Order management in B2B and B2C eCommerce is one of the main reasons why many businesses decide to go through digital transformation. The key value of an order management system is to get a product into a customer’s hands as fast and as efficiently as possible. In today’s digital world, clearly adopting an order management system is the way to go for growing businesses. It is vital for businesses to integrate eCommerce solutions systems in their eCommerce platform to facilitate their order processing to get ahead of their competition. Indeed, there are tremendous benefits companies can reap from implementing eCommerce Order Management Systems into their platforms.
What is Ecommerce Order Management System?
Ecommerce order management is the back-end process for managing and fulfilling customers’ online orders. The process simply starts when a customer places an order online and ends when the customer receives the package. It includes everything in the middle: picking the item from inventory, packing, shipping, and finally tracking it until it gets delivered to the customer’s doorstep. That is to say, it is the process of managing the journey of each item in the customer’s order, from beginning to end.
The lifecycle of Order Management: How does it work?
The process starts even before the customer places an order. Firstly, the order management system notes when a customer places an item in an online cart and automatically adjusts inventory. Then, the system notifies the customer of the abandoned item in the cart. Once the customer finally places the order, the system communicates with the back-office system to verify the payment method and process the order for fulfillment.
Secondly, the system optimizes the warehouse selection based on the proximity to the customer’s address. It calculates the shipping cost, chooses the shipping carriers, manages packing slips, and labels. Consequently, it adjusts inventory. If an item is low or out of stock, the system automatically notifies the supplier to restock. Thus, the system automatically can rectify the issue before it starts.
In the next steps that follow, the system notifies the customer once the order has been packed and shipped. It allows both the business owner and the customer to track the package route once it leaves the warehouse. Furthermore, the system facilitates a return and refund to customers if not satisfied with the item. It communicates with the back office to process a refund.
Why Ecommerce Order Management System is Important for your business?
The main job of an order management system is to streamline an order process in the most cost-effective and automated way possible to increase revenue. Here are some of the many advantages of integrating an eCommerce order management system into your B2B eCommerce platform:
Automation & Human Error-Free
Automation in any system is key to controlling costs and increasing revenue. In fact, a manual process can never compete with a fast and accurate automated system. A manual system is more prone to human error. Unlike a fully automated order management system. It manages and tracks inventory stock in warehouses. It communicates with suppliers, calculates shipping costs, connects with warehouses for stock availability, and much more. Most importantly, it eliminates human error as much as possible throughout the whole process which allows you to save costs in the long run.
Multi-Channel and Omnichannel Sales
Today eCommerce is not limited to just buying from an eCommerce site. But, selling brands today has to be thought through every sales channel possible. Order management systems can process customers’ orders across all eCommerce platforms and sales channels including the company website, eCommerce store, or through Omnichannel and marketplace like Amazon, eBay. In addition, selling through online social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube. A smart order management system has to track and process orders coming from all these multichannel and process orders smoothly and efficiently.
Cross Border eCommerce
Since we live in a world that has no boundaries when it comes to eCommerce. Order management systems play an important role in facilitating cross-border selling. Consequently, it can manage orders within different countries with different currency types as well in no time. This is one of the key benefits of an eCommerce order management system in today’s eCommerce world.
Faster Delivery
When two-day shipping became the norm, businesses have to push out orders much faster than their competitors. Here is where an efficient automated order management system comes in place. When a customer places an order, the system automatically locates the closest warehouse to the customer’s location. Likewise, it can automatically split the order to multiple locations as well. Certainly, the faster the delivery, the more loyal customer.
Scalability
In order to “future-proof” your business, you will need an order management system that is agile and flexible that grows with your business. Unlike the traditional manual way that does not have this adaptability. An eCommerce solution, like B2B Connect, is equipped with an advanced Order Management System, which is designed in a way that can scale and grow with your company’s requirements and meet your business demands.
Inventory Management
An order management system sends alerts when either stock gets too low, or when it is too much and needs to liquidate. It predicts future inventory trends based on the historical data of the product purchase trends. Likewise, it communicates with multiple warehouses at the same time to process the shipping according to customer proximity and stock availability. Indeed, this prevents delays in shipping and leads to faster delivery and a happier customer.
Enhanced Customer Satisfaction
Above all, the most important benefit of an automated advanced order management system is enhancing customer satisfaction and providing a personalized shopping experience as well. Since the main job of the order management system is to improve and enhance the efficiency of the order process so the product reaches the customer faster on time or even before.
What are the benefits of B2B Connect to your Business?
B2B Connect developed by DigiCommerce is a headless pre-composed solution for B2B, B2C, D2C, and B2B2C commerce. It is a business-ready solution that provides a quick start for any sort of business. Similarly, it can rapidly launch from simple to complex eCommerce experiences.
Furthermore, a B2B Connect solution is equipped with an Advanced Order Management feature which allows purchasers to manage their orders efficiently. In addition, this pre-composed solution integrates smoothly across a company’s commerce systems like accounting, warehouse, service providers, supply chain, and many others. It can easily adapt to any business logistics and process.
B2B Connect Advanced Order Management Key Benefits:
– Allows buyers to manage and track their orders easily.
– Provides buyers with the ability to split their orders to multiple locations as per their preference.
– Allows buyers to have multiple price lists.
– Multiple buyers can also have One price list.
– Allows for both Full and Partial Returns via API
– Allows for back-orders.
A pre-integrated solution to your preferred headless platforms such as elastic path, commercetools, and BigCommerce. It is equipped with pre-built integrations to many third-party applications and ERP solutions, including Avalara, Digital River, Contentful, Salesforce, Stripe, WorldPay, Oanda, Intact and more.
In short, there is no doubt that companies today need an efficient eCommerce order management system to grow their businesses. Thus, it became a Must-Have in the future of the eCommerce world. DigiCommerce can play an integral role in integrating an eCommerce solution and provides you with the best method for a fast, personalized, and error-free order fulfillment process for your customers. DigiCommerce experts can guide you through the implementation process to avoid complex eCommerce implementation – Together we can shape your future innovations!