ORDER MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE - A COMPLETE GUIDE TO KEEP TRACK OF YOUR BUSINESS
When a business starts to grow, so does the need to manage it accordingly. Instead of hiring more and more employees, you can get help from technology and that’s where Order Management Software is helpful. A trading business revolves around sale and purchase and that is all about orders. You must keep track of the incoming and outgoing orders because that’s how a smoothly running business is possible.
It allows you to track all of your clients’ orders and thus effectively keep check of everything. Choosing the best order management system is not possible if you don’t have the background knowledge of how it works and the essential features it must come with.
After you know it’s working, you can make the right decision and get the right software that suits your business needs. Here we have created a complete guide to assist you in explaining all about OMS.
What is an Order Management Software?
An order management software is used to keep track of all the orders and their status. It helps keep a check on shipment, inventory, and returned orders. This software helps present the products to the potential customers and deal with all the orders effectively. An order management system basically helps you manage and facilitate the execution of orders in your business.
Looking for effective systems for order management is essential because a company needs to find the right technology that is fit for its purpose.
Information Collected with an Order
When a person places an order, there is general information collected by the user and that will be saved in your OMS system. This basic information of every user will be saved into the system and whenever needed, you can just check it by entering the date or the name of the user. This would allow you to easily access the information and then further use it or track it. Here is the information that will be collected for an order:
1. Stock Symbol
This is a unique set of alphabets and numbers given to each order to ensure security. This number works like a code and tracks down all the data of the order. Mostly it is called an order number or security identifier. With this particular number, you can keep track of the order easily.
2. Size of the Order
The weight of the package is generally mentioned on top of it. This generally calculates the shipping price and also the number of miles it has to travel would make a difference in determining the shipping cost. That is why this information is mentioned in your order.
3. Type of Order
It needs to be mentioned if the order is a purchase, a sale, or a short order. It can also be a returned item and would still be considered an order because it has to travel back to the warehouse.
4. Instructions with the Order
All special instructions are mentioned with the order and give details about the order. It can be about a filled or kill order that must be executed immediately so that it is dealt with first. Others can be a day order that expires after 24 hours and is only valid within the day. Another instruction with the order can be Good till Cancelled and for that, it is only valid until the user cancels it.
Sale Factors that as Effective OMS Helps With
Here are a few factors that retailers and businesses need to keep in mind when they are offering their products for purchase.
• The means through which the customers are making a purchase.
• What shipping options are offered to the customer.
• Supply chain management.
• Analytical and technical infrastructure management.
All the help needed for the management of the above factors is provided by an Order Management System. Even if your business needs little assistance and wants to know about it, this is a detailed guide to get help from.
Functions of an Order Management Software
No matter if you have a small-scale business or a broad one, your OMS must come with certain functions that it must perform effectively. Although, it is possible that some of the businesses might need a more comprehensive system to deal with the complex issues. Yet all of them must have a basic set of functions as stated below.
Order Tracking and Monitoring
This is one of the most fundamental features of an Order Management System as it needs to keep proper track of all the orders. This is essential for every business because even the most efficient workers can’t effectively deal with all the orders. Human error is always there, so keeping in software to deal with this can deliver great customer service.
An OMS will certainly make the job easier for the business and make the experience better for the consumer as well. There are even more processes that can be involved with it including inventory management. It gives you visibility of the entire stock and thus you can develop efficient processes to deal with the orders. The best part is that the real-time inventory visibility gives you a chance to anticipate any problems and develop an appropriate strategy in time.
Real-Time Inventory Management
No matter how small your business is, it needs to manage the inventory to keep track of all the outgoing goods and incoming payments for the calculation of generated revenue. All of the orders will affect your inventory so you must make sure to keep it updated.
A properly managed inventory can save you from overstocking, overselling, and even inaccurate forecasting. It allows you to properly analyse the flow and calculate a logical result. You can look at the inventory in one click and a single view allows you to determine the stock, demand, and sales as well. This way you can maintain your stock and you won’t have to accelerate the shipments just to keep space.
