Picture this — It’s your birthday, friends and family gather around you, and the cake is front and center, with 36, erm, 29 candles on top of it. You sing along with everyone, blow out the candles, and then you get to open your present. It’s a picture of the gift you thought you were getting, with a disappointing message included. “Your gift is coming in a few weeks, the shipping is a little clunky. Happy birthday!” Does this situation sound familiar? Why does it happen?
Rising businesses in the e-commerce space need to compete in an environment that’s increasingly driven by efficiency and birthday wishes. Amid reshoring and nearshoring initiatives across the globe, competition is rising, as is the impetus to move into leaner, more manageable business practices. So, what can businesses do to simultaneously boost their business, manage growth, and make sure that you’ll actually get your present on time next year?
The process is called e-commerce order management, and it’s a detailed flow of all the stages that an order goes through. This is the lifeblood of any modern e-commerce business and our topic for today.
What is e-commerce order management?
E-commerce order management refers to the entire process that begins once an order is placed. That includes processing, counting, and fulfilling orders, in order to have as good an outlook of the process. Essentially, it involves the tracking of an order from the moment it is placed to the moment it is delivered to the customer.
Now, think of the number of processes that have to happen in order for that process to conclude. Yeah. A lot. Here, they are quickly broken down:
- Customer interaction — Your products must reach customers’ attention, which they normally do through your direct website, or a third-party e-commerce platform. They then place an order, which kickstarts the entire process.
- Sales channel synchronization — Once an order is placed by a customer, a sales order is generated that further moves things along. Processes now track available inventory to ensure that the product is available, and the order is then forwarded to the warehousing component. Having a clear image of all sales channels is key to getting the process going.
- Inventory management — In order to ensure good order fulfillment times, you need to have all products available in your inventory. The order is now linked to a physical product in a warehousing facility, which needs to be picked up and shipped to the customer. Therefore, you need to make sure that your operation is on top of all necessary materials and is stocked to meet demand.
- Figuring out the logistics — Once an order leaves the warehouse, you and your customer should have as clear of an image as possible as to where the order is. So, managing the space in which products and materials are held, as well as the logistics and fulfillment component, are also essential to a well-running operation.
- Customer support and service — The customer receives the product quickly and easily. Although ideally, this part would only consist of five-star reviews, a good system is one that’s ready for anything. A good order management system provides support in the case of a requested refund and continues to build a customer relationship through that scenario.
Now that we’ve seen the processes generated by the submission of an order, we can get down to brass tacks. A single order puts a lot of things in motion and generates a lot of activity across multiple platforms and departments, as well as third-party contractors. To that end, an order management system (OMS) becomes necessary.
What does an OMS do?
In this pursuit of efficiency, companies are more heavily relying on order management systems to govern their processes. Being able to bring all of the various steps of order management together is the first major benefit of implementing such a system. Having a top-down view of the entire cycle an order goes through, from its placement to its delivery, is a powerful tool for any e-commerce business looking to gather data and improve its workflow.
The right decision and the right technology in the right place can often unlock a business’ growth potential, helping it scale its operations properly.
How to pick the right OMS for your business
It all starts with understanding how the right software can positively impact your business results and thoroughly assessing your needs. Understanding the unique challenges your business needs to handle is an important step. Aspects such as the size of the business and the number of orders need to be the main selection criteria, as the software you choose will need to cater to your exact needs.
Furthermore, an honest look at your pain points and issues will inform your decision, as well as take into account any implementation and integration challenges.
Besides these factors, it’s worth considering whether your business will grow in the near future and how the software selected can meet increasing demand. A user-friendly product also has a clear advantage over the competition, as it will be more quickly adopted by your staff and clients. And if it also offers a wealth of integrations with popular apps, then the decision becomes clear.
Of course, more complex matters, such as security, should not be overlooked, as you are entrusting a provider with sensitive business data. Further, a decisive factor is very often the cost to acquire and maintain a software solution. It’s important to be aware of all costs when choosing the right order management solution for your business, from implementation to usage quotas and renewals.
Key features of efficient e-commerce order management software
Order management software works to eliminate as much redundancy from these processes as possible. Let’s look at some of the main advantages an OMS can provide once implemented.
Automation
An order management system can cut out manual order changes and immediate visibility to all processes involved, especially applicable to warehousing and fulfillment. While order management is easy with a low volume of incoming orders, managing a growing number of orders becomes increasingly tedious and can lead to errors. Automation can increase the rate of success for fulfilled orders.
Sales channel management
By tying together all sources of incoming orders, an OMS offers a clear view of the complete volume of a business’ order processing. This multichannel functionality means that all orders are highlighted in a clear single data feed.
Real-time exposure
Visibility of orders and the automation of warehousing and fulfillment means that the OMS offers a real-time picture of ongoing processes. This helps avoid things such as stock shortages and a more accurate available-to-sell inventory, or ATS.
Order volume
A clear process and immediate inventory calculations mean that the scalability potential is only limited by a business’ stock of products. Furthermore, being less dependent on the human component in warehousing and shipping products means that you won’t overburden teams, which allows for a nearly unlimited volume of processed orders.
Extracting data and creating insights
Pulling in a contiguous stream of data from all incoming orders and their processing means that you’re building a powerful tool from day one of implementing an OMS. The more data you gather, the more potential for clear insights into a business process. As a result, companies can learn to resupply more efficiently and tailor their processes to focus on their most successful products.
Integration
This feature is key in creating a flexible process that fits most businesses. Integrations with other platforms used in a company’s workflow, accounting software, CRM, as well as logistics systems mean that your OMS can create a coherent environment that offers visibility and growth potential down the road.
Meanwhile, incoming technologies like AI and the blockchain can further provide benefits to businesses implementing the right OMS.
E-commerce order management with Katana
In order to boost your business’ growth potential and manage scalability, Katana’s OMS features a full feature set and multiple integrations. You can optimize and track your entire sales channel and get a real-time image of how your sales and shipping efforts are moving along.
Plus, the amount of integrations built into Katana’s platform mean that you’ll easily sync all your processes with your new OMS. That means less hassle, fewer errors through manual data entry, and a contiguous workflow that’s built around transparency and efficiency.
Contact our team and learn more about all the ways in which Katana can boost your e-commerce business!
