E-commerce is a growing business and more and more consumers are choosing to buy products and services online. Whether you already have an e-commerce store or are planning to start one, an effective order management system in place is essential.
Selecting the correct order management system is an important business task. You must choose from many alternatives, depending on the profile of your customers and the way you manage your business.
Let’s see first what a Management Order System is and then let’s review some tips to help you choose the right Management Order System.
What Is An Order Management System?
An order management system, also known as OMS, is a computer software system for order entry and order processing. Order management can also be done in Manufacturing Resource Planning solutions with Customer Relationship Management (Sales).
Through an order management system you can track your inventories, sales, orders and fulfillment. The benefit is that you have the ability to organize all the orders you receive and ease fulfillment. You will combine inventory and order data in one location, and integrate it with other systems as well.
Tips For Choosing The Right Order Management System
Here are some considerations to keep in mind when choosing the right order management system for your business.
- The type of product you sell
- The service quality of the Order Management System provider
- Implementation time and daily use
- Integration of your Order Management System with other systems
- The sales channels
- Scalability
- Security
- Your budget
Let's take a look at the tips in more detail to help you make your long-term investment more effective.
1. The Type Of Product You Sell
Consider the type of products you sell. You may sell customized products that need integration with your manufacturing process. You may manage standardized products integrated with your inventories. Your system should help to improve inventory control and management. This is one of the main advantages of investing in an Order Management System solution for your e-commerce business.
If you are a retailer and offer your products directly to the final consumer, you should have an Order Management System. You only need to have your own website or a point of sale through a seller.
Make sure you can enter inventory information automatically. This will help your employees, suppliers and customers.
Changes can be implemented immediately on all new orders and can also be applied to historical orders in your system.
2. The Service Quality Of The Order Management System Provider
Find one that offers 24-hour technical support. Most Order Management System solutions offer customer support. Ensure that your provider operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Note that you may operate from another part of the world and your client or Order Management System service provider may have a different time zone.
3. Implementation Time And Daily Use
choose an Order Management System that is easy to install and use. Migration should be simple, automatic, with the least manual steps. The software should be easy to install and use. Depending on the Order Management System service solution you choose, you will either use it through a web browser or you will need to download software. Also be sure to keep the information you already had in your database.
Once the OMS is installed, the time will come when your team will use the software. Choose an intuitive and friendly Order Management System that does not need tedious training sessions.
Be sure to consider the computer knowledge of your team. Note whether they have computer skills and ease of learning to operate the new software. Also consider that your employees' time in front of the software is a valuable resource. They will need to add value to your company, rather than spending long time with intricate software.
Take advantage of the opportunity that most software offers as free demos or tutorials. Do not abuse this opportunity during your selection process, after all it is a time consuming task.
Finally contemplate that the selected system must be accessible from a variety of devices. Your work team may access the system from different places, time zones and devices, such as cell phones, tablets or personal computers. Cloud-based Order Management System is always a good alternative.
4. Integration Of Your Order Management System With Other Systems
Your Order Management System needs to be integrated with other management software, such as accounting or inventory. You can filter the best providers with the ones that integrate with solutions you currently use or plan to use in the future. Check that the Order Management System can be integrated with other systems that you need:
- Inventory Management
- Manufacturing Process
- Suppliers and/or 3PL, such as courier partners
- Marketing (manage catalogues or promos)
- Accounting systems
- Payments Processing (credit cards, e-wallets, etc)
- Order Processing (invoicing, labeling, shipping, returns, etc.)
Or you can use specialized solution like Manufacturing Resource Planning software to manage your manufacturing business processes.
5. The Sales Channels
Make sure that the chosen Order Management System contains many sales channels for easy administration.
You must be able to program orders, and with a simple click see the status of the orders. Keep in mind, that handling bulk orders will help you to save time.
It is very useful, when the software gives you the opportunity to create order batches easily.
Consider the possibility of sending automatic notifications, via email or SMS to your customers.
6. Scalability
Select an Order Management System that go along with the growth of your business, instead of being an obstacle. The Order Management System should allow you to easily add new stores, products and users. You can create new roles, expand modules, add products or replicate your existing stores. This process should be simple and fast.
7. Security
The security of your business is a crucial element to prevent data theft and keep your information confidential. Choose an order management system that includes the security aspects in the subscription.
Choose software with a solid presence in the market and that has updates to avoid falling into a discontinued product.
8. Your Budget
Consider that an Order Management System solution will bring savings in the long run, so the initial investment always worth it. Do not get a cheap Order Management System option that does not fit your requests. In the end, the cheap alternative will be expensive.
You do not need to shell out big investments. Today you have countless good cloud based systems. On-demand systems allow you to pay monthly or annual subscriptions, depending on the number of users.
Consider making the choice of the system that best suits your needs together with your team. Make a decision matrix evaluating the top three relevant competitors and the critical factors that you must have.
