Explore the role of eCommerce in addressing the challenges of the seed industry, features required and importance of ERP and eCommerce integration.

2. Introduction
© 2015 i95dev
Did you know ?
Global Seeds Market Analysis, Trends & Industry Forecast Report 2016-2025 - Market is
Poised to Grow at a CAGR of Around 13.3% to Reach Approximately $204.5 Billion - Research
and Markets
As with most industries today, eCommerce has also had an impact on the seed industry. We
shall now discuss-
• The role eCommerce can play in addressing the many challenges of the seed industry,
• Features required for an eCommerce platform to meet the demands of the seed industry,
and
• Why eCommerce, ERP, and CRM integration is also relevant for businesses in the seed
industry

3. Reasons for eCommerce in seed industry
• Predict and forecast market demands
The entire exercise begins with a sound understanding of customers’ requirements, season after
season while addressing complexities of geo-demographic variances. Likewise, forecasting market
demands accurately is also a challenge in planning production and supply activities. With an eCommerce
website, there are tools that can be utilized to conduct seasonal /pre-seasonal surveys depending on the
nature of the seed. The results of these surveys will help businesses strategize and align their marketing
and sales efforts.
• Reduce shelf life of products
Seeds are perishable items and companies have limited time to move their inventory while dealing with
the fluctuating prices of seeds -Multiple sales channels to help move the inventory faster. A robust
eCommerce system can help businesses gain deeper and wider market penetration capabilities; both
domestic and international.
• Handling the seasonality of Sales in better way
Businesses manage the seasonality of their business better with ecommerce -manage the seasonal rise
in sales with the same sales force by improving their productivity and performance. Sales personnel can
book orders for their customers/clients online, from any place anytime, significantly cutting down on the
time between order placement and order processing.

4. Reasons for eCommerce in seed industry
• Get your B2B customers online
A properly designed and implemented eCommerce store can help you bring your B2B customers, the
distributors, and retailers, into its ecosystem thus doing away with the necessity of having
storages/inventories maintained at various levels of the supply chain. Distributors and retailers will be
able to place orders for self or their customers from the same platform; helping you cut costs and better
manage your inventory. You can further boost sales by running localized and targeted online promotions
and campaigns.
• Improve customer service and support
With an eCommerce system in place, businesses can focus more on customer service and support, than
the operational aspects of a sale. eCommerce system brings in transparency by ensuring availability of
updated product, inventory, order, and customer information to your customers/partners anytime and
anywhere. Businesses can further streamline their support activities by integrating their eCommerce
store with their CRM system.
• Support for marketing activities
The seed industry is constantly subject to the forces of nature, globalization, and socio-political
situations. Driving marketing activities in such a volatile business environment will require a strategic
marketing platform that can quickly pass business insights to your customers and close a potential
opportunity.

5. Key features required in an e Store for the seed industry
• Support for Product Information Management (PIM)
Businesses in seed industry have to present a lot of information, in multiple formats, to educate their
customers and help them make an informed decision. Hence, an e store must have excellent product
information management capabilities to be an effective sales channel for the seed industry.
Moreover, the product information also serves as an on-demand knowledge base that serves as a virtual
support and marketing resource.
• Ability to upsell and cross-sell
The ability to display related product offerings help customers in selecting the right set of products that
meet their needs and requirements. While this improves customer experience, it also means additional
sales/ revenue for your business. Say for instance a customer is looking for a particular variety of seeds,
what could be sold along with it are crop specific fertilizers, planters etc.
• Scalability – to support your growing needs
Businesses at times end up adopting systems which end up becoming a burden, as they could not
scalable to match the businesses’ requirements. Moreover, businesses in seed industry usually have a
large number of SKUs and the platform must be able to handle that without bringing the system down.

6. Key features required in an e Store for the seed industry
B2B Features
• Salesperson module
If your eCommerce store can double up as a sales portal then, you can not only manage your sales
representatives but also empower your sales representatives with all the information they need to close
deals faster. With the Salesperson module, the sales person can book orders for their customers online,
anywhere and anytime.
• Sales quote
Typical to any B2B environment, B2B sales in seed industry also involve raising quotation. Having the
flexibility to raise, review and approve quotes online can drastically improve the quote to order cycle;
while of course positively influencing customer loyalty and experience.
• Quick order
B2B orders usually are repeat orders with the same set of products in the basket. Quick order feature
gives customers the flexibility to quickly select products, enter quantity and place orders. This feature
goes a long way in improving the eCommerce adoption among the B2B customers, as they do not
necessarily have to go through the lengthy process common in a B2C scenario.
• Credit Limit, Net term and Bill Pay
With B2B customers on the board, it is important to give them the flexibility to purchase on credit
and subsequently make payments online on pre-agreed terms and conditions.

7. Challenges that Integration can help you Overcome
Most businesses already have an existing accounting, ERP and CRM systems in place to manage their
backend operations. With eCommerce being added to the list, and efficient operations mandating
information flow between these systems, manual information sync between these systems is no longer an
option. Manual information sync techniques are expensive, time-consuming, and error-prone. In some
cases, they are the single biggest limiting factor in the growth of the business.
• An effective integrated solution (eCommerce, ERP, and CRM) can help businesses in seed industry
• With Customer specific pricing from their ERP system to the eCommerce system,
• Improve inventory management with automated product and inventory order sync,
• Automate tax information sync from eCommerce to ERP system for tax and regulatory compliance,
• Improve customer experience by centralizing all customer related information for enhanced
personalization, and more.
• Minimize order aging with automated order sync from eCommerce to ERP system (for fulfillment)

8. For more information on how eCommerce and integration can help your business contact
i95Dev here. We have worked with a number of customers from the seed industry and
helped them scale their business to the next level.
Conclusion

9. For more information
Visit : www.i95Dev.com
E-mail : info@i95Dev.com
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