Your fractured tech stack is inhibiting your growth

One thing which sets ecommerce apart from brick-and-mortar stores is the different types of innovative tech stacks which enables each, and helps boost conversions.

But, even with a strong selection of tech, ecommerce businesses face serious issues with integrations. In fact, 85% say they’re losing money due to integration related issues, and many don’t know where to start fixing those problems.

One of the biggest integration issues we see which causes a loss of revenue and stale growth is a fragmented tech stack.

That means a business’ core solutions aren’t connected to each other. Perhaps they have an ERP, but with no proper integration with their WMS, they’re not receiving the information they need to make decisions.

Here’s how a fractured tech stack can impact your business and stifle your growth.

An inability to scale

When you’re trying to grow your business, you’re always looking for new opportunities to attract more customers and sell more. And your marketing strategy might be outstanding, constantly attracting new leads; but if your tech’s not up to the job, you’ll lose out on retention.

71% of customers cite poor customer experience as the main reason why they don’t return to a store, and a fractured tech stack is often a direct cause of the problems with that experience.

That’s because, when a customer places an order through your platform, that turns into a transfer of data between your ecommerce store and your warehouse. That transfer will probably go smoothly if only a few are happening at a time - but what about as you grow, or during peak periods?

With a fragmented stack, too much data going through your system can overwhelm it and result in lost or inaccurate orders. And it’s tough to rebuild a customer relationship after just one bad experience.

Inaccurate and unreliable data

Running a business and developing sensible strategies is all about having the right information at your fingertips. You can’t make big decisions on a whim - you’ve got to have the data and statistics to back it up.

Whether it’s through a company-wide ERP, or a business intelligence platform, collecting, storing, and analysing data is essential for business success.

But how can you do that if the data you need isn’t flowing from point-to-point reliably? A fractured tech stack means your disparate solutions aren’t communicating efficiently with one another, putting you at a severe disadvantage.

Your ERP might not be receiving up-to-date information from your warehouse, for example, which results in a lack of inventory transparency. An interconnected, holistic tech stack lets you make real-time and accurate decisions, and when it’s fragmented, you lose out on that opportunity for growth.

A static tech stack with no means of adapting

In relation to standard, brick-and-mortar retail, ecommerce is a startlingly new industry.

And as with any new industry, it’s constantly innovating and developing on the original formula. Whether it’s with technology, or new approaches altogether, all ecommerce businesses should keep some flexibility to their operation to ensure that they can adapt to new trends.

However, this becomes difficult when your tech stack is fractured. If you’re reliant on systems which don’t work together cohesively, you’re stifling your own growth and innovation through a lack of data transparency.

But it goes beyond your current tech stack. A fully integrated store also allows you to change up your offering more easily, and swap out outdated tech for best of breed solutions.

This is much more difficult with a fragmented, non-integrated operation; replacing tech is a lengthy and expensive process, and if you’re trying to maximise growth, you need to get this done as soon as possible.

Enter Patchworks

We’ve helped a number of customers who’ve come to us with a fragmented tech stack.

One of our customers, Tentsile, had a very basic and fractured stack which was inhibiting their ability to scale. Their Shopify platform was only integrated to three out of their four warehouses, and they had no centralised ERP which could compile all of their data for strategic decision making.

This meant they were too reliant on manual processes to join the gaps. But after integrating their core systems with Patchworks, including a brand new ERP, they managed to cut down email correspondence with their warehouses by 95%. And during peak periods, they freed up between 80-100 hours of labour.

That’s because, with Patchworks’ self-serve, no-code/low-code platform, Tentsile was able to quickly connect all of their systems and create a cohesive ecosystem.

For more information on the importance of integrations for your ecommerce operation, take a look at our ultimate guide to integrations.

Or, get in touch with us for a free consultation and demo on our platform.