Brightpearl

Without inventory Planner our stock control would not be anywhere near as good as it is

Pros:

Without inventory Planner our stock control would not be anywhere near as good as it is. Whilst it isnt the cherapest on the market we find it extremely useful in planning our activity.

Cons:

The price is high but we find the price worth the insights it provides.

Brightpearl is a fantastic all in one ERP system

Comments: Brightpearl is a fantastic all in one ERP system that is great for connecting all your eCommerce channels under one roof. They key to any eCommerce growth is being able to automate as much as possible and this is where Brightpearl excels. When we started using Brightpearl back in 2014 we were processing around 100 orders per month. In 2020 we are processing more than 100 orders per day and without Brightpearls automation this would not have been possible.

Pros:

Great for automating your eCommerce orders.

Cons:

Finance system needs improving for handling offline customer credit accounts.

Alternatives Considered: Rithum

Switched From: Sage 50cloud Accounting

Very expensive for little gain

Comments: Just too many things that BRightpearl doesn't do. Its website claimed that you could list directly from Brightpearl onto eBay but it turned out to be untrue as Brightpearl didn't support eBay Postage Policies (That's eBayspeak for shipping tables). Nor could it list directly to any of the Amazon websites, nor to Shopify or anywhere else. Yet other software can do all of that, and has Google Translate Professional built in so that you can list directly to Amazon Poland without you having to employ a translator. So Brightpearl just falls flat on its face in far too many areas compared to the competition. The worst thing is trying to leave. I am leaving and would like to keep read only access for a year to make it easy to check any warranty claims. Brightpearl have quoted £10,080 for that when full acess costs me less than half of that. So if you are considering BRightpearl, keep looking, there are much better deals available.

Pros:

The only thing that I really like about this software is that they have good support staff. I was initially attracted to Brightpearl because it included integrated accounts. It has taken me 6 years to realise that this was a false way of thinking as there is other software that integrates seamlessly with reasonably-priced good quality accounting software like Xero, Quickbooks and Sage. Essentially with Brightpearl you are paying a high price for an accounting system that is used by a relatively small number of users (online it says Brightpearl has about 1,000 users - that is a very small number to finance a piece of accounting software. Eventually I realised how much it was missing in other areas.

Cons:

The biggest drawback with Brightpearl is the small number of marketplaces it support compared to many of its competitors. They claim to integrate with Amazon, but this is only partially true. Amazon Europe have added 3 new marketplaces but BRightpearl have ingnored them where similar software providers have integrations at no extra cost. Brightpearl haven't added a single marketplace integration in 6 years, and the only one planned, OnBuy, a small marketplace unlikely to generate much revenue, comes at an extra cost. When I started with Brightpearl they were advertising it as the software to automate your online selling, but it was very limited as far as automation was concerned. After a couple of years they launched the Brightpearl Automation App. Funny that you should need an additional app, at extra cost, to do what the software was promising to do 2 years earlier. many things come at extra cost with Brightpearl but are available at no extra cost with other software. Brightpearl doesn't calculate VAT correctly. If you get an order from the Channel Islands, Brightpearl will add 20% VAT even though there is no VAT in th Channel Islands. (it does the same with the Canary Islands which also are not subject to VAT. It would be simply to write a filter to catch these and put correct 0 VAT on them, but they just don't seem to care if their customers are paying the tax men a bit more than they should be.

All in One Ecommerce Software

Comments: All in one eCommerce solution, helped us consolidate 4 software programs into 1 integrated app. Great for small to medium size ecom companies and those wishing to grow rapidly by automating routine processes and tasks. Saves us hours each day with automation and syncing of orders and inventory to multiple channels.

Pros:

Multi-Channel inventory sync, accounting is integrated with the order fulfillment, CRM, and most of the functions you need to run a growing eCommerce business. They issue updates, bug fixes, and new features every few weeks. The software has come leaps and bounds forward in the past 2 years to become more stable, less buggy, with better automation and features. Nice to have all business functions located in 1 software rather than 5 different systems that constantly need synced and updated. Cloud based so you can work anywhere.

Cons:

As a US retailer there are a few UK oddities in the software but these are quickly being updated and changed to fit the US market. Customer support has also been improving since we started, but could be quicker to fix problems/ issue updates at times. They don't seem to understand at times that when something is broken, we can not run our business at all till it gets fixed. Some additional features and add-ons are not included in the base price of the software. They would be nice to have available but the price could get very expensive quickly and be out of budget for a small business. Would also like to see a quick way to back-up 'all' the data from the cloud locally in case of emergency or we needed it for another process. You can export data files and reports currently, but not the entire database at once.

Why oh why is it so hard to find an awesome ERP in this space? Hold up! Brightpearl? Yes!

Comments: In the jungle of ERP for DTC brands, Brightpearl is the Jaguar, lurking in the shadows. Deadly (aka effective) but with less fanfare than the lions and the tigers. If you're doing multi-channel and need an ERP/WMS/OMS, get a demo!

Pros:

Seamless integration for our multiple channels of commerce. Cloud-based, no need for IT staff to maintain. Infrequently goes down. Never gone down at a critical time aka BFCM. Plays nice with Shopify, Amazon, retail, in-house orders.

Cons:

Training could be better for rank-and-file staff. Handling of sales tax (in multiple jurisdictions aka Wayfair ruling) could be better.