Completing Order and Shipment
All of the orders placed are recorded by an effective OMS but it does not just stop there. It will keep track of the order and generate automatic shipment labels as well. When the product reaches the customer, it is recorded and thus helps in the next steps. This way it allows you to get the ordered products at the doorstep of your consumers and keep track of it. It also deals with warehouse management as well to assist you further.
Handling and Managing Returned Orders
Any eCommerce business can understand that getting returns of the order is normal and inevitable. You just can’t overcome it even if you have the best products. According to stats, about 30% of online orders are returned for different reasons. Keeping this in mind, you need to create a check for those too and OMS is the right way to do that.
Your Order Management system also handles the returned items and deals with the customers as well.
Benefits of an Order Management System
Now that you know what an eCommerce order management software is and what it is supposed to do, you must know why it would be helpful for your business. The decision to invest in a system like this can only be taken if you know how it will be beneficial for your business and improve the outcome.
Paperless Working
Now that you have integrated an Order management system for your business, you need not worry about the records on paper. All you need is in the e-cloud, that keeps all your important data safe without maintaining big registers. This way it will reduce the human effort that goes into it. All the work can be really easy and your manpower can be used for something more productive and effective.
Workflow Automation
All of the records will be shifted to the computer and information will be automatically filled in to reduce human error and extra effort. It will help you keep track of all the orders and product flow and would allow you to easily analyse the need for restocking. Your employees would not have to keep a record of every single order as all of it would be stored in the software automatically with just an entry.
Time-Saving
When the employees do not have to spend hours on maintaining the record, they would be free to use their time in something more productive. Order management can be performed by software effectively but some things need more human effort. An effective system will save up time for that and help you generate more revenue because time is money in this modern world of business.
Less Human Error
No matter how great your employees are, there is always a margin of human error and to reduce that, automated software is the best option. The system will automatically calculate all of the money flow and give a better and detailed analysis for restocking and other essentials. Technology reduces time and error from the daily chores that humans perform.
More Effective Customer Service
An order management system is not just to help you run your business effectively but allows you to deliver better customer service as well. Now that if an order is lost, or has to be returned, you can guide the customers in a better way. You would be able to provide them all the required information about their order with just a few clicks instead of looking into all the manual registers. It can allow you to give your customer a view of the inventory that is available for them to result in more effective transactions and better service.
Maintained Reverse Logistics
There are many times when a product doesn’t reach the customer as it is supposed to because of a shipment problem. Apart from that some customers just don’t like what they get and want the product returned. Such products have to go through the supply chain again and reach the start point so that they can extract value from even the discarded products by recycling them and reusing the packaging. This is reverse logistics and a good Order Management system would effectively keep track of it and make sure that it reaches where it needs to be.
How to Choose an Effective OMS?
There are some important factors that you need to consider before choosing an effective OMS for your B2B eCommerce or B2C eCommerce business. You need to keep your needs in mind while choosing the right software because every business comes with different demands and requirements.
Determine Your B2B Business Needs
You need to know your needs because only that way you would be able to analyse if the system can work for you or not. You must define particular goals for your team and business and see if the system fits with them or not.
Check Its Integration with Your Business
You must make sure that the order management software you are adapting will be integrated with your business. Because if it’s a standalone system, it may not effectively work alongside other tools you are using for accounting and inventory. Think about all the other services that you would like it to combine with and check if it does.
Determine the Scalability
You must determine if the system can be expanded if you plan to grow your business. It might not seem like you would expand your business scale in the near future but you must always be prepared for that especially when choosing OMS. Even if you are running your business at a small level right now, go for something that would expand with your needs.
Check if It Allows Multi-Channel Selling
An order management system that allows you to sell on multiple channels depending on your business demands is the one that you must go for. Multi-channel selling can be really essential because it allows you to use other platforms besides your own and thus reach more users. It eventually helps generate better revenue and improve the reach.
Research the Available Options
All the options that you can go for must be thoroughly researched upon. You must get to know them all. Create a list of pros and cons for each one and choose the one that suits you the best. Compare and contrast all the options so you know which one will work best for you. An order management system that provides the best B2B eCommerce software solutions would be the right choice.
