How Should Your Tech Stack Look Like as an Online CPG Business?

CPG (consumer packaged goods) businesses require efficient tools to help them succeed and maximize their market share as they grow. Unfortunately, many SMEs overlook their tech stack and end up playing catch-up later on, resulting in lost revenue and additional expenses. Building a strong technology foundation is essential for staying ahead of the competition, not just a nice-to-have. But it’s important to choose the right tech stack not to lose time switching between multiple tools later on. Here's what an optimal tech stack should look like for online small-to-medium businesses:

1. Accounting Software: The first step in building your tech stack should be setting up your accounting software, as it's the backbone of your entire accounting infrastructure. Quickbooks Online is the #1 accounting software in the US and is a good fit for most SMEs, while Rillet is designed for SaaS startups and has some useful features that work well for CPG businesses.
2. Website Analytics: For online businesses, it is crucial to keep track and interpret the visit data to understand customers’ preferences and journeys in your website. It is known that more than 90% of the website are using Google Analytics to track the performance of their businesses and turn them into actions. It has both free and paid versions, depending on the features offered.
3. Social Media Marketing: The use of social media is crucial to advertise your products as a small-to-medium business. You can manage social media activities such as scheduling online posts, replying comments and forwarding the customers to your website, sending targeted email ads, and more. Mailchimp offers various use cases when it comes to social media marketing, and known with its easy integration.
4. Accounts Payable: A tool that helps you track and manage all of your vendor payments in one place is essential for CPG businesses that work with a variety of vendors. Bill.com is a great option for streamlining the AP approval process, Settle pays vendors upfront and allows payment up to 120 days later, and Ramp is an all-in-one platform that combines AP features with corporate banking and credit cards.
5. Accounts Receivable / Invoicing: A tool to manage invoices and payments from clients is also necessary. Stripe makes it easy to send invoices, collect payments from around the world, and keep records of your billing.
6. Payroll: Compliance regulations and nuances make payroll and benefits a challenge.  Gusto is a great option for early-stage startups who need payroll and HR support, while Rippling offers easy onboarding and IT integrations.
7. Credit Cards: Establishing a corporate credit card is essential for SME expenditures. Ramp offers over a thousand integrations and a wide variety of automated features, Brex is better for early-stage startups with high growth potential, and Settle offers unique features to help manage cash flow.
8. Inventory Management: Using software to handle inventory management is essential, especially for ecommerce companies. This tool keeps you organized, minimizes the risk of error, streamlines costs, and establishes a process that can last even as your company scales. Inventory software also helps identify the most cost-efficient methods for ordering new products and can help you forecast inventory to minimize risk.

About Bucephalus: Bucephalus is a supply chain ops platform that empowers the millions of fast-growing e-commerce brands to move products faster, cheaper, and more sustainably using AI. We supercharge our customers’ operations by giving them a birds-eye view of their supply chain, acting as the connective tissue between the backend of their operations and single-use apps. Our product is continuously processing customer data using our AI systems inspired by our team’s experience working in data science at Amazon. We can help SMEs with their inventory management, schedule a demo today to learn what Bucephalus has to offer!