Operations & Fulfillment: What Omnichannel Retailers Need to Know When Choosing an OMS

You can also assign a numerical value to each answer to tally and compare the scores for each vendor. Plus, you can weight the requirements by "must have," "nice to have" and "wish list." If these are also assigned a numerical value, the score times the weight equals the rank for each requirement, which can be tallied for each vendor for all requirements.

You must also ask each vendor to indicate the cost of the system based on metrics you provide regarding number of users (full and part time) and number of SKUs, along with additional costs for the modifications the vendor proposes as well as any fees for data conversion (if you have legacy data), integration with your e-commerce platform and other systems (e.g., accounting), and training.

Processing the RFPs
You should allow each vendor about three weeks to four weeks to respond to the RFP, and another month for your team to evaluate the proposals. Typically, you can eliminate about half of them based on price and vendor scoring/ranking.

For the remaining candidates, ask for a two-hour initial web demo so that your team can get a sense of the "look and feel" of each contender.

Here again, you'll learn more than you think and can probably eliminate one or more vendors as a result. The remaining candidates should be asked to do a day-long web demo (three hours in the morning, three hours in the afternoon). At this point, you can ask them to demonstrate some scripted requirements.

This should easily narrow the field down to a final list of two or three vendors, who should be invited to come on-site for a more in-depth exploration (taking one day to three days based on vendor discretion).

The Acid Test
By now you know a lot about the vendor, and should probably arrange to visit the vendor's offices for the final candidates just to be sure there are no surprises. Ask who will be in charge of your implementation if the vendor is selected, then meet with that person for an in-depth conversation about their experience with project management.