Brightpearl
The retail operations platform for brands and retailers
4.3 /5 (133 reviews) Write a Review!Great tool for a small-mid sized fast growing omni-channel consumer goods business.
Pros
We now have a product that solves our needs.
It is simple to use, yet complex, so that we can grow a lot within it.
It was quick to implement, allowing us to benefit from the elevated toolbox immediately.
Cons
Some elements of the UX/UI and functionality are clearly outdated and needs a revision. Also, it feels that they are stuck within old workflows that should be optimised.
I think this is a common issue in enterprise ERP and something that will improve over time.
Response from Brightpearl
Hi Kristoffer,
Thank you for sparing the time to review us - we really appreciate it.
We're really pleased that we meet your needs so square-on and that you've had such a great experience at all the stages along your journey so far.
We're super-happy that you're a customer too and we really appreciate your recommendation.
Tom (Brightpearl)
Brightpearl Review
I can think of two experiences. The first was having lost some functionality in the ability to choose my default screen view after a major software update - I wrote to BP Support. The team immediately owned my issue and understood the issue. They walked me through a timeframe to introduce a new and better feature. They rolled this out, and informed me personally before the roll out. Indeed the new default screen layout function was a vast improvement on the last.
Similarly, I wanted to roll into Business Intelligence (BI). The Chief Technical Officer phoned me personally to discuss this implementation and liaised with me throughout the implementation.
This service was just amazing.
Pros
all in one - web based - affordable with links to great appps
Great all round platform for B2B sales management
We moved to Brightpearl in 2011 and haven't looked back.
Our business takes orders via the phone, email, PO and online and Brightpearl lets us easilly serve our customers in the way that they want to be served.
There are better standalone accounting packages, inventory management tools or CRM tools - but to have them all in one place saves us a lot of headaches - Brightpearl is our single source of truth for our business.
Where we have functionality gaps, we have been able to use their API to extend the core functionality to meet our business needs.
Pros
All in one package for CRM, Inventory and Accounts
User-friendly interface
Cons
Slow / buggy releases
Lack of automation options (we use the API to fix this)
Everything in one place
Brightpearl really helped us consolidate many functions of our business in one place. Stock management, invoicing, accounts. Also f you want an online solution that can easily tie into your online store (we use Shopify) then i would recommend this.
Pros
Mostly the fact that it's online and is generally pretty easy to use
Cons
When things go wrong it's not always easy to find out how to fix the problem
Best Accounting Software!
Brightpearl is the only software in the market which does cater for all aspects of accounting. It also does VAT and Stock reconciliations which lot of other software does not. You can also track all your stock from one place. I would highly recommend to use this software. We have been using brightpearl for last 4 years.
Pros
Flexible
Cons
Cost of software is high.
A Very Unfortunate Choice
We used OMX as our ERP for ten years and when Oracle decided to sunset that product, we chose Brightpearl. We prepaid $45,500 for the implementation and one year of service with the agreement that the implementation would be complete before the scheduled end of OMX. Ultimately, Brightpearl never finished the implementation and the project lead told us they could not come on site as agreed.
With only days left until Oracle shut down our ERP, we finally cancelled our agreement with Brightpearl and started over again with Oracle NetSuite so that we could continue to run our business.
To this day, we have not received a refund of any part of the $28,000 we paid for the first year of service for a software system that was never finished. I did not request refund of the implementation costs.
Pros
We never operated the software as the implementation was not completed.
Cons
Some of the components of the system were not native to Brightpearl requiring the user to log into another system to work . Since the overall system was kludged together from multiple sources, there were some overlaps which lead to confusion for our staff during training. We would have worked this out over time by creating our own procedure manuals, but it was unexpected.
Response from Brightpearl
Hi Kathi,
Thank you for your feedback. I see where you're coming from in terms of wanting all the apps in one platform.
For the overwhelming majority of our offering, this is the case. However with a few exceptions they are broken out into individual areas due to the specificity of those apps: warehousing, demand forecasting, POS etc. We've had some positive customer feedback around this aspect by staff in these business areas as they can focus on their roles without being distracted by functionality not relevant to them day-to-day.
