The experts will all tell you that you can have the best product in the world but can still fail at multichannel sales if you are bombing in the order management area of the business. Poorly handled inventory, slow shipping, and botched orders are a recipe for disaster, and yet they can be overcome with order management software.
A multichannel seller just getting started may even want to explore the ability to find integrated services that incorporate order management software along with inventory, shipping, and returns functions too. This will set the stage for the smoothest workflow imaginable, and guarantee that the company’s reputation is sterling from the very first day in business.
Of course, efficiency in business is one thing. Using all available data to grow your business is entirely another, and order management software is a source of pure data that can really open your eyes as to the status of your business or to any specific product or line.
Use Data to Strengthen the Business
Consider that order management software shows you how things are selling, which items or lines garner the most attention, and even where order management is actually part of the problem.
As an example, you sink some money into marketing a specific product or line of goods. You know what this has cost you and you anticipate a quick return on that investment. When you are selling across more than one channel, however, it takes a lot of data gathering and calculations to determine if the outcome is as desired. You use the order information from eBay, newegg, Amazon, and your eCommerce website, and you still are not sure how this particular product is performing.
Why? Because there are also data points relating to shipping, returns, and cancelled orders. Here is yet another set of numbers you’ll have to gather and integrate into the calculations. However, it did show you that there were cancelled orders, and this is something that gives you pause. Why were orders cancelled? Was it due to a flub in the order management process? Again, it takes more data to figure out this answer as well.
What if you could use order management software to harvest the data in a single report? The good news is that you can, but it has to be an order management software that is fully integrated with all channels. There are some services of this kind available to multichannel sellers, and they are one of the wisest ways to begin operating in the hyper-competitive, online marketplace known as the Internet.
Looking Past the Numbers
Order management is something that involves a lot of factors, and it can be tough to create a consistent workflow when you sell across several channels. The key to success in business is to streamline and create consistent results, however, and so your job is to find a way to develop some sort of workflow that delivers the right results.
Integrated management solutions hold the key to your success because they don’t individualize the channels. Everything funnels into one place, and you deal with your multichannel sales as if they were all transpiring in a single store or website. There is little room for misunderstanding, inconsistency, or poor order management when everything is so clear and organized.
With integrated solutions you get to see past numbers and identify facts. When a product is not selling adequately across channels, when orders are cancelled because they don’t ship in a timely way, and when sales go up because you changed product descriptions…these are all easily seen with good management software.
Summary
Look to comprehensive order management software to give you the clearest facts and figures and ensure that your service and performance are as good as the products you sell.
Source
Burnson, Forrest. Compare Order Fulfillment Software. SoftwareAdvice.com. 2014. http://www.softwareadvice.com/scm/order-fulfillment-software-comparison/