4/13/2023 0 Comments Multichannel order manager clearsThat’s not ideal, but OMS settings give you the ability to preserve higher-value customer relationships by prioritizing one set of orders over another. If you run into production or shipping delays, you may have to choose between customers for on-time fulfillment. Sometimes you can’t take every available order in that case, you may wish to prioritize sales of the products that contribute the most to your bottom line. Every company has limitations in terms of staff size, resources, and time itself. Users can configure an OMS implementation to prioritize conditions like: That’s especially helpful in conditions of constraint, like those caused by pandemic-associated supply chain disruptions. These systems find optimal fulfillment paths-the supplier or location most likely to meet the customer’s need date-based on priorities set by the user. The key tool for this task is, again, the OMS. And this is the stage at which the function of order processing in supply chain management becomes clear: For companies at this juncture, efficient processing via automation is key to maintaining the complex relationships, contracts, and brand ethos involved in their unique supply chain. Either way, retailers need to plan for meeting those needs, which is to say they need effective fulfillment orchestration. In B2B sales, companies may place orders months in advance. Most B2C transactions create an immediate need the faster you can ship a product, the happier your customers will be. That need date will vary, especially between B2C and B2B sales. “Orchestration is all about finding where that product is to meet the customer’s need date,” Birdsall says. For many retailers, it’s a combination of all the above. Or you might manufacture products to order. Maybe you operate your own network of distribution centers, where the product is already sitting on a shelf. Maybe you have a third-party supplier who makes the product. “It’s about fulfilling the order and finding the optimal path.” Retailers may source their products from any number of places. “The orchestration is the magic,” Birdsall says. Once an order flows into your OMS, the tricky part begins. Most often, that’s enterprise software known as an Order Management System, or OMS. Regardless of the channel-and in this era of omnichannel retail, there are many channels, from e-commerce sites to call centers to brick-and-mortar stores-every order passes through a company’s centralized order-capture engine. An e-commerce website is essentially a customer portal, an interactive catalog that allows buyers to make a purchase directly. This last order capture technique is predominant in the B2C transactions so familiar to today’s online shoppers. A third option is capturing orders through a customer portal. In B2B transactions, they may go through an Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), a company-to-company electronic system that standardizes purchase orders, invoices, and other business documents. Orders may be captured manually through a digital order entry tool. “Capturing” an order is the process by which a company obtains the data that comprises that order: customer information, product information, payment details, etcetera. (We separated Birdsall’s “capture and orchestration” into two steps since they each require a lot of detail, but think of them as part of a unified workflow.) Outlining Order Processing Procedure 1. Here’s a closer look at each element of the order management process. “In a nutshell, order management consists of three high-level processes: order capture and orchestration, order maintenance and tracking, and returns management.” “Order management is the ability to capture a customer order, identify the optimal fulfillment path, and generate a customer promise date,” Birdsall explains. What is order management, exactly? David Birdsall, senior manager at retail and consumer goods consulting firm The Parker Avery Group, defines the term by breaking it down into its component parts. Before we offer advice on optimizing order management flow, however, let’s review the basics. On the other hand, a breakdown in the order processing cycle can lead to an operational tailspin-and that’s true for Business-To-Consumer (B2C) retailers and Business-To-Business (B2B) suppliers alike. No matter what you sell or who you sell to, a better order management process can reduce waste, improve customer relationships, and drive more growth.
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