Order management is an evolving battleground
You’ve got stores and you’ve got mobile and web channels. How do you blend them to maximise sales and enhance the customer experience? Nick McLean, Director of Products at eCommera, outlines the importance of order management systems (OMS) on the omni-channel customer experience.
Due to access to the internet and increased smartphone usage, customers are shopping differently and retail technology, processes and systems must recognize these differences; principally that the consumer expects a consistency of brand and service and flexibility of fulfillment and delivery, regardless of touchpoint.
For the customer, retailers need to look and act as one unit. Retailers may refer to ‘multi-channel’ and ‘omni-channel’, but the customer has never, ever, considered this. To the customer, retailers are a single entity that either delights or disappoints.
Retailers now need to move towards reflecting the customer’s perspective and align their technology and processes to offer a seamless experience. At the same time, it is critical they keep a focus on profitability.
State of play
Research by Forrester Consulting commissioned by eCommera and its subsidiary OrderDynamics found that while only 49 percent of retailers currently use an OMS, there remain many open questions about the deployed solutions which are ill equipped to support the complex cross-channel fulfilment offerings that are needed in today’s and tomorrow’s environment.
Moreover, the study found that many of the OMS used by retailers today cannot support the multiple facets of evolving omni-channel commerce initiatives such as click and collect and reserve in store.
The retail order management imperative
OMS are the backbone of any omni-channel retail operation and bridge the gap between the product and the customer, regardless of channel.
By providing an intelligent view of stock the OMS enables customers and retail staff to place orders for stock anywhere in their enterprise, be it stores, distribution centres or in the supply chain – and to fulfil using the preferred method of delivery, be it to home, their office or collection from a local store.
Maximising what you’ve got
By combining smart business rules and a single view of inventory a retail OMS enables retailers to achieve the triple benefits of:
1. Making the most efficient use of their current store estate, transforming them into mini distribution centres which support new customer service functions such as click and collect which both increases speed of fulfillment and customer satisfaction, whilst potentially reducing the fulfillment costs;
2. Increasing footfall can lead to opportunities to drive associated purchases and increased purchase value
3. Accelerate growth by freeing up their current resources from the time-intensive tasks of manually binding together disparate business processes – allowing them to focus on other activities.
Be flexible
Order management and fulfilment is an evolving battleground.
The ambitions of the business and the demands of the consumer will likely impose new requirements; the addition of drop ship vendors (manufacturers fulfilling orders directly to the customer) to the supply chain, expansion into new international markets with different fulfilment options, or the addition of lockers as a delivery location for customer orders.
With Asda pioneering click and collect in locations such as car parks and London Underground stations there is clearly ample room for continuing innovation.
It’s important that omni-channel leaders work together with supply chain, store operations and IT counterparts to optimise how and when orders are fulfilled. The right OMS will support configurable business rules and exception handling which allows retailers to embrace new opportunities rapidly.
Evaluate the pros and cons of build versus buy
Retailers should balance the perceived comfort and control of an in-house solution with the longer-term strategic benefits of having a flexible OMS solution. Indeed, the right OMS can be continually enhanced in line with the evolving needs of the market leaders, and adapt to changing business requirements, consumer trends, and evolving business models.
Don’t hang about – the opportunity is now!
The opportunity and indeed the imperative is now. The research by Forrester Consulting indicates that retailers that are serious about their omni-channel strategy cannot afford to wait for free slot on the IT calendar.
They must find ways to accelerate the implementation of order management, by looking at alternative, rapid deployment and lower resource options, such as SaaS-based solutions which remove the need for bespoke designed sites with long delivery times.
The reason for the haste is simple. Most retailers spend plenty of time reviewing their pricing and promotions strategy as they endeavour to drive the top line. Fewer have spent time reviewing the opportunities to improve the supply side in order to drive improvements to the bottom line.
By creating an enterprise view of inventory and applying smart rules to fulfilment then retailers can optimise the sell through of stock, helping to avoid markdowns of surplus inventory; whilst simultaneously driving increased footfall and order values through their stores, and ultimately driving improved levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty. The result – happy, profitable retailers.
for more information visit www.ecommera.com
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