What is order management?

Order_management

The customer’s order journey starts when he clicks on the “Buy” button.

When new orders are placed on your online e-commerce platform then the person who is stocking your inventory must select, package and ship the correct products to the correct place.

It might seem easy when you start a new business. You get a few orders each day, and you can fulfill them quickly and cheaply. It’s not difficult.

However, potential obstacles may arise as your sales grow and channels expand your products increase, your inventory grows, and your customer base increases.

As your e-commerce shop grows, an order management system can remove bottlenecks. Here’s how.

 

Order Management

 

An order is placed in the store, and the procedure continues until the order is fulfilled. This is called order management. It is the process of keeping track and fulfilling customers’ orders. The order acceptance process usually involves picking, packing, shipping and tracking the items until they are delivered.

 

Process of Order Management

Whenever a customer places an order and pays, the process of order management begins right away and  order information is forwarded to inventory. Picking, packing, and shipping are all completed by their warehouse workers. The store checks in with the customer after they have made their purchase to determine if they are satisfied. Below are the steps:

Step 1: Order received

When a customer places an order with your company, the first stage in order management starts. Receiving means accepting the customer’s order and collecting payment. Once the payment is received, the details are forwarded directly to your warehouse. This allows your staff to start preparing for shipment.

Step 2: Fulfilling orders

In the second stage, You can even break it down into 3 stages:

 

Stage 1: Picking

The picking stage is the most vital step in completing an order. To begin, you’ll need to remove all the items from the warehouse. The shelves in warehouses are filled with different types of products. Warehouse employees must be able to swiftly and precisely select the correct item. After the items have been chosen, they are transported to a packing facility where they will be packed.

 

Stage 2: Packing

The job of the packing station extends beyond simply packing items and shipping them. The packing station is responsible for choosing the appropriate packaging materials for each product to ensure it arrives at the customer in good condition and uses resources efficiently. Fragile objects, such as glassware, must be wrapped in bubble wrap or air cushions to prevent wasting packaging materials.

 

Stage 3:  Shipping

After you’ve picked and packed your order, you need to ship it. The usual tasks of the warehouse employees at the shipping point are:

  • Attach the relevant shipping invoice to your order
  • In all your sales channels, mark the order shipped.
  • Sending the customer shipping confirmation emails and tracking emails

So what to do when you don’t have the product in stock? Then you can do two things: Turn customers away or postpone order delivery using dropshipping and back-ordering.

Step 3: After-sales activities

After-sales is the last stage in order management. Customers should be contacted for follow-up and feedback. Make sure they’re happy with their purchase and handle any returns and refunds if they’re not. This is a common order management technique.

However, organizations that provide services might also benefit from ordering management.

Basic elements of a successful order management

Visibility

Examine the entire supply chain and identify events to prevent problems and make your processes more efficient.

Intelligence

Tune the order management process to an organization’s performance goals and business rules.

Flexibility

Break down tasks or events so that they can be channeled to relevant systems or resources.

Inventory

A single view of inventory lets you see what’s available, what’s in transit, and what is currently being demanded. This allows for a reduction in the need to expedite shipment or maintain excess safety stock.

Planning

In this way, service requests can be addressed more efficiently.

Engagement technologies

Customer-facing personnel should have access to customer information, back-end inventory, and other resources in order to be able to execute transactions more efficiently.

Optimization

Analyze data, analyze it and propose options that address shipping and delivery methods, time-to delivery, and cost.

Importance of order management

It can take a long time to adopt Order Management, and it can feel like an extra effort. For your organization, Order Management is a must-have. Following we have provided the top 3 reasons where you can know why it is important in your business.

 

  • Track Overstocking/Under stocking

Overstocking as well as under stocking could endanger your business. Stocking up on too many items makes your brand look like a sitting duck with less money.

 

Order Management is a program that allows you to manage seasonal sales based on previous client purchases. This ensures that you are protected against overstocking and understocking.

 

Fewer mistakes when fulfilling your orders

Even if you have only a few orders to handle each day, it seems like everything is going according to plan. The more your firm grows, the more orders you’ll have to process per day. Failures are inevitable.

Delivery of incorrect orders, addresses, or shipping delays can cause damage to your business reputation. Order management automates the process and eliminates the possibility of human errors.

Save time

Without planning for order management, you will find that most of your resources are spending hours doing mundane tasks such as fulfillment. I’m certain this is not the plan you had when you started.

Order Management System:

An order management system is a digital method of monitoring the progress of an order. It keeps a record of all information and processes, such as order entry, inventory management, fulfillment, and customer service. OMS gives both buyers and businesses visibility. Organizations can view inventory in real-time and customers can track when an order will be delivered.

Benefits of Order Management system

To save time and avoid wasting valuable resources and manage all your order fulfillment tasks. This is the next generation of automated order management that’s affordable and cheap. And bizbloqs provide the best solution compare to the other companies. An order management system has key benefits. Here are the benefits of an OMS.

