As has been in apparent in the last several years, customers expect to be able to shop anywhere, any time and get their items in a quick manner with flexible options for shipping. With services like Amazon Prime making two-day shipping the norm, and retailers like Walmart offering same-day in-store pickup, mid-market and enterprise customers are struggling to compete with the power these shopping behemoths have. Forbes reports that Amazon sales grew by 23 percent in 2014, thanks to that year marking major changes in the merchant’s order management and fulfillment capabilities.
What do you look for in a true omnichannel order management system that will put the vital operations “finishing touches” on your end-to-end omnichannel strategy?
Omnichannel Inventory and Order Management Essentials
Expedited picking, packing and shipping is the main goal of any warehouse - inventory gets moved quicker with less overhead, and customer satisfaction increases with on-time and accurate orders in their hands.
Capterra business software research firm cites that “the average inventory on hand for businesses of all sizes has risen 8.3% in the past 5 years. As a result, businesses keep $1.43 of inventory on hand for every $1 of sales, which means a lot of capital is tied up in inventories.” A system that automates fulfillment sources and generates warehouse-layout efficient pick-pack lists can reduce the amount of time (and costs) warehouse sitting in inventory generates.
Reducing the cost of inventory and order management can be achieved by integrating an impeccable omnichannel eCommerce, mobile commerce and in-store strategy, but only if the warehouse and fulfillment system is capable of delivering a matched excellence in back-office functions.
Expanded Fulfillment Capabilities
A Forrester study of over 250 retailers and 1,500+ customers titled “Consumer Desires Vs. Retailer Capabilities: Minding the Omni-Channel Commerce Gap,” explored the revenue-driving benefits companies have realized by enabling expanded fulfillment capabilities like ship-from-store, in-store fulfillment and buy online, pickup in-store (BOPIS). Check out the stats from the survey below:
- 77% of surveyed retailers who cited that enabling ship-from-store had reduced their fulfillment costs.
- 88% of surveyed retailers who cited that enabling ship-from-store had improved their customer satisfaction KPIs and metrics.
- 50% of consumers who expect to buy online and pick up in-store.
An efficient omnichannel order management system like SmartStock360 is one source of pooled information from every channel and all information sources, allowing retailers control over their different channels and enabling more productivity.