I'm really sorry that we weren't able to work through your concerns and launch your business on Brightpearl. Hopefully we'll see you down the road.
Tom (Brightpearl)
Cracks showing but nothing is perfect.
I have developed my business starting in 2011 with 1 staff member going to 10 staff today. Brightpearl overall is fantastic value for money given the extent of what it can offer an eccomerce company. However small unpolished aspects and glitches are now starting to cause real and serious problems for the efficiency of the business with the level of sales we are processing. Missing payments and orders which disappear and important details in the multi channel offerings which are missing paint the picture of a job not quite finished by the developers. Immensely frustrating when the supprt team offer no fixes to our problems. The bigger we grow the more severe the consequences of their bugs and issues. The support teams needs massive investment to keep up with brightpearl growth. Overall I would rate it 3 stars but it sounds like there isn't much that's better out there.
Pros
Value for money. Versatile easy
Cons
Support needs investment. They need to take responsibility for their bugs and issues
Good software
Good.
Pros
Stores all the information you need for customer orders.
Cons
Ticket system could be a bit more user friendly.
Response from Brightpearl
Hi Becky,
Thank you for your review. It's great that our order management ticks all the boxes for you. We'll reach out to you about your feedback on our ticket system as we'd like to explore it further.
Thank you again,
Tom (Brightpearl)
Brightpearl as a back office system
A very comprehensive back office system with good stock and sales analysis tools.
There is lots of flexibility within the system which will allow it to fit a number of different business processes.
Pros
Flexible
Cons
Sometimes overall changes made to the system did not help the functionality we required.
Much needed efficiency boost for our mutli channel retail business
We're a multi-channel retailer in the truest sense of the word. We sell over the phone, via our own Magento online store, eBay, Amazon and at our trade counter in Derbyshire.
Prior to Brightpearl we were entirely paper based; we didn't even have a computerized accounts package yet our company was accelerating fast into the digital age.
After a period of adjustment, we're now beginning to realize the benefits that Brightpearl is bringing to our business. Order processing, stock control across multiple warehouses, invoice generation, credits, refunds and accounting is now all handled far more easily than before. Our integration with Shiptheory also enables us to automate the generation of the majority of our courier shipping labels with relative ease.
Being cloud-based also means we're less tied to our physical warehouse location than we were previously. This has allowed us to open regional offices and staff now have the opportunity to travel and work abroad should they wish.
Although we've already been Brightpearl customers for several years we're still discovering ways it can further improve our efficiency as a company and we look forward to the new features they plan to unveil over the coming 12 months.
Thanks team Brightpearl!
Amazing!
Pros
Very easy to use. Helpful customer service. The management software makes it very easy to locate all my inventory
Response from Tom
Hi Payton,
Thank you so much for your review. It's great to hear that Brightpearl helping with your inventory management. Thank you for your great feedback on our customer service teams also - I'll be sure to pass that on.
Thank you,
Tom (Brightpearl)
Superb Accounting package
Pros
Best user friendly system for accounting - clear and easy to use
Cons
there are no reversing journal facilities - but that is the only thng
Great selling platform for Multichannel ecommerce stores.
Brightpearl allows us to sell on eBay, Amazon, Webstore, Phone and POS simultaneously.
Pros
functionality, features, ability
Cons
service can be a little slow at times, browser based so if your internet is out or they have an outage you go down too. This is very minimal however.
Response from Brightpearl
Thanks for the review David, you're the best!
Brightpearl In Our Growing Company
Brightpearl has proven to be a very useful tool within our small business, it allows us to keep all of our sales and accounting data in one place, the fact that balance sheets and P&L reports can be generated immediately is particularly useful as we can have access to these reports whenever they are required.
In relation to helping with our sales management it ensures that each user can see any communication and quotes that have been sent by other staff members and not end up sending multiple quotes and invoices to the same customer.
Brightpearl are extremely good at letting their customers know about changes and updates as well as providing tutorials on the apps etc. a great tool that we will be using into the future
Brightpearl
We have been using Brightpearl since August 2012 to run our business - 3 shops and a web site. It has enormously simplified our working lives. We use it for purchasing, web order fulfillment, POS, accounting and general stock management. I would definitely recommend it.
