The Challenge of Variant Management Today
Some companies operate with older ERP solutions where product variants are managed in rigid applications developed by ERP consultants.
We often see that variant applications are the most costly parts of ERP solutions.
Beyond high licensing and consulting costs, these variant applications also make it difficult for companies to upgrade their ERP system to a new Cloud ERP, switch ERP providers, or further develop their ERP system. The cost of redeveloping variant functionality in a new ERP system can be overwhelming or, most importantly, extremely expensive.
Another consequence arises when a company wants to digitize its order intake with a new customer portal, B2B webshop, or B2C webshop. In this instance, the integration between the ERP system and the customer portal becomes costly and complex, solely due to the variant application.
How Does It Affect a Company's Desire to Digitize Sales Through Customer Portals?
In short, variant management in ERP often creates challenges that are impractical for modern e-commerce.
More specifically, it can lead to the following issues:
🛑 Complex Integration with E-Commerce Platforms: Many e-commerce platforms require a simplified structure for product variants. If the ERP system handles variants and product relationships differently than how the company wants them to be presented to customers, integration becomes complex and often expensive.
Examples:
An attribute for the color black is labeled as “BLK_001” in the ERP system because it must be part of a final product ID and is based on data from BOMs (Bill of Materials). However, in the customer portal, it should simply be called “Black” so customers understand the attribute. Does this small detail have to be manually corrected on all black products/variants in the customer portal?
To purchase item X, items B, C, and D are also required. If a chair is created in the ERP’s variant management application using attributes but is not predefined as an independent product (i.e., it consists of a frame, a seat, and optional armrests), which product (item X) should the customer portal display as the default? Should the company manually create product examples in the customer portal in advance as inspiration?
🚫 Issues with Custom Orders: B2B customers often expect to configure their products online. If the ERP system does not support a flexible product configurator, it can limit opportunities for digital sales.
🐌 Slow Order Processing: We frequently see that variant management applications significantly slow down the entire purchasing experience in a customer portal. This is because the customer portal constantly needs to query the ERP system’s variant application for new product combinations/variants whenever a customer attempts to configure a product in the portal.
Product Information Management – The Solution for Modern E-Commerce
A solution to these challenges is to move all variant management and product relations out of the ERP system and into a cloud-based Product Information Management (PIM) system.
A PIM system significantly reduces a company's Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). It is scalable, has a flexible, user-friendly interface that makes product management far more intuitive, and the licensing costs for most PIM systems are significantly lower than those for older variant management applications in ERP.
With PIM, companies can easily configure product models and create a structure that can be modeled. Since PIM is separate from ERP, businesses can achieve a much simpler ERP setup, making them more agile and increasing their ability to switch ERP systems if needed.
We have benchmarked ‘PIM’ against ‘Variant Management in ERP’ across five key categories, each with three of the most important parameters:
