E-commerce Order Management and the Modern ERP

By Dan Jeppson
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  Although the Internet and E-Commerce had momentum before the Covid-19 era, consumers and businesses have been driven even more by a global shift towards online retail since. Businesses are facing increasing competition in the retail space, and automating the order management experiences for customers is becoming the arena where companies can capture a larger market share.

  E-commerce order management includes the self-service customer experience that involves tracking an order from purchase to delivery. It allows the customer to capture orders on their own timing, pay using a preferred method, and gives them visibility into the when orders are fulfilled. The Order Management process also incorporates all the back-office, inventory management, distribution, and manufacturing capabilities into tracking the customer experience.

  In the rest of this article, we will use Acumatica (contact us for more details) as an example of how a modern ERP system can assist in automating E-Commerce Order Management.

• Customer Communication: Acumatica automates email confirmations and updates, updates customers on order statuses, expected delivery times, and any potential issues.
• Multichannel Sales: Acumatica integrates all possible sales channels (store front retail, B2B, EDI, Amazon, Shopify, Custom Website, Customer Portal, etc.) and provides a unified dashboard to monitor and manage orders from all sources.
• Inventory and Supply Chain Tracking: Accurate inventory tracking prevents overselling and stockouts. With Acumatica’s real-time inventory visibility, businesses easily track stock levels across multiple warehouses and automatically update them real-time during order processing.
• Logistics and Third-Party Logistics (3PL): Acumatica integrates with various 3PL providers to streamline the shipping process. As orders flow in from various sales channels, Acumatica tracks the order’s inventory and transactional details all the way from order picking to dispatch to delivery at the customer’s site.  With API and other integration capabilities, Third-Party Logistics warehouses can collaborate as part of the real-time data footprint.
• Customer Service: Today’s customer requires prompt attention to issues to maintain customer satisfaction. Acumatica’s OMS includes tools for managing returns, exchanges, and customer inquiries efficiently.  It also allows customer service to research previous pricing, profitability, and special requirements to better serve customers in new ordering scenarios.

  Most modern ERP systems have the overall goal to create a business operating system that optimizes the process as much as possible.  (Acumatica’s order management system integrates each of these components seamlessly.)

1. Order Placement: Customers place orders via various channels such as online stores, marketplaces, or through a traditional sales force.  Examples include store front retail, B2B, EDI, Amazon, Shopify, Custom Website, Customer Portal, etc.
2. Order Logging: Each order in the multichannel sales stream is ingested into the OMS via manual data entry by internal users, integrations with external portals, or by electronic documents received via systems like EDI.  Sources are logged and are available for report segmentation and analysis.  Time stamps are captured, and automated (and manual)  workflows are triggered by system rules.
3. Order Confirmation: Customers receive immediate (or rule-based delayed) email confirmations with comprehensive details about their order, including items purchased, delivery address, and expected delivery dates.  Further automated communication events (like shipment or delivery) can be triggered by various data states as well.
4. Inventory Allocation: The OMS-integrated inventory tracking system matches orders with available inventory to ensure that stock is reserved for each order and to prevent overselling (and also trigger replenishment orders for purchasing or manufacturing).
5. Warehouse Coordination: In a modern OMS, Orders are seamlessly sent to the appropriate warehouse for picking, packing, and shipping. Robust ERP systems like Acumatica will ensure that warehouse staff have specific instructions and that stock inventory is accurately tracked throughout the process.  (Handheld scanners are available to allow real-time inventory level tracking.)
6. Dispatch Confirmation: Customers are automatically sent notifications once their orders are dispatched  and can include all applicable tracking information to monitor shipments progress.  Rules-based event handlers can also fine-tune these communications to the needs of specific customers.
7. Issue Resolution: A modern OMS system will allow for after-sales handling of customer issues.  This will include visibility tools for research, RMA process handling, and full return and credit processing tools.

  Supply chain issues affect all aspects of the customer experience. Effective order management will proactively anticipate (and even forecast) crucial supply chain stages and will serve to influence brand perception and customer experience. Some challenges to this efficiency include:

• Monitoring Orders Accurately: It is difficult to track individual orders in a high-volume environment. A quality OMS system (like Acumatica) provides real-time updates and detailed tracking as part of its inherent tools.
• Forecasting Demand: Predicting customer demand is essential for maintaining appropriate stock levels. Forward-looking OMS tools (like Acumatica) use historical data and trends to forecast future demand accurately.  This should include fine-tunable rule systems to anticipate market and environmental factors not existing in previous sales data.  The OMS/ERP approach includes full analysis of existing Purchase Orders, stock levels, existing customer orders, and projected demand to suggest purchasing decision.
• Managing Multichannel Sales: When consolidating multiple sales channels into a single OMS, automation becomes crucial. Modern OMS systems (like Acumatica) will contain appropriate tools and API touchpoints to centralize and flow these orders into one system.
• Meeting Customer Expectations: OMS systems should allow customer service personnel to quickly and accurately answer customers’ concern.  Acumatica’s automation and integration capabilities ensure that orders are processed and dispatched swiftly, while always supplying strong informational support to internal staff for quick decision making.

  Acumatica’s OMS addresses these challenges by providing integrated, real-time data for informed decision-making. Most modern ERP systems attempt to address these challenges.

  Any generic OMS attempts to streamline business processes, automate tasks, and integrate multiple channels.  These will use a combination of tools and philosophies. An OMS natively built within an ERP System like Acumatica offers an even more robust approach to a business operating system.

• Improved Inventory Accuracy: Acumatica’s integrated data philosophy maintains and tracks the intimate relationships of customers, orders, inventory, and fulfillment.  It helps improve replenishment timing to make sure enough supply is on hand to fill demand when it hits.
• Omnichannel Selling: Acumatica offers B2B customer portals for customer service case management and for B2B self service (orders, invoicing, payments, etc.)  Its open integration and customization tools and philosophy optimize connections with other channel portals (like Amazon or Shopify) to onboard new sales channels.
• Faster Delivery and Fulfillment: Acumatica fully integrates with AR/AP, GL, Inventory, Warehouse Management, and Manufacturing systems.  Acumatica’s workflows ensure that all orders are processed how and when they should be.
• Scalability: Acumatica’s cloud-based system scales with business growth and  accommodates increased order volumes and expanding sales channels without compromising performance.

• Automation: Acumatica’s strong event and data state rules/scheduling engine reduces manual tasks and enhances productivity by automating repetitive processes such as order entry, inventory updates, and customer notifications.  It allows for approvals, price sheets, discounts, and promotional rules to be applied to customer interactions.
• Multichannel Sales Management: Acumatica centralizes orders from various channels for better efficiency than manual data entry.  This makes it easier to accurately manage and fulfill orders from multiple sources.
• Unlimited Order Volumes: Acumatica handles high order volumes efficiently and ensures that the system can scale with business growth without performance issues.  (Non-user based pricing makes this an even more attractive option!)
• Real-time Inventory Views: Acumatica’s fully-integrated data environment provides accurate stock levels across multiple locations (including integrated 3PL warehousing), enabling businesses to manage inventory more effectively and prevent stockouts or overstocking.
• Forecast Replenishment: Acumatica’s supply chain tools (very fine-tunable) predict stock needs to avoid over-ordering and overselling by using historical sales data and trends to forecast future demand accurately.
• Insightful Analytics: Acumatica Offers data-driven insights for better decision-making. These tools include detailed reports and analytics, dashboards, and filterable inquiries on metrics like sales performance, inventory level history, and customer behavior.
• Extensible Integration: Acumatica integrates with various systems (inbound and outbound API hooks possible) by connecting with other business tools such as custom websites, ERP systems, CRM platforms, and shipping carriers.

To choose the best OMS/ERP, businesses should do their due diligence at tool selection by:

1. Define Project Scope and Fulfillment Needs: Clearly outline what you need from an OMS (and overall ERP system), including the specific processes and features that are critical to your business operations.
2. Assess Implementation Timelines: Consult with competent professionals to evaluate how long it will take to implement the OMS and integrate it with (or replace) your existing systems. It will be important to consider the impact on your current operations during the transition period and strategize (and execute) a good plan to switch over to a new environment without disrupting normal business transaction flow.
3. Evaluate Features, Integrations, and Vendor Support: Compare the features and integrations offered by different OMS/ERP system providers, and assess the level of support they provide, including training and customer service.  Various ERP vendor use different reseller approaches—the specific relationship with the implementation consultants will make a difference to your experience.
4. Review Customer Feedback and Case Studies: Look for reviews and case studies from other businesses in your industry to see how the OMS/ERP tool you are evaluating has performed in real-world scenarios.
5. Balance Features with Pricing and Support Options: As with most purchasing decisions, OMS/ERP selection will include Cost-Benefit and ROI analysis.  The best tools will balance cost and functionality, but the implementation teams can provide additional value to the process.

  OMS/ERP tools are crucial to modern businesses.  Robust ERP systems (like Acumatica) provide an excellent toolset to run your business.  Competition and future growth demand a robust system.