Order Management System Guide: Benefits + Features to Look For in 2024

7 Benefits of Using an Order Management System

Today's ecommerce shopper expects swift order fulfillment, accurate deliveries, and seamless shopping experiences, including returns and refunds. This is where an Order Management System provides several benefits:

1. Efficiency in Operations

An OMS is your hub to seamlessly manage multiple sales channels, giving you a real-time view of your inventory across various warehouse management locations. It eliminates guesswork and manual updates across different platforms. This synchronization ensures that you never oversell or disappoint customers due to stockouts.

2. Automation

An OMS can provide powerful automation capabilities to automates routine tasks, such as order routing, inventory management, and shipping. Automation saves significant manual labor and increases accuracy, enabling your business to scale effectively.

3. Seamless Integration

An OMS integrates seamlessly with most leading ecommerce platforms and marketplace partners, supporting your omnichannel sales strategy. This integration allows your business to explore new sales channels and adapt fulfillment strategies swiftly and efficiently.

4. SKU-level Product Management

An OMS empowers your business to establish a product catalog and govern your library of SKUs effectively. This feature enables you to combine products into bundles and kits, set inventory thresholds, and receive real-time updates on availability.

5. End-to-End Shipment Tracking

From the moment they are ordered until they reach the customer's doorstep, products are tracked by a suite of tools that enable your business to process more orders daily while improving your ability to track orders and meet customer expectations.

6. Simplified Forecasting

By setting inventory limits, triggering automatic replenishment, and providing other insights, an OMS optimizes stock levels and helps your business establish reliable partnerships with vendors.

7. Data-Driven Insights

Lastly, an OMS aggregates sales and inventory data across your operations. This process helps your business cut costs and improve profitability, offering curated reports and dashboards that provide a clear picture of performance.

In essence, an Order Management System is not just an ecommerce management platform; it is a powerful, versatile tool that provides your business with the intelligence and automation needed to streamline operations, improve efficiency, and drive customer satisfaction.

Streamlined Order Processing: An OMS significantly streamlines the often labor-intensive process of order management, reducing the time and effort required for efficient processing.

Improved Inventory Management: Efficiently managing inventory across multiple channels and warehouses becomes more manageable with an OMS, offering real-time visibility and data-driven insights.

Faster Order Fulfillment: Quick and accurate order fulfillment is a key driver of customer satisfaction, and an OMS enables businesses to excel in this area. For example, Loot Crate achieved a remarkable 50% reduction in manual order processing time with Extensiv. 

Increased Sales and Scalability: Seamlessly scaling operations across sales channels and markets is crucial for growth, and an OMS provides the flexibility to do so while maintaining operational excellence. Powered by Extensiv Order Management, Tushy scaled their business, adding new sales channels and expanding into new markets.

Enhanced Customer Satisfaction: Customer satisfaction is the cornerstone of any thriving ecommerce business. An OMS ensures timely deliveries and accurate order processing, leading to delighted customers who return and refer your store.

Cost Savings: By automating tasks and optimizing operations, businesses can lower operational costs, allocate resources strategically, and enhance pricing profitability. For instance, Food Huggers achieved a remarkable 25% reduction in operational costs. 

7 Signs That Your Ecommerce Company Needs a New Order Management System

So you know that running a successful ecommerce operation requires more than just a great product and website. It demands efficient order processing, seamless inventory management, and a streamlined fulfillment process.

Free Download: Vetting Inventory and Order Management Software Checklist

But how do you know when it's time for a new OMS to meet these demands? In this section, we'll explore the telltale signs, scenarios, and triggers that signal the need for a fresh OMS approach.

1. Growth Beyond Current Capabilities: Rapid business growth can strain your existing OMS, resulting in inefficiencies and errors.

2. Inadequate Inventory Management: Lack of real-time inventory visibility across multiple channels and warehouses can lead to stockouts or overstocking.

3. Manual Workarounds: Relying on manual processes for exceptions or workarounds can hinder operational efficiency.

4. Poor Customer Experience: Consistent issues like delayed order processing or incorrect shipments can impact customer satisfaction.

5. Integration Challenges: Difficulty in integrating with new platforms and essential third-party tools can limit your expansion.

6. Lack of Scalability: An OMS should grow with your business, allowing you to expand into different markets and sales channels.

7. Data-Driven Decision-Making: Quick access to real-time insights is crucial for informed decision-making.

Transitioning to a modern and robust system like Extensiv Order Management can help you overcome these challenges, streamline operations, and position your business for sustainable growth. Don't let an outdated OMS hold you back; take the first step towards a more efficient and scalable ecommerce future.

Must-have Order Management Features for 2024

To thrive in 2024 and beyond, your order management system (OMS) must have the latest and most essential features. From intelligent automation to robust integration capabilities, let's dive into the must-have OMS features essential for success.

Automated Order Management

For businesses facing rising labor costs and the need for faster order processing, automating order management processes allows for the automatic routing, processing, and fulfillment of orders, reducing the need for manual intervention. It empowers businesses to efficiently manage order flows, optimize inventory, track orders, and meet customer demands promptly.