Customer Pain Points of OMS
A B2B business comes with many challenges that you have to deal with but having an effective OMS can be really helpful. Although the new B2B methods have gained popularity because of the revenue generation, yet many complexities come with it. New ways of sale and purchase are introduced and there are complicated processes that go into it. Without an order management system, it is really hard to get things going.
Weak Integrations
If the OMS does not integrate well with the other tools and systems you are using, it can cause problems as you may need to manually input the data. Incomplete integration is also of no use and will end up taking even more effort and time.
Slow Syncing
The syncing of data is important as it allows sharing the data such as inventory and order information. If that is not available or works with errors, effective integration would not be possible. This way the record system can’t work properly and incorrect information would be translated into the documentation.
Unresponsive Customer Service
Customer service is of no use when it's not responsive and sometimes due to weak syncing of the order management, this service might not be on point. If your customer is not assisted as soon as possible and does not get the right information because of the slow OMS, it will be problematic. Any kind of inaccuracy can be annoying for the customers.
No Customisable Settings
Having the default features is not always enough for businesses and some might need to request more. If your OMS does not provide you the customisable settings and features, it will not be as helpful. If you face sharp ups and downs in sales, it can be really hard to deal with.
Why Wow Commerce?
Now that you know how you would determine the best OMS for you, here is why Wow Commerce completely fulfills all the demands and proves to be the right choice.
Scalable
If you want to start small and need an order management system for that, Wow Commerce will provide you with the best features. Gradually you can increase the scale of your business and this order management software will expand itself with that.
Integrates Other Tools
In case you are having other tools for different purposes, wow commerce order management will integrate with them to deliver better results. All the apps and software besides OMS would be effectively merged with it and generate better compatibility. Wow Commerce will eventually help you improve your B2B eCommerce and provide better service that generates revenue.
Allows Fusion with Supply Chains
You must avoid getting a system that inhibits you from processing orders with a particular supply chain. Fortunately, Wow Commerce deals with such integration that it will never reduce your chance to work with different supply chains. It will effectively allow you to alternatively work with favorable suppliers.
Exceptional Customer Service
Wow Commerce highly believes that the customer is king and that is the reason why their system proves to deliver great customer service. All the orders are recorded with easy access so that whenever a problem occurs, you can easily track it down. It allows you to keep a check on all the orders and their progress.
Conclusion
Effective B2B order management systems can prove to be convenient for a business even if it is on a small scale. All you need to do is choose the right software that works best for you and improve the flow of your business. There are a few factors you must consider before choosing one of them including the effectiveness, scalability, and integration with other tools that you will be using.
FAQs
How Does an Order Management Software Work?
An order management system deals with all the orders, inventory, and returned products. It helps the business keep track of all the incoming and outgoing sale and purchase trading and keeps the record on the software. An effective OMS makes the business convenient and saves human effort for more productive work. It tracks the execution of the order from the start to packaging and shipment.
What are the Steps Taken by an Order Management System?
The order management system takes a few steps stated as follows.
5. It starts from the order placement by the customer.
6. Then the order is received by the warehouse where they have to process it.
7. The next step is the fulfillment of the order that includes pickup, packaging, and shipping.
8. The order is safely shipped and delivered to the customer.
9. The order will end with a happy customer.
10. In other cases, a return will be made and the OMS will track the product back to the warehouse.
Who Should Use an Order Management System?
If your business is growing and you think the orders are not easy to handle anymore, you might need to go for order management software for your business. Following are the signs that show you need to get an effective OMS for your business.
• A high volume of orders that are hard to handle by the staff.
• Your retail and warehouse are located in different places and you have multiple outlets.
• You use multiple channels to sell your products.
• The fulfillment process of your sale and purchase is complicated.
About the Author: Frederick Rupert
Frederick Rupert is renowned for his profound expertise in e-commerce. The writer navigates the dynamic landscape of online businesses, offering strategic insights that drive success and growth. Want amazing tips on how to grow your e-commerce business? Visit his Twitter account to have in-depth knowledge of the industry.