What is an order management solution? What are the best practices of OMS?
Today, consumers demand convenient and faster access to
goods and services without relenting to quality compromise. Accordingly, the
market has become spoiled for choices by hosting approximately 12-24
million ecommerce sites across the globe to keep up with buyers' volatile
demand. As per statistics, nearly 20.8% of retail purchases occurred online in
2023. This placed the global ecommerce market value at $6.3 trillion. A huge
volume of consumer and B2B orders is being processed every hour during the day
and at night. For example, the Amazon platform alone handles 1.6
Million deliveries of packages per day across the world, which is equivalent to
66 thousand orders per hour. Processing huge orders requires businesses to
develop an all-in digitization model to meet customer requirements on time.
Therefore, tech-enabled order management solutions have become mandatory for businesses to handle
the heavy influx of orders from inception to fulfilment.
Modern order management solutions – A brief overview
An order management process is integral to the entire supply
chain ecosystem. It can be broken down into the following sub-parts:
- Placement and fulfillment of orders
- Processing of payments
- Inventory and warehouse administration.
- Choose and pack
- Shipping and delivery
- Order tracking for customers
- Refunds and returns
Businesses hunt for efficient digital solutions to
streamline, simplify, and accelerate workflows leading to fulfilling orders so
consumers get what they want, where, and when.
An order management system (OMS) solution provides the same
digital medium to handle the lifecycles of multiple orders simultaneously. With
cutting-edge technology, the OMS platform can easily monitor and track the
movement of all orders, order and customer-specific information and subsequent
processes. It covers a series of consecutive steps, from order entry to
after-sales service and everything in-between. The software system is
programmed to automate order processing and fulfilling workflows to respect
delivery time while addressing inventory and order issues to maintain order
quality.
Some of the best order management solutions in the market
uniformly improve process visibility for both the business and the buyers while
elevating order management efficiency for higher customer satisfaction and more
sales for owners. An all-inclusive OMS also acts as a centralized data
repository, providing real-time insight into inventories to enable businesses
to make informed decisions. On the other hand, a transparent order management
platform can help consumers keep a close check on their order movements along
the value chain.
Since the entire operation necessitates a significant amount
of time and resources, the appropriate implementation of software enables
seamless, accurate, and swift handling of item orders.
The relevance of modern order management system solutions
The pandemic of the year 2020 and the current geopolitical
and economic crisis have dawned upon businesses the ultimate realization –
innovative technology is the only means to an end. And that end can be
delivering superior retail customer experiences. The latter requires accurate
real-time views of inventory and shipments along with a time-efficient solution
to speed up the order orchestration process so retailers can easily live up to
their order promises.
Therefore, the need for robust order management systems
eventually gave birth to AI-driven smart and automated software solutions
capable of independently meeting the current needs of businesses and their
customers. Order management solutions are pivoted to digital customer
experiences, stellar support, process transparency, data availability and
long-term sustainability of supply chains.
These modern applications are scalable and flexible to
easily accommodate changing customer demographics, preferences, and market
trends.
Besides bridging the gap in the order management process,
OMS solutions maximize supply chain value, drive better retail customer
engagement, and provide a competitive edge to owners. The latter is achieved
through automated inventory management, accelerated purchases, and streamlined order
fulfilment, return and refund.
Five best order management practices to consider
Naturally, with business growth, the number of orders
received per hour will increase too! A profound OMS solution can simplify the
growing complexity of the order management process while keeping the inventory
holding cost under check as much as possible. That being said, the following
best practices will support your business, regardless of how big your venture
grows or how complex your order management becomes.
1. Combine all your orders into a single system
From online to offline, modern retailers widely prefer
omnichannel selling to leverage every channel and monetize for higher gains.
However, keeping a close tab on every order flowing from multiple channels can
be arduous. This is where owners need a one-stop solution to monitor and manage
every order without losing one and driving potential customers to competitors.
A centralized order management solution enables an easy synchronization of all
orders while orchestrating every function from a single system.
2. Real-time Information Sync
As stated earlier, a complete sync of information in
real-time and easy accessibility as and when needed can enable owners to make more
informed choices for their businesses. Valuable insights such as inventory
levels and order statuses like placement, shipment, return, and other related
updates help track and manage orders. This ensures a more efficient and
time-effective order fulfilment process that eventually empowers businesses to
expand their market. Therefore, repeated stock-level updates after each sale
could be easily spared, also preventing unavoidable human errors.
3. Make the Order Fulfillment Process Automatic
AI and automation have expanded as the ultimate force for
many years, redefining conventional and legacy operations systems across
industries. Thankfully, today, business owners, sellers, customers, and other
stakeholders have grown to acknowledge modern technology's immense power and
find ways to leverage it in their day-to-day lives; automated order management
solutions being one such example.
Here, action-based automation is easily configured into the
software system, allowing owners to complete order-related tasks more swiftly
and efficiently. Furthermore, the possibility of assessing and updating
stocks-in-hand in real-time becomes more profound. This is also because of the
centralized approach of the OMS system. Therefore, orders are accepted or
rejected automatically without human intervention. That saves human errors
resulting in high order cancellation rates.
4. Collaborate with Suppliers
Managing orders includes remediating customer order issues,
replenishing inventory shortages or controlling surplus stock situations.
Additionally, issues in order management can also occur at the suppliers' end.
There are moments when suppliers lack the product currently in demand for
multiple reasons. These are such occasions when information about similar
unavoidable/unforeseen crises should be made available before their occurrence.
Therefore, connecting with your suppliers through an integrated OMS platform is
a good idea.
An integrated OMS system provides a bird's eye view of your
inventories. Accordingly, suppliers know your stock status and alert you of
out-of-stock situations as and when they occur. This aims to elevate the
efficiency and transparency of the entire operation. Therefore, information
about stocks-in-hand, their prices and availability, and other critical
information are available in real-time.
5. Improve and Maintain Accuracy Levels
The best order management solutions share one common
element, i.e., centralizing and automating orders in real-time while upholding
accuracy levels. Order accuracy is elevated by measuring the pre-defined
metrics, a complete analysis of which identifies gaps in the system so your
team can make the necessary amendments. Most sellers/vendors and other business
owners effectively leverage the ‘reporting and analytic’ feature to assess the
overall performance of major back-end tasks in real-time.
Conclusion
An ideal order management solution choreographs a
streamlined order process, enabling easy processing, fulfillment and management
while timely updating inventories without fail. Furthermore, the most popular
solutions offer an all-inclusive platform for managing trade orders with
minimal human interference. Such platforms optimize supply chains at every
stage, leverage the omnichannel approach, and accelerate order-related
workflows for an added competitive advantage.
