What You Need to Know About Order Management System

An order management system (OMS) is a software platform that helps businesses manage and track their orders from start to finish. It includes inventory management, order tracking, and shipping and delivery management. Implementing an OMS can greatly improve a business's efficiency and customer satisfaction. This article will explore the benefits of using an OMS, the features of an effective OMS, how to choose the right one for your business, implementation and integration tips, best practices for optimizing business operations with an OMS, and Strikingly website builder's role in OMS integration.

What is Order Management System?

While the OMS meaning seems to be a lost cause for most budding business owners, you shouldn’t join the bandwagon.

An Order Management System (OMS) software solution helps businesses manage their end-to-end order processing workflow. It is a central hub for order-related information, providing tools to facilitate order entry, processing, fulfillment, and tracking.

An OMS typically integrates with various organizational systems and departments, such as sales, inventory, customer service, shipping, and accounting. It consolidates data from these different sources, giving businesses a holistic view of their orders and streamlining their operations.

What are the Key Features of an Order Management System?

Key features of an Order Management System may include.

• Order Entry. Capturing and recording customer orders, including relevant details such as products, quantities, pricing, and shipping information.
• Inventory Management. Maintaining real-time inventory level visibility allows businesses to allocate stock for orders and prevent stockouts or overstocks efficiently.
• Order Processing. Automating order routing, validation, and approval workflows, ensuring orders move through the system smoothly and promptly.
• Order Fulfillment. Coordinating the fulfillment process, including warehouse picking, packing, and shipping. This may involve integration with shipping carriers for label generation and tracking.
• Customer Service. Providing customer service representatives access to order information allows them to address inquiries, modifications, or cancellations efficiently.
• Reporting and Analytics. Generating reports and analytics on order performance, such as order volume, fulfillment times, backorders, and customer satisfaction metrics.
• Integration with External Systems. Connecting with other business systems, such as e-commerce platforms, CRM systems, payment gateways, and accounting software, to synchronize data and ensure consistency across the organization.

Implementing an OMS includes improved order accuracy, enhanced operational efficiency, faster order processing times, better inventory management, and enhanced customer satisfaction. By centralizing and automating order management processes, businesses can streamline their operations, reduce errors, and provide a seamless experience to their customers.

Why is it Important to Implement an Order Management System?

Implementing an OMS and getting your own order management software can significantly improve a business's efficiency by streamlining the ordering process and reducing errors in order fulfillment.

• Streamlined Operations. An OMS helps streamline the entire order processing workflow, from order entry to fulfillment. It automates manual tasks, reduces errors, and improves efficiency by eliminating the need for manual data entry and rekeying of information. This streamlining of operations leads to faster order processing times, reduced delays, and improved customer satisfaction.
• Inventory Management. An OMS provides real-time visibility into inventory levels, allowing businesses to optimize stock levels and prevent stockouts or overstocks. With accurate inventory information, businesses can fulfill orders from the most appropriate warehouse or distribution center, reducing shipping costs and ensuring timely deliveries. This results in improved inventory management, reduced carrying costs, and increased sales opportunities.
• Order Accuracy. An OMS reduces the risk of errors and order discrepancies by centralizing order management functions. It eliminates manual order entry and automates validation and approval processes, ensuring that accurate information is captured and processed. This leads to improved order accuracy, reduced order cancellations, and enhanced customer satisfaction.
• Customer Service. An OMS provides customer service representatives with easy access to order information, order status updates, and customer history. This empowers them to respond quickly to customer inquiries, address issues promptly, and provide accurate information about order delivery. Businesses can build customer loyalty and drive repeat sales by delivering superior customer service.

