheduled (hourly, nightly, or end of day) 
Sellable stock by location at checkout Catalog and product content 
Price at checkout, including customer-specific prices Customer master updates 
BOPIS pickup reservations Financial posting of store sales 
Loyalty balance and gift card balance Bulk price list updates (ahead of their start date) 
Web order into the ERP when a store fulfills it (pickup or ship from store) Tender and end-of-day reconciliation 

How is a distributor with branch counters different from a retail chain? 

Retail chain store Distributor branch or trade counter 
Typical buyer Consumer, often anonymous Account customer, identified at the counter 
Price List price plus promotions Customer-specific price books, tiered pricing, contract prices 
Payment Card, cash, gift card Charge to account on net terms, plus card for cash customers 
Pickup Buy online, pick up in store (BOPIS) Will-call: order online or by phone, collect at the branch 
Biggest risk Overselling stock the website promised Counter price not matching the web price for the same account 

What happens when a store loses its internet connection? 

How do you connect multiple stores to ERP so store #7 is setup, not a new project? 

When don’t you need multi-store ERP integration yet? 

How i95Dev helps: multiple stores, one ERP, one answer 

Frequently Asked Questions

The multi-store integration series 

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