While all OMS e-commerce systems have the same purpose, they do not all offer the same functionalities. Some OMSs are more complete than others, and will enable you to achieve an even higher level of satisfaction. Find out in this article how to choose the right one.
An Order Management System is an order management tool that enables e-commerce players to optimize inventory and order management across all their sales channels. More generally, it enables them to increase the efficiency of their logistics and optimize omnichannel order fulfillment, with the sole aim of improving customer satisfaction.
Omnichannel Ordering: Redefining the Shopping Experience
In the digital age, the way customers interact with brands has changed profoundly. Today’s businesses are faced with an increasingly connected customer, making omnichannel ordering not just relevant, but essential. In this article, we’ll explore the concept of omnichannel ordering, its benefits for customers, and how businesses can take advantage of it.
What is omnichannel ordering?
Omnichannel ordering isn’t just a buzzword in the marketing world, it’s a real revolution in the way companies interact with their customers. At its core, omnichannel is about the integration and coherent management of all the sales and service channels a customer may use. This means that, whether buying in-store, ordering online for home delivery, or booking online and picking up in-store (click & collect), customers should enjoy a seamless experience.
In other words, if a customer starts their shopping journey online, they can choose to complete their purchase in-store, and vice-versa. The aim is to offer a smooth transition between the different channels, and enable customers to use multiple channels in a single transaction.
Omnichannel benefits for customers and companies
1. Seamless customer experience: Thanks to omnichannel, customers enjoy a frictionless shopping experience. Information is synchronized in real time, enabling customers to switch between channels without having to repeat information or encounter obstacles.
2. More choice for customers: Customers can choose how, when and where they interact with a brand. They can browse online, then try and buy in-store, or search in-store and have it delivered to their home.
3. Improved customer loyalty: When a company offers a seamless omnichannel experience, it increases customers’ trust in its brand, encouraging them to return.
4. Better data collection: Companies can track customers’ buying journey across different channels, offering valuable insights to refine their marketing strategy.
5. Increased sales: An omnichannel approach can lead to increased sales. By offering a consistent customer experience and multiple touchpoints, the chances of conversion increase.
In a world where the customer is king, omnichannel is the throne on which the customer sits. For companies, embracing omnichannel ordering means embracing the future, putting the customer at the heart of their strategy, to deliver the perfect shopping experience.
Connected to as many sales channels as possible
The omnichannel Order Management System must enable online retailers to practice omnichannel sales, in order to limit and diversify the strategic risk incurred through single-channel sales. E-tailers need to be able to offset their business with another channel in the event of a significant downturn. For this reason, they need to be connected to as many sales channels as possible (CMS, marketplaces, private sales, etc.). In addition, it centralizes orders and synchronizes inventory across all sales channels to increase efficiency and avoid out-of-stock sales. All this, of course, with the aim of providing consumers with a single, unified shopping experience.
It intelligently routes orders to one or more warehouses
If good OMS software can centralize and manage the stock of one or more warehouses from a single back-office, a very good OMS e-commerce software must enable it to create rules for automatically routing orders to these same warehouses according to the consumer’s location, stock availability, type of shipment (B2B or B2C)… An essential feature for delivering to the consumer as quickly as possible, but also for meeting ecological challenges!
Real-time communication with consumers via email and/or SMS
A high-performance OMS or Order Management System must also enable e-tailers to notify their customers in real time at each key stage in the life of an order:
- Since preparation
- Via shipping
- Until delivery.
In concrete terms, this requires no additional action on the part of the picker: every time a step is taken in the warehouse (for example, scanning a barcode to start a preparation), a notification is sent directly to the consumer. All the way through to final delivery.
At a time when consumers are more and more demanding, and in constant search of immediacy and speed, both in the act of buying and in their daily activities, it has become essential for e-commerce professionals to communicate in real time with their customers if they are to have any chance of satisfying them and building loyalty.
It’s scalable and upgradeable
A very good Order Management System must be scalable and upgradeable. It must be able to support and accompany companies as they evolve: increased activity, new sources of sales, outsourced logistics… In particular, it must be capable of easily integrating new connectors.
It is interoperable.
It interconnects with other supply chain solutions (CRM, PIM, ERP, e-commerce site), exchanging data in real time and providing a 360° view of e-commerce activity. If you’re not sure whether to use an order management system or an ERP, take a look at our article.
Discover OMS Shippingbo for optimal logistics
The choice ofOrder Management System will then be based on details that are of the utmost importance to you, including pricing, service and support. Shippingbo has established itself on the European scene as one of the most comprehensive e-commerce OMSs on the market, at a competitive price.
Shippingbo is an e-commerce logistics solution combining OMS, WMS and TMS, enabling you to easily manage your entire e-commerce supply chain with a single tool. Shippingbo goes much further than conventional order management systems, since by also combining WMS and TMS, you can directly optimize your entire supply chain: from order management, through picking, right up to dispatch.
To find out more about WHO, download our white paper on the subject.