Strikingly Live Chat Page

• Integration and Scalability. An OMS integrates with various systems and platforms, such as e-commerce, CRM, and shipping carriers. This integration ensures seamless data flow and enables businesses to scale their operations efficiently. As sales volumes grow and new channels are added, an OMS can adapt and accommodate increased order volumes and complexities.
• Analytics and Reporting. An OMS provides valuable insights through reporting and analytics on order performance, inventory levels, fulfillment times, and customer behavior. These insights enable businesses to make data-driven decisions, identify bottlenecks, and improve their order management processes. This continuous optimization helps businesses stay competitive, improve operational efficiency, and drive business growth.

This article will explore the benefits of using an OMS, the features of an effective OMS, how to choose the right one for your business, and more.

Benefits of Using an Order Management System

An order management system (OMS) is a software tool that helps businesses manage their sales orders and inventory across multiple channels. Implementing an OMS can bring numerous benefits to your business, including.

1. Increased Order Accuracy

With an OMS, you can automate order processing and reduce the risk of human errors. The system can validate customer information, check product availability, and ensure that orders are shipped to the correct address. This leads to fewer errors and returns, saving your business time and money.

2. Improved Inventory Management

An OMS allows you to track inventory levels in real time across all channels. This means you can avoid overselling products or running out of stock unexpectedly, which can damage your reputation with customers.

3. Enhanced Customer Experience

By using an OMS, you can provide customers with accurate information about their orders at any time. Customers can check the status of their orders online, receive shipping notifications, and track their packages in real time. This improves customer satisfaction and builds trust in your brand.

4. Competitive Advantage in the Market

Using an OMS gives you a competitive edge over businesses that still rely on manual processes or outdated systems. With faster order processing times and more accurate inventory management, you can offer better service to customers and stay ahead of the competition.

Features of an Effective Order Management System

Order management system (OMS) software is designed to help businesses streamline their order fulfillment process. An effective OMS should have the following features.

1. Order tracking and status updates

One of the most essential features of an OMS is the ability to track orders and provide real-time status updates to customers. This ensures that customers are always aware of their order's progress, which can improve customer satisfaction and reduce support inquiries.

2. Integration with other systems (e.g. CRM, ERP)

An effective OMS should be able to integrate with other systems such as customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. This allows for a more seamless flow of information between different departments, which can improve efficiency and reduce errors.

3. Customizable order workflows

Different businesses have different order fulfillment processes, so an effective OMS should allow for customizable workflows that can be tailored to each business's unique needs. This can help businesses optimize their processes and improve efficiency.

4. Real-time inventory management

An effective OMS should also have real-time inventory management capabilities that allow businesses to track their inventory levels in real-time. This can help prevent stockouts and overstocking, which can lead to lost sales or excess inventory costs.

Choosing the Right Order Management System for Your Business

Choosing the right Order Management System (OMS) for your business is crucial to ensure its successful implementation and alignment with your specific needs. Here are some key factors to consider when selecting an OMS

1. Your Needs

To choose the right order management system (OMS) for your business, it is important first to identify your specific needs. This includes understanding your order volume, types of products, and shipping requirements. Once you clearly understand your needs, you can begin evaluating different OMS options.

2. Scalability

Another critical factor to consider is the scalability of the OMS. As your business grows, you want to ensure that the OMS can handle increased order volume without compromising performance or accuracy. Look for an OMS that offers flexible customization options and can adapt to changing business needs.

3. Integration Capabilities

The integration capabilities of the OMS are also crucial. A good OMS should seamlessly integrate with other systems such as customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. This ensures that all aspects of your business are working together efficiently and effectively.

4. Cost and ROI

It's essential to evaluate the cost and return on investment (ROI) of the OMS. While cost is certainly a factor, it's important to consider the long-term benefits an OMS can provide such as increased efficiency and improved customer satisfaction.

Implementation and Integration of Order Management System

Implementing an order management system (OMS) can be a game-changer for your ecommerce business. It streamlines your order processing, inventory management, and customer service operations, resulting in increased efficiency and profitability.

Steps for Successful OMS Implementation

You must follow a few crucial steps to ensure a successful OMS implementation.