Order Orchestration

Order orchestration is key to providing a seamless omnichannel customer experience. When orders come from various sources, such as online stores, marketplaces, and in-store locations, order orchestration ensures that orders are efficiently routed to the appropriate fulfillment centers, warehouses, or dropship suppliers, optimizing shipping costs and delivery times.

This capability minimizes fulfillment errors, reduces shipping costs, and ultimately enhances customer satisfaction.

Bundle Breakdown

Bundling products and creating kits is a common marketing strategy, but having the ability to easily manage and break down bundles is less common. This feature enables businesses to efficiently deconstruct bundled products into individual items for picking, packing, and shipping.

Bundle breakdown ensures accurate order fulfillment and reduces errors when handling bundled orders, enhancing customer satisfaction and reducing operational complexity.

Perpetual Updates

Staying current with inventory levels, order statuses, and customer data is essential for agile decision-making. Perpetual updates provide real-time visibility into order and inventory data. This means you can make informed decisions promptly, reduce stockouts, and maintain accurate stock levels across all sales channels. 

Comprehensive Reporting

From analyzing sales trends and customer behavior to monitoring inventory performance and order accuracy, advanced reporting capabilities help you make data-driven decisions. In 2024, businesses that harness the power of data analytics gain a competitive edge by optimizing their strategies, identifying growth opportunities, and proactively addressing challenges.

Seamless Integrations

Ecommerce businesses operate within a complex ecosystem of tools and apps, from ecommerce platforms and marketplaces to shipping carriers and accounting software like Quickbooks. Seamless API integrations are the glue that holds this ecosystem together.

Your OMS should excel in its ability to integrate seamlessly with other systems, ensuring that data flows smoothly and accurately across your tech stack. In 2024, where businesses rely on a multitude of solutions to manage their operations, seamless integrations are non-negotiable.

They simplify workflows, reduce manual data entry, and provide a holistic view of your ecommerce ecosystem, enabling you to adapt and thrive in a competitive landscape.

Free Download: Vetting Inventory and Order Management Software Checklist

Tips for Setting Up Your Order Management System

Setting up your OMS is not just about implementing the software but also about optimizing its functionality to maximize efficiency and productivity. Here are some best practices to help you get the most from your OMS:

1. Assess Your Multichannel Needs:

Understand Your Sales Channels: Start by evaluating all the sales channels you currently use or plan to use, including your online store, marketplaces (e.g., Amazon, eBay), social media, and point-of-sale (POS) retail locations.

Prioritize Integration: Prioritize integrating your OMS with these sales channels to ensure seamless order processing and inventory management. Look for cloud-based OMS solutions with robust integration capabilities to simplify this process.

2. Train Your Staff:

Comprehensive Training: Invest in thorough training for your team. Ensure they understand how to use the OMS effectively, including order processing, inventory management, and reporting.

Continuous Learning: Recognize that OMS platforms may evolve, so provide ongoing training to keep your team up to date with new features and capabilities.

3. Create Custom Reporting and Dashboards:

Identify Key Metrics: Determine the most critical data points and metrics you need to monitor regularly, such as sales trends, inventory turnover, fulfillment accuracy, and customer satisfaction.

Customize Dashboards: Leverage your OMS's reporting capabilities to create custom dashboards that provide real-time insights into these key metrics. Customization ensures you're focusing on the data that matters most to your business.

4. Streamline Order Processing:

Automation Rules: Configure order orchestration rules to automate your order fulfillment process as much as possible. Set rules for routing orders to the appropriate fulfillment centers, prioritizing high-value customers, or flagging potential fraud.

Batch Processing: Utilize batch processing capabilities to efficiently handle large volumes of orders, reducing manual effort and processing time.

5. Implement Inventory Management Best Practices:

Real-Time Inventory Tracking: Enable real-time inventory tracking, including monitoring purchase orders, to maintain accurate stock levels across all sales channels. This prevents overselling and backorders, ensuring a smooth customer experience.

Safety Stock: Set up safety stock levels to buffer against unexpected demand spikes and supply chain disruptions.

6. Monitor and Optimize:

Regularly Review Performance: Establish a schedule for reviewing your order management solution's performance and your team's adherence to best practices. Identify areas for improvement and optimization.

Continuous Improvement: Embrace a culture of continuous improvement by regularly seeking feedback from your team and customers to refine your OMS setup.

7. Prioritize Customer Experience:

Fulfillment Accuracy: Make fulfillment accuracy a top priority to ensure customers can buy online and choose options like pick up in-store. Use your OMS to reduce order errors, streamline packaging, and ensure on-time delivery.

Communication: Leverage your OMS's communication capabilities to keep customers informed about order status, shipping updates, and returns processing.

8. Stay Informed About OMS Updates:

Vendor Notifications: Subscribe to notifications from your OMS vendor regarding updates, patches, and new features. Keeping your system up to date ensures you benefit from the latest improvements.

9. Data Security and Compliance:

Data Protection: Ensure your OMS complies with data protection regulations. Safeguard customer data and maintain data security to build trust with your customers.

10. Scalability Planning

Future Growth: Choose an OMS that can scale with your business. Consider how the system will adapt to increased order volumes, additional sales channels, and new fulfillment strategies.