Pros
A comprehensive & well integrated system.
Simplifies the move into new marketplaces - e.g. Ebay & Amazon.
Well designed intuitive interface.
New features added almost every month.
Cons
Lacks the ability to create configurable products in Magento from withing Brightpearl.
POS system is live - when the internet is down so are the tills.
Brilliant - everything we need and more
We use Brightpearl to manage our multiple e-commerce stores online. It does everything we need it to - and more. The Sales screen is very easy to use, and works well with additional plug-ins (we have one that creates our courier barcodes automatically). The way Brightpearl manages products and stock levels is brilliant, and very clear. Bundles are easy to set up, and variations as effective too. The Purchases ares lets us keep all our information in one place, and we use the Accounting features too. The Reports we can generate are extremely useful and very detailed.
We couldn't ask for anything more!
Really useful CRM package
A Great piece of software that allows us to manage many different aspects of our CRM including invoicing and managing customers, we have also taken on a sales person and are able to manage their leads using the software and ensure that they are on track.
Another great feature is the accounting reports - we can access balance sheets etc. at the click of a button saving time and eliminating human error
Pros
A great piece of software that saves us time and enables multiple people within the organisation to see what each of our team is doing
Cons
None so-far
Rating only
Rating breakdown
A single software solution is better than multiple solutions bolyed together
Although Brightpearl still has some way to go to become silky smooth, there's nothing else out there that does everything that Brightpearl does. Increased investment in programming staff means that the things that prevent it from being silky smooth are being addressed. The advantages of having one piece of cloud based software replacing multiple interlinking software solutions are enormous.
A great bit of kit!
Brightpearl makes your life easier!
Brightpearl has allowed our company to spend little of our time on order processing and book keeping as we have had to do before Brightpearl. The transition from our previous software to Brightpearl was simple and easy . We have yet to run into any problems that Brightpearl cannot fix. The only downside is the price and it sometimes goes offline.
Excellent multi channel
The system is very easy to use, has great functionality, looks good and does what it says it does . Great Amazon,Ebay,Magento(there is more but I use only these ) integrations with dynamic stock update work excellent for me. Brightpearl could be use by warehouse and office simultaneously, without any other software. It can be accessed anywhere at any time even from mobile due to the new app.
A Great User Friendly System
We have now been using Brightpearl for several years. It is very user friendly with significant functionality which has improved our reporting function so necessary in a small business. The team are also very friendly and helpful.
A work in progress
Finally, we have been assigned our TAM, [SENSITIVE CONTENT HIDDEN]. We had a 30-minute phone call scheduled to go through some issues that end up lasting almost 2 hours. During that call, he brought in other resources to help us understand where our issues are and areas of the software we need to keep an eye on. We have a lot of work ahead of us to get our account back on track, but we finally have someone to guide us on how to fix and prevent the issues.
Pros
Brightpearl is the only software on the market that has truly combined all technology necessities of e-commerce into 1 platform. That includes ERP, CRM, automation, connectors for platforms and other like Shipstation, inventory management like Demand Planner
Cons
The drawback for us and our situation is that when you combine all of the systems into 1 it can be pretty complicated. The reason this is a con is that Brightpearl doesn't have partnerships with 3rd parties that make a living off of implementation and customer success. Instead, Brightpearl manages 100% of the process. Our first 5 months have not been great because we are not proficient at utilizing the software. When we've asked for help they have been simply telling it is a you problem, not the software, but no guidance on what we should be doing. Instead, we just learn to live with the issue because we have nowhere else to go for help since no partners exist. We are supposed to have a TAM, technical account manager, for the first year, but we only had one for the first 3 weeks.
Response from Brightpearl
Hi Nick,
Thank you for your review. We always appreciate feedback from our customers.
We acknowledge that keeping our success, support, and implementation teams in house isn't something that is commonplace in the market, but control over the quality of our support services and is very important to us hence we don't out-source them. Similarly the value for money that our customers receive from our fixed-price implementation, and all inclusive online training and support services isn't something that we would wish to limit.
