Looking at the current market scenario we can say that customer expectations and product demands have changed dramatically. Customers increasingly drive the buying journey today and so the merchants have to adjust quickly to ensure they are delivering a seamless customer experience where it does not burn a hole in the pocket of the business.
And, this is where an order management system comes to the rescue. It provides key benefits that align a company with evolving customer expectations and rising market demands.
An order management platform can offer a huge amount of benefits and features from which a surprising number of commerce merchants are not aware. It does not matter if you are a small business with two stores or a large or a multibillion-dollar company, an order management system is imperative for continued growth and profitability.
If you pair an order management system with a strong digital commerce platform, it can help you provide the additional capabilities which are required to meet growing customer demands and expectations. The competition is fierce in the market and your business needs to rely on more than just the traditional methods of order management.
One should consider investing in a system that provides seamless orders, tracking, customer service, and omnichannel functionality.
Here are some of the major benefits of an order management system:
Centralized Customer Services
Customers expect to be informed every step of the way across their buying journey; be it regular email updates, tracking information, and delivery status alerts. In order to compile customer information and filter data into one place, an order management system can help you achieve those tasks seamlessly.
You can put all customer data and order information centralized in one location. This helps every customer service rep be more informed via a complete view across sales channels and fulfillment centers to address any inquiries about shipping, delivery, or even cancellations.
Omni-channel Store Fulfillment
Right from buy-online/pickup in-store or BOPIS to same-day shipping, every customer today expects as much choice in delivery as they do in channels of engagement. The shoppers of today expect to be able to have an order fulfilled in a way, time, and place that is most convenient to them. Every touchpoint in the journey provides an opportunity to give a great customer experience and boost retention and revenue consequently.
You can get in touch with a Magento development company that can offer capabilities in terms of options that are expected today by the customers like, ship from store, ship to store, BOPIS, and a limitless aisle of inventory. Such an endless aisle provides customers more options to purchase items from a global inventory that can be fulfilled anywhere.
Inventory and Sourcing
Regardless of the size of business you operate, it should not limit your opportunities for growth. If you show your customer live inventory, it can be immensely powerful; and this can be easily made possible by an order management system.
By using global inventory control, your customers can view real-time information about where they can purchase and obtain their required products or services. If your business has a couple of inventory locations like a store and a warehouse, with a robust management system in place, you have the ability to determine the fastest and most cost-effective way to get your products to customers.
Suppose you are managing multiple channels, in that case, you can have more fine-tuned control of your inventory to specify which SKUs and what quantity of those items are sold on which channel. This way you can prioritize channels to align to demand and margins, all critical for success at peak sales periods like Black Friday or Cyber Monday.
Seamless Order Management
The process of order management begins as soon as a customer places an order, and it ends when the service or items are received. Right from the time a sale is made to the time, it is in-hand, the whole process needs to be as seamless as possible for the customer. An order management system makes the entire process flow across all touchpoints. And this should happen without a glitch.
Any hiccups or roadblocks are perceived as a disturbance to the overall buying experience, that person is more likely to become unhappy with your company. It is imperative to understand that if your order management system fails to meet or surpass customer expectations, it can put you at the risk of losing clients, and they will take their business elsewhere.
Conclusion
The businesses of today are about complexity and not about size. If you have multiple stores, warehouses, or sales channels and websites in various countries, in order to bring them all together, you need an order management system. With it, you can easily pull all of those different platforms for different countries together – in one place.
And the benefits of using an order management system are not just limited to larger global companies, smaller businesses can benefit as well. No matter how small your business is, you can keep up with the platform if you have a robust order management system in place. Step-by-step once your business grows, you can keep on adding customization and extensions to make the order management system perform the tasks that you desire.
During a time of crisis, one that the world is facing right now, having a sustainable online and in-store business can be crucial. If you supply daily-essential items as a business, this can be the time when you can bring a positive change to the world around you. Integrate features that are convenient to the customers at the time of such lockdowns where they can order items of daily needs easily. In order to help you integrate more features, many companies are providing IT services remotely; contacting an outsource web development company can be beneficial during such times.
From eCommerce purchases to in-store locations, consumers today expect products and services to be delivered to them quickly and accurately. And that is what, a major benefit of using an order management system includes having the ability to keep your inventory and tracking in line, providing a seamless, front-facing experience for your customers.