5 Questions to Ask Before Choosing an ERP eCommerce Connector
September 15, 2026
By: Tiffany Hindman
Summary: What should you look for in an ERP eCommerce connector? The right ERP eCommerce connector should connect your systems reliably, support your business processes, make data issues easy to identify, and reduce manual work as your business grows.
What should you look for in an ERP eCommerce connector?
Selecting a connector is not just about finding a way to link your ERP with your eCommerce platform. The solution needs to support the way your company sells, manages products, processes orders, and handles customer information.
For manufacturers and distributors, that distinction is important. Your ERP is responsible for much of the operational data behind your business, while your eCommerce platform is where customers interact with that information and place orders. The connector is responsible for moving that information between the two environments.
If the connector cannot accommodate your business requirements, your team may end up relying on spreadsheets, manual updates, workarounds, or costly development to fill the gaps.
Before selecting a solution, take the time to understand what you are getting and how it will work within your existing processes.
What Data Can the Connector Actually Move?
The first question should not be whether the connector connects your ERP and eCommerce platform.
It should be what information it can actually move between them. Products are only one part of the equation.
A connector that supports products and orders might sound sufficient at first. But if your business relies on customer-specific pricing or complex product information, those capabilities can become just as important. Ask the vendor to explain exactly which data is supported and in which direction it moves.
- Product information
- Product variants
- Inventory
- Customer accounts
- Customer addresses
- Orders
- Order status
- Pricing
- Discounts
- Shipping information
- Payment information
- Categories
- Product attributes
Does It Support Your Business Processes?
Every manufacturer and distributor has processes that make its business different.
Two companies can use the same ERP and eCommerce platform while having completely different requirements. That means a connector should be evaluated based on your business processes, not just a list of technical features.
The goal is to understand how the connector fits into the entire order and data flow. A connector should reduce manual work rather than simply move information from one system to another.
- How are orders created and processed?
- Where does inventory come from?
- How are customer accounts handled?
- How is pricing determined?
- What happens when information changes in the ERP?
- What happens when an order is placed online?
- How are errors handled?
How Much Custom Development Will You Need?
This is one of the most important questions to ask before choosing a connector.
A connector may appear affordable until you discover that several critical business requirements require custom development. Custom development is not automatically a problem, but the important thing is knowing what you are getting into before the project begins.
A purpose-built connector can often provide a more predictable implementation than trying to build a connection around a collection of custom processes. The goal is to understand where customization is needed and make sure it is part of the plan from the beginning.
- What functionality is included?
- What requires configuration?
- What requires custom development?
- What happens when the ERP or eCommerce platform is updated?
- Who maintains customizations?
- How are future updates handled?
How Will Your Team Know When a Sync Fails?
No connector can prevent every data issue. The important part is what happens after one occurs.
If your team has no clear way to see that something failed, the problem may not be discovered until a customer or employee notices. That is why visibility should be part of your connector evaluation.
A connector should make problems easier to find, not hide them somewhere in the background. When your team can quickly see what failed, understand the cause, and take the appropriate next step, a small data issue is far less likely to become a larger operational problem.
- Can employees see which records did not process successfully?
- Does the connector explain why a transaction failed?
- Can users make a correction and try the transaction again?
- Are alerts available when important processes fail?
- Can your team trace a transaction back through the systems involved?
- Is there a searchable history of previous activity?
Can the Connector Grow With Your Business?
A connector that works for your business today may not be enough five years from now.
Your operational processes may also become more sophisticated as the business grows. That is why scalability should be part of the evaluation from the beginning.
The right connector should support growth without forcing you to replace the entire solution every time your business evolves.
- Grow the product catalog
- Add more customers
- Expand into new markets
- Introduce new pricing structures
- Add another sales channel
A Lower Price Does Not Always Mean Lower Cost
Cost is an important consideration when comparing ERP eCommerce connectors, but the purchase price only tells part of the story.
A connector with a lower upfront cost may require additional customization or ongoing manual work to meet your requirements. Over time, those expenses can add up. Another solution may cost more initially but include more of the functionality your business needs, reducing the amount of development and maintenance required later.
That is why it is worth looking beyond the initial price when comparing options.
Instead of asking only, "What does the connector cost?" Ask, "What will it take to operate and maintain this solution over the next several years?"
The best value is not necessarily the connector with the lowest price. It is the solution that provides the functionality your business needs while minimizing unnecessary work, development, and ongoing costs.
Your Connector Should Support the Business, Not Just the Technology
An ERP eCommerce connector is more than a technical bridge between two systems. It becomes part of how your business manages products, customers, orders, inventory, and pricing.
That means the evaluation should involve more than your IT team. Bring in the people who understand how the business actually operates. Talk to operations. Talk to sales. Talk to customer service. Talk to the people managing products and pricing.
Their requirements can reveal problems that may not appear in a technical checklist. A connector can successfully move data between two systems and still create problems for the people using those systems every day.
Ask These Questions Before You Choose
Before selecting an ERP eCommerce connector, make sure you can confidently answer these five questions:
If a vendor cannot give you clear answers, that should be a warning sign.
The right connector should make your ERP and eCommerce platforms work together in a way that supports your operations, reduces manual work, and gives your business room to grow.
Start With Your Requirements
The best time to discover that a connector does not support an important business requirement is before implementation begins.
Start by documenting the data and processes your business depends on. Then evaluate each connector against those requirements. That approach gives you a much clearer picture of what you are actually buying.
At Strabo Partners, we help businesses connect their ERP and eCommerce operations with solutions designed around their specific requirements. Our approach focuses on understanding the business first, then building the technology around it.
Simplify. Automate. Grow.