Start with the problem.
Selling online with a separate stock spreadsheet creates competing versions of availability and order status. This study defines which system owns each record and how updates recover after delays, retries or partial fulfilment.
A practical way forward.
A coherent catalogue
Map product identifiers, variants, prices and media to a defined source of truth and publish only approved changes.
Order handoff
Validate payment and order events before creating ERP work, with unique references and a visible exception queue.
Fulfilment visibility
Connect pick, pack, dispatch, cancellation and return states to the agreed customer communication workflow.
The workflow, simply.
- Online order
- Validate & reserve
- Pick & dispatch
- Reconcile status
Architecture to consider.
A responsive storefront reads the published catalogue and agreed availability.
Webhook adapters and queues protect order processing against duplicate or delayed events.
ERP and fulfilment APIs exchange mapped records with reconciliation and operational alerts.
How success should be tested.
- Replay duplicate payment and order notifications.
- Test oversell, cancellation, partial fulfilment and return scenarios.
- Reconcile sample orders, payment references and stock movements end to end.
Useful things to know.
Can an existing ERP connect to an online store?
Often yes if the ERP and store provide suitable APIs or export interfaces. The integration design must confirm record ownership, product mappings, update frequency and failure recovery.
Does real-time stock mean an item can never be oversold?
No. Availability depends on reservations, update timing and other sales channels. A robust design defines the reservation policy and tests concurrent orders rather than relying on a real-time label.