I'm sorry that you don't feel we've supported you sufficiently until recently though. We will look into this internally and see what happened. However in the meantime it's great that you've touched base with your Technical Account Manager. I have no doubt that with him in your corner, your issues will be swiftly behind you.
Tom (Brightpearl)
Frustrated
Do not jump from QuickBooks to this until you have truly run a lot of tests.
Pros
I love how this system allows me to have access anywhere and allows many reps to access the accounts.
Cons
I am beyond frustrated with the lack of support and weak reporting from this system. It often has slow days as well.
Response from Tom
Hi Frankie,
Thank you for taking the time to review us.
I'm glad to see that you're enjoying Brightpearl's cloud-based benefits. A lot of our customers love the integrated 'all under one roof' aspect of our software and I'm glad this is echoed with you. I'd like to respond to a couple of the other points you raised too:
Quickbooks. We have a number of customers who have moved away from Quickbooks to Brightpearl and have found it a great fit so I was surprised to read your comment. Customers like Growers House (https://www.brightpearl.com/expertise/customer-stories/growers-house) and The New Clothesline Company (https://www.brightpearl.com/expertise/customer-stories/new-clothesline-company). I hope the issues you had experienced are now behind you.
Support. We acknowledged that we needed to improve our Support response times, so we've grown our global Support team headcount by 40%. This has resulted in increasing the number of tickets with defects being solved by 62%. I hope you're seeing the impact of these changes directly yourself.
Reporting. We're continually improving our reporting as we know how much our customers use and rely on it. Over the last couple of months, we've made significant reporting improvements which you can read about in our feature notes (https://help.brightpearl.com/hc/en-us/sections/115000342626-Feature-launches). In a nutshell, many of the reports now download in the background so don't need to waste any time waiting for them. Again, I hope you're finding them useful.
Speed. I'm sorry to hear that you've experienced slowness whilst using Brightpearl. The improvements mentioned earlier will help, but generally speaking there are a number of factors that could account for speed issues. I've had a word with our Support team who have advised that you've not raised any speed issues with them to date. Speaking to them would be a great first step. When you do, it would really help them if you could indicate instances where speed was reduced and what you were doing at that time. You can contact them here: https://www.brightpearl.com/contact-support.
Thank you again, your feedback is important to us.
Best wishes,
Tom
Brightpearl
Manages the core of our business, finances and products.
We have been using brightpearl for several years now and the core function of the system has been to centralise around the accounts and stock management for our business. This means it's super easy to keep control of the business critical systems. The system has grown and expanded and as a small business I don't need a lot of this but it's there incase.
The most important thing we have found is the super easy simple Brightpearl POS solution that is sharing the same core data for products/customers/payments as our website and accounts in real time so if the last item sells online then we don't over sell this in store at the weekend. We have two small showrooms and can have two separate pos channels that make it easy to deal with customers in store and telephone orders in the main program. Push sales from POS to backend and vice versa. It makes us more efficient and look more professional in store and on the phone.
Even as a small business we have constantly changing stock and a large number of products (over 11,000) so need control of those as simply as possible. Brightpearl has done that for us along with accounts functionality.
I hope as brightpearl expands it can keep true to it's roots of supporting small businesses with a system that would normally only be available to big business with big budgets. The core simple EPOS is just perfect for us with multichannel order routes to the dispatch desk.
Pros
the simple EPOS systems linked into the core of the system in real time. You have to do things by the book and can't cut corners in processes.
Cons
Sometimes you have to do things by the book and can't cut corners in processes.
We really enjoyed working with everyone involved in the project of setting up Tekla at Brightpearl. All the way from the sales to the final handover - and now ongoing customer success.
The team at BP immediately captured the essence of the challenge we presented to them with our previous ERP-stack, and they managed to set up all the right questions needed to be tackled.
Besides the on-point grasping of the challenges to be solved, we felt that the process throughout the implementation was smooth, and with constant dialogue with Anthony, our point of contact, we were in good hands.
The main issues we faced with our old stack was weak inventory, order and supply chain management. All of that are now elevated to a whole new level, and we feel that we have a robust ERP engine that we can grow with for many years to come.
Overall, we are super happy to have implemented Brightpearl, and can only recommend others to do the same.