You can be selling the best products with all the innovation and the most competitive price point but it is still not enough for your business to excel. That's right! the product needs to reach its customers at the right time in good condition. For every business running online, ‘The Art of Delivery’ is a must to master. It can only be mastered if the order management process is efficient and well optimized. The next 7 minutes of reading will explain every ingredient of efficient order management.
Order Management Process (OMP) refers to the activities involved in final delivery of the product. It starts with order placement by the customer and ends with final delivery when the product reaches the customer. Return and exchange are both part of the process since it also deals with the final delivery. Every business needs to lay special focus on this process because this is the final step which actually leads to sales. Also, customer satisfaction is highly dependent on this as you interact with your customers through your products.
Once you have a basic understanding of OMP, let's know how much of a role it is going to play in your business to serve better and become bigger. Following pointers explain its significance in your business:
Customer satisfaction is the prime goal of any business as a happy customer is a repeat customer. This leads to better sales and profits. An effective order management process not only delivers the product efficiently, it also gives accurate data on the package once it's out for delivery. It also takes care of careful packaging so that it reaches the customer without a scratch.
Functioning of business becomes flawless with an efficient OMP. When the process is well optimized, the delivery becomes efficient. With that, the chances of return and exchanges are less as the products delivered are accurate. This saves wastage of time and resources, hence leading to efficient functioning of the business.
Order management also includes inventory management, which is another important factor for the success of an online business. A well-optimized OMP gives you accurate information on inventory so that you can prevent the conditions of over selling or stock-out. These two conditions are one of the most dreadful conditions leading to loss and low sales.
Once, the orders start reaching its customers on time, without a mistake or damage the sales grow automatically. Building loyal customers also becomes an easy play. Apart from this, an efficient order management process gives you scope of betterment by understanding the needs and preferences of the customers which further produce better results.
Understanding the Order Management Process thoroughly is very important so that you do not miss out on any step as every step holds its own importance and consequence. With thorough understanding, the scope of errors is less than ever. Here is a detailed breakdown:
The process of order management begins when a customer places an order. If you are there on various ecommerce platforms then managing all those together can be difficult. So, you can opt for an Order Management System (OMS) which will act like a helping hand. It will be discussed in the later section of this blog.
The second step is order processing. Under this, the availability of the product is checked and verified with the help of real time updates on inventory. Hence, inventory management plays a crucial role in this process of order management. Now, doing this physically can lead to errors hence, the right OMS can be your option to rely on.
Once the order is processed and the availability is verified, the inventory needs to be updated and the stock number needs to be adjusted accordingly. Inventory management is necessary especially when your stock is lying in different locations. As mentioned earlier, effective inventory management is important so you are not stock-out or oversold.
The next is packing and preparing the package for shipment. Before that, you need to determine the warehouse from where your package would leave, based on the proximity of delivery location or size of order. This needs to be done carefully so that the product is not damaged on the go, also it reaches on time.
Once packed and fulfilled, the order is shipped through the most cost-effective and quick method. The details of shipment needs to be shared with the customer. Order Management System is helpful here as well, as it sends the information automatically to the customer. Sending details to the customer is important as they get to track their order in real-time with these details.
This is the final step for businesses, but it is not. Delivery does accomplish the purpose of order but it is definitely not the end of the process. Delivery only hands over the product to the customer. It does not tell if the customer wants it or if it reached as they thought without an error.
This is why the order management process does not end with delivery. Customers might want to return or exchange the product after delivery. In case of return, the inventory and logistics need to be updated. In case of exchange, the logistics need to carefully deliver the asked product.
Customer is everything for your business so knowing their point of view is important. Especially in case of return or exchange, you need to know the feedback from the customer. In other case, when there is no return or exchange, you would want to know the scope of improvement or if the customer liked the product. This is the key to satisfied customers and betterment of the business.
In case of failed or successful deliveries both, you should analyze the steps which went right and wrong. This will allow you to understand the area which might need improvement. Also, knowing what is right is equally important as knowing the right part so that you don't change what is already good.
Order Management Process is not as simple as it was explained in the earlier part of this blog. You can encounter multiple challenges on your way. Some of them are listed here:
These are the most common kind of errors which happen due to human missout. These can take place on any step of OMP like wrong packaging, size or address. This leads to delays and returns which leads to losses and unhappy customers.
Inventory management if gone wrong leads to inventory discrepancies. Failure of real-time data updates leads to stockouts or overstocking. Stockouts lead to lost customers and overstocking leads to dead inventory which becomes difficult to sell leading to losses.
Communication gaps can be between different teams taking care of logistics and orders. These gaps can slow down the shipment or even deliver the wrong product. Misunderstandings amongst humans are common but these misunderstandings can create great losses over time.
Listing out challenges is important for you to know what might come up. But this blog is all about solutions to those challenges. So, jump all the listed and unlisted hurdles on the way with these tips:
Human errors and miscommunication is the most common problem, which can be solved by mechanising and automating the process. Order Management System can take care of all the steps efficiently and optimize the steps without the need of human intervention. It also eliminated the need for multiple human resources.
You can look for tools for better inventory management so that situations like over selling and under selling do not appear. Also, real-time updates on inventory can get you data on stock needs for stock purchases.
Keeping the custom updated on