Automation efficiency

An automatic order management system saves time and money by reducing time and effort, decreasing the risk of human mistakes in invoicing and order data and allowing businesses to focus on growth and customer satisfaction.

Management of inventory

It is beneficial to have a real-time order management system since it allows for the distribution of sales, returns, and exchanges information.

24/7 Access

Businesses may access their order management system online from anywhere in the world. This allows them to process orders remotely from any location. This provides greater control over data, better customer service, as well as faster order processing.

Real-time Data

It is possible to react faster to any difficulties that may develop because of an OMS’s real-time data display, rather than risking customer unhappiness with inaccuracies or delays.

Inventory management

An order management system’s real-time features help inventory management by sharing data about things sold, returned, or swapped in real-time. This eliminates overselling of inventory and improves customer satisfaction.

Summary:

Order management is a key element of your warehouse’s activities. It can become quite overwhelming to handle all the processes manually when your business receives increasing numbers of orders. This is why most businesses turn to an order-management system. It automates your fulfillment processes and simplifies tracking.

Want to know more:

  1. Which of the following is a function of warehouse management software?
  2. How can warehouse management reduce costs?
  3.  What is warehouse management from the view of logistic management?

 

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Willem Ten Asbroek

Willem Ten Asbroek

CEO, Bizbloqs Management Solution B.V.

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PRODUCT SELECTOR

Welcome to the BizBloqs product selector. This is a tool we designed to guide you to the right subscription for your business.

If you are not sure how to answer a question, or you are not comfortable with the recommendation, please simply contact us and discuss it with one of our experts. It is our duty and pleasure to guide you to the best of our ability, making sure you arrive at the right well-informed choice that suits your needs perfectly.

INTRODUCTION

BizBloqs offers Business Processes as a Service (BPaaS) and has created a range of subscriptions that service the specific needs of customer profiles we have encountered often in the market.

Our solutions are designed in such a way that we can service the smallest businesses for their basic needs, while the same platform can service the most complex and elaborate logistic requirements as well. This level of scalability allows all our customers to make their subscription grow with their needs, no matter how rapidly they grow or increase the complexity.

STATEMENT 1

I only need very basic features and care most about my outbound process.

GAMBIT

Gambit is our entry-level solution that covers the basic needs for companies that are looking to digitize their order fulfilment processes.

The emphasis of this subscription is on the outbound processes, handling all common requirements with ease. Gambit includes the ability to integrate a web shop on the frontend or an ERP system in the backend.

Furthermore, you can connect your Gambit solution to a supported transporter of your choice. Your order fulfilment and stock management have never been easier.

STATEMENT 2

I only need basic features, but inbound and outbound processes are both very relevant for my requirements.

PAWN

Pawn is the second-tier subscription of BizBloqs. It offers all the capabilities of Gambit, but also adds full control over the purchasing process. If you are looking to take your business to the next level by digitizing all your warehouse processes altogether, Pawn is the right solution for you.

It offers location management out of the box, supporting one location per article as the standard. All basic processes any small or medium business might need are included, all based on the years of experience and elaborate expertise of BizBloqs. We have taken the best practices of implementations in the past so you can benefit from the best of our capabilities.

STATEMENT 3

I need some advanced features; my situation requires location management and/or we need digital support for batch picking. You could say my needs resemble a wholesaler, reseller or large web shop.

KNIGHT

Knight takes your digital logistic capabilities to the level you might see at large companies with a professional setup. In fact, BizBloqs services several companies at this level with its Knight solution. It offers the possibility to manage an article across multiple locations and offers digital management for your batch picking.

Knight is the right solution for you if you need to optimize fairly complex processes or large operations. If location management is a big part of your business, Knight is the right subscription level for you. This solution is popular amongst wholesalers, resellers and web shops in particular.

STATEMENT 4

I want a standard solution, but with all the bells and whistles. I manage multiple locations and zoning across my warehouses and deal with a lot of orders.

BISHOP

Bishop is the ultimate standard subscription with a wide range of features beyond the capabilities of Knight. It allows for dynamic location management, which allows you to keep track of your stock on the move at all times.

You can manage multiple locations and assign various location zones as per your requirements. Bishop can handle a great number of orders without effort. If this ultimate subscription still doesn’t meet your needs, you would need to consider a custom solution that is tailored specifically to your requirements.

CUSTOM

Clearly it will not be possible to make a straightforward recommendation for your needs. That’s perfectly fine, we have the expertise and experience to address your challenges. You will need to work with our experts to digitize your processes and define your workflow.

Our solutions are designed in such a way that we can service the smallest businesses for their basic needs, while the same platform can service the most complex and elaborate logistic requirements as well. We can do this without development in almost all cases, simply by configuring our solutions to reflect your situation perfectly.