ERP Selection Recommendations for Small and Medium-Sized B2C FMCG Enterprises: A Growth Path from $20 Million to $100 Million in Revenue
This article addresses the ERP selection needs of a B2C e-commerce FMCG company with annual revenue of $20 million, planning to grow to $100 million within a few years. The company currently relies on QuickBooks and manual processes and hopes to deploy a cloud ERP to support approximately 30 concurrent users, hundreds of SKUs, and future expansion modules. The article emphasizes balancing core functions (finance, inventory, purchase/sales orders) with potential expansions (HR, CRM, demand planning) and invites experienced practitioners to share recommendations.
We are evaluating ERP solutions for a small-to-medium-sized consumer packaged goods (CPG) company primarily selling B2C online, and we hope to get genuine feedback from different ERP users—whether satisfied or not, especially those with cross-system experience. The company currently does not run any ERP, and the team is highly adaptable to new systems, so the selection can be quite flexible.
Core Requirements and Current State
The company plans to deploy a cloud-based solution, expected to support about 30 concurrent users (though not all employees will be online simultaneously, we plan for this for now). Current annual revenue is approximately $20 million, with a goal to grow to $100 million within a few years, so the system needs good scalability. The product SKU count is in the hundreds. Finance currently uses QuickBooks but it is not integrated with other systems. The sales team relies on a custom-built lead management system, customer service uses multiple disconnected tools, and supplier purchase orders and replenishment are manually tracked via spreadsheets, leading to inaccurate inventory data.
The company sells through a single channel (B2C online), with all orders paid online via credit card, so there is almost no accounts receivable (A/R) management need. The company has two offices in the Bay Area with about 70 employees total, and inventory will be stored in a third-party logistics (3PL) warehouse in the Midwest. The IT lead has a strong technical background with several software engineers on the team, currently mainly supporting the e-commerce side, but they can assist with ERP integration efforts.
Functional Scope and Future Expansion
The initial implementation will focus on core modules: accounting, inventory, purchase orders (PO), and sales orders (SO, mainly involving SO/invoice history). However, the selection should consider modules that may be added in the future, such as human resources (HR), payroll, CRM, demand planning, etc.—these are not required in the first phase, but they will influence the decision direction.
We look forward to hearing your suggestions, comments, and recommendations. Thank you all for sharing your experience (apologies for the heavy use of abbreviations).
Key Selection Considerations
- Scalability:The system needs to support growth from $20 million to $100 million in revenue, including user count, transaction volume, and data complexity.
- Integration Capabilities:It needs to integrate smoothly with existing QuickBooks, the custom lead management system, and the e-commerce platform, and support future module expansion.
- Inventory Management:Given the current inaccuracy of inventory data, real-time tracking and coordination with the 3PL need to be strengthened.
- Implementation Complexity:Although the team is technically strong, ERP is a new area, so training and change management need to be considered.
We welcome practitioners with hands-on experience to share the pros and cons of various ERPs, especially their performance in cloud deployments and small-to-medium manufacturing/distribution scenarios. Please share your insights, and we will comprehensively evaluate to make the best choice.