1. First, identify your business needs and goals to determine the features and functionalities you require from the OMS.

2. Choose an OMS that aligns with your requirements and budget.

3. Prepare your data by cleaning it up and ensuring it's accurate and complete.

4. You'll also need to integrate the OMS with other systems like your CRM or ERP to ensure seamless data flow.

5. Finally, test the system thoroughly before going live to iron out any kinks or issues.

Provide Training and Continuous Support

Once you've implemented the OMS, it's essential to provide adequate training to your team members so they can use it effectively. Continuous support is also necessary as new issues may arise over time that require troubleshooting or updates.

Training and support can help prevent errors or delays in order processing that could negatively impact customer satisfaction.

Potential Challenges and Solutions

One potential challenge when implementing an OMS is resistance from team members who are used to old processes or systems. To overcome this challenge, involve team members in decision-making early on and provide adequate training so they feel comfortable using the new system.

Another challenge is ensuring that the OMS integrates seamlessly with your existing systems. To address this, choose an OMS with robust integration capabilities and work closely with your IT team to ensure a smooth integration process.

OMS Best Practices to Optimize Business Operations

As businesses continue to grow, the need for efficient order management becomes more pressing. Here are some best practices to optimize your business operations through the effective use of an order management system.

1. Consistent monitoring of OMS performance

Regularly monitoring the performance of your order management system is crucial in ensuring its effectiveness in streamlining your business processes. This includes tracking key metrics such as order accuracy, inventory turnover, and customer satisfaction rates. By identifying areas that require improvement, you can make necessary adjustments and prevent potential issues from arising.

2. Regular updates and maintenance

Keeping your OMS up-to-date with the latest features and functionalities is essential in maximizing its potential benefits for your business. Regular maintenance ensures that the system runs smoothly and efficiently without glitches or errors that could disrupt operations.

3. Utilizing OMS data for business insights

An effective order management system provides valuable data insights that can be used to inform business decisions and strategies. By analyzing trends in customer behavior, inventory levels, and sales performance, you can gain a deeper understanding of your target market and make informed decisions on product offerings, pricing strategies, and marketing campaigns.

4. Continuous improvement of order fulfillment process

The ultimate goal of an OMS is to improve the overall efficiency of your order fulfillment process. Continuously reviewing and refining this process helps ensure that orders are fulfilled accurately and promptly while minimizing errors or delays that could impact customer satisfaction.

Conclusion

Order management system is a crucial tool for businesses that want to streamline their order fulfillment process and enhance customer experience. By using an OMS, businesses can increase order accuracy, improve inventory management, gain a competitive advantage in the market, and provide better customer service.

Sign Up with Strikingly Today

Strikingly is an online website builder that allows you to create your own ecommerce platform quickly and easily. Strikingly offers a simple Order Management System (OMS) as part of its website builder platform, which is beneficial for users who are just starting their business and have basic order management needs.

Having an ecommerce order management system within a website builder can provide convenience and streamline the process of managing orders and customer transactions.

With a simple OMS, you can expect features such as:

• Order Tracking. Users can track the status of orders from the moment they are placed until they are fulfilled and delivered to customers. This allows for better visibility and communication with customers regarding their orders.
• Inventory Management. Users can manage their product inventory, including tracking stock levels, setting product availability, and managing backorders or out-of-stock items. This helps maintain accurate inventory information and prevents overselling.

Image taken from Strikingly

• Order Processing. Users can process orders received through their website, including capturing customer details, product selection, and payment processing. This simplifies the order entry process and ensures that all relevant information is collected accurately.
• Order Notifications. The OMS may provide automated order notifications to customers, such as order confirmation emails, shipping updates, and delivery notifications. These notifications help keep customers informed about the status of their orders and enhance their overall shopping experience.

Image taken from Strikingly

• Payment Integration. The OMS can integrate with payment gateways, enabling users to securely process payments from customers. This integration ensures smooth and secure transactions.

Image taken from Strikingly

If you want to get ahead, get an order management system for your business today!