5 Common Mistakes to Avoid When Implementing an Order Management System

Order management is a critical process for B2B and B2C retailers looking to expand their digital commerce operations. As online sales continue to grow, with expectations that by 2025, retail e-commerce sales worldwide could reach $7.391 trillion, digital commerce companies must ensure they have the technology backbone in place to deal with the uptick. This includes handling large order volumes across multiple channels, balanced with an increase in inventory, while ensuring customer orders are fulfilled on time and to their satisfaction.

An order management system (OMS) enables businesses to automate and streamline processes to minimize errors and ensure orders are fulfilled. From a customer clicking "order" to receiving the shipment, many back-end processes must occur seamlessly. Order management includes activities such as tracking orders, checking inventory, fulfilment and delivery, and processing returns. Many departments within B2B or B2C organizations are involved in order management — from warehouse staff to customer service personnel, to delivery agents and third-party partners. If one link in the chain fails, the customer experience will be sub-par. However, implementing the wrong OMS can cause huge headaches. Here are five common mistakes to avoid.

Avoid Complex Systems

Order management systems should be user-friendly. After all, their key purpose is to speed up the processing and fulfilling of orders. If the system isn't intuitive and requires a lot of training to use, it will slow down the process of getting orders out the door and widen the margin for error or miscommunication. It’s critical to avoid overly complex systems to keep things running smoothly.

Customizability is Critical

Another challenge is the inability to facilitate customization. Very few companies have the same business model, and an off-the-shelf OMS isn't the best solution to support long-term growth. As businesses expand and their needs change, they require more functionalities to accommodate different scenarios. For instance, a B2B customer purchasing a high-ticket item will likely want a high degree of customization involving parts from multiple suppliers and specialists. They'll also want to view the status of their order in real time and receive it when promised. If the system lacks these capabilities, high-spending buyers may well take their business elsewhere.

Don’t Be Left Featureless in the Future

Some order management systems fail to account for even basic features like different fulfilment channels, such as the need for in-store collection or curbside pickup, as well as home delivery. If an OMS doesn't have all the features that a business needs, it may be necessary to supplement the system with external tools or consider switching to a different system. This can be a time-consuming and cumbersome process, and it could lead to data loss or other problems. Retailers should carefully assess their needs and choose a system that has all the features they require or can easily integrate with other services. This includes features that are essential for the current operations of the business, as well as those that may be needed in the future as the business evolves.

Lack of Third-Party Integration

Linked closely to missing features is poor integration. Retailers often use multiple systems to manage different aspects of their business, and a lack of integration can lead to data silos and inefficiencies. Some systems can have problems integrating with other external or third-party tools (e.g., CRM or PIM software) that could be crucial in optimizing the fulfilment process. An OMS that integrates with other systems can help streamline processes and improve the customer experience.

Long-Term Support

Order management systems often don’t come with the necessary technical support for users experiencing difficulties, especially in relation to platform integration. For organizations looking to scale quickly, relying on a non-responsive customer support team can cause huge frustrations and delays. Therefore, be sure to check what service-level agreements are in place to ensure you can keep your system running at peak levels of performance.

Plan to Succeed

When choosing an OMS, it's important to ask tough questions about the challenges the system has been designed to address right from the outset. Trying to make these changes later in the process will cause delays and additional costs that you weren’t accounting for. One solution is using a digital commerce platform with built-in order management capabilities. This allows businesses to keep track of their inventory, manage orders, contact customers, and handle fulfilment processes all from one ecosystem. This kind of intuitive system allows the business to monitor not just order management activities, but navigate between several other sections of the back office that are necessary for success.

In the highly competitive e-commerce industry, it's important to automate repetitive tasks and speed up delivery to keep customers satisfied. The best way of achieving this is by implementing an effective order management system that streamlines the order and fulfilment process ensuring happy customers, every time.

Boris Lokschin is the co-founder and CEO of Spryker Systems, a B-to-B, B-to-C and marketplace solution renowned for its ease of use, flexibility and speed.