What is an Order Management System?
Order Management is the whole process that comes in the order -to- cash conversion. Basically for any B2B or B2C company, it relies on the core system that ensures a smooth end to end cycle of receiving and processing a customer order to the fulfillment stage.
It’s a complex process that cannot be fulfilled in isolation. From the customer service team to the warehouse staff to the accounting department to the delivery partner everyone gets involved in the order management system.
An effective OMS(Order management system) provides a centralized place to manage orders from all sales channels and ensures a smooth business workflow while keeping a customer happy.
A four-step process for an effective Order Management System
Nowadays, businesses cannot scale with traditional ways of customer dealing. The so-called millennials want a shorter time frame for their order to get delivered. And to sustain such customers & clients you need a faster and efficient order management system.
That’s where this four-step order management process comes on the frontline to help online retailers and businesses. These synced steps build a fluid process & communication channels that help you to take more orders and grow quicker. Let’s see them:
Order Tracked - The OMS process begins when a customer places an order; irrespective of the ordered medium(online, in-store or via customer service representative). In this step, the details of the customer and order get stored including the order history, volume of order and payment preference. That is further moved to the warehouse.
Warehouse checking -Once the Warehouse receives any order details, it gets checked first by a warehouse manager. In case, the inventory gets low or completely runs out due to bulk order, then an order will be placed to the purchasing department.
Accounts Update - The order is now sent to the accounting department, where it gets recorded as either cash sales or accounts receivable. The data is logged in the ledger, and an invoice is generated and attached to the client order mentioning the payment details.
Order Shipped - With all the details, the order package is sent to the third party shipping service (or the company's LTL), From where the packets are delivered to the customer and order gets in the fulfilled list.
Must have Features For an Order Management System
Getting an order form various channels is not an order management system. This is the phase where order management comes into play to get it fulfilled.
E-commerce merchants need to timely get notified about a new order, check the warehouse for item availability and process on the ultimate route to achieve the fastest delivery. Things are not as easy as it sounds, especially when a business is growing and needs to fulfill bulk orders coming from different sales channels.
Though to ensure an optimized order management system software, we study the needs of our clients and provide them the maximum value.
And in general, we keep these key features on our every OMS
Centralized order management - With our centralized order management clients extend their exposure at various marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, Rakuten, etc. It also allows you to manage orders coming from all sales channels within one interface. The inbuilt real-time order notifications and status updates for customer service ensure you get timely order processing.
Multiple payment gateway supports and fraud check - Our multiple payment gateway support brings benefits to online retailers. As buyers get a variety of payment services to complete their transaction. Along with that, we integrate fraud check services for merchant’s security.
Inventory management - We make sure that our clients get positive feedback from their customers by syncing their inventory with our OMS. It avoids getting orders for unavailable items. This feature is also essential to update the items added on the cart, but not yet purchased. The inventory management updates the stock levels correspondingly.
Fulfillment points integration - This feature enables online retailers in defining points for location and item availability. In case our client prefers to use a drop shipping model or third-party services for order fulfillment, this integration allows the merchants to keep track of the progress - like when the order is released for fulfillment and when the shipping confirmation is received.
Shipping services integration - Even after the order dispatched the order doesn’t mean confirmed. That’s why shipping integration is required. It allows both buyers and sellers to know “how the order is going on”. This feature also allows for tracking and processing payments collected by shipping companies.
Customer management - This segment notifies the buyer regarding order being received, processed, & shipped details on various stages. It also automatically sends corresponding emails to let customer service agents focus on individual requests. This turns out to be a great favor to agents as they can now view, process and edit order information.
Shopping platform integration - HashStudioz uses API2Cart to integrate the order management software with 40+ most widely used platforms -- open source, paid, standalone and web-based. Integration with Amazon, Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce, Bigcommerce, PrestaShop, and other popular shopping cart solutions will make your order tracking and processing fast and efficient.
How do you choose the right Order Management Software
Selecting the best development company for an order management system is a significant decision. And that’s why here we have created a checklist to help you in finding the best management solution provider.
What you need to look for in selecting an effective Order Management System?
- Do they facilitate automation and eliminate the manual processes?
- Do they support multiple warehouse locations?
- Do they enable you in managing sales across multiple currencies, channels, and geographies?
- Do they facilitate the analytics & forecasting helping you better understand the problems, and plan accordingly?
- Do they provide access to an API that will allow you to scale your business?
- Do they support native as well as third-party integrations helping you broaden the ecosystem (i.e. warehouse management, accounting, fulfillment, 3PL, etc.)?
- Is the platform static or continually adding new features & functionalities?
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1.Define your system objectives and priorities
Defining your system objective is the first step in finding the right solution provider. Because this way you will discuss with your internal stakeholders and understand the features that are the must-have and the ones that are nice to have. Setting your future priorities will help in scalability and future thinking.
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2.Draft a request for proposal (RFP)
This is going to help organize your team and vendors & help them understand the technical requirements. Your RFP must include the order volumes, existing software, hardware, number of SKUs, existing vendor landscapes, details of training and the timeline for the system acquisition process.
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3. Research systems options.
Though, It’s uncommon that you’ll find an ideal fit for your business with your first contact (but surprisingly we are here if your research journey starts with us.). Usually, it’s good to compile a list of 4-6 vendors to evaluate and reach out to for demos/trails. You may request a quote from here, we cover the leading OMS options that you may need.
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4. Wait for and evaluate all responses.
You should have a mechanism to rank each of the responses based on your objectives & priorities set in step 1. And now pick the top 2-3 finalists.
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5.Review trade-offs.
Though you may find vendors that are not a perfect fit and here your final selection will be based on several trade-off criteria(HashStudioz knows the pain points of eCommerce and Traders). That’s why we suggest that the features & functions alone shouldn’t be your only criteria as it’s all about building a better customer relationship and delighting your user experience. Hence, consider other points too like, Are their teams helpful? Do they understand your field challenges? And are they having an expertise team? Their efforts must evolve the platform to provide you with options for expansion and growth.
- A good online inventory and order management software is essential for any small eCommerce business. As it helps their business establish in the competitive market. You may use our unified business tool that features an ultra-modern design, robust features, user friendly interface, and seamless integrations with marketplaces, shipping carriers, shopping carts, and accounting software. That includes a real-time inventory tracking system helping you streamline and automate the back-end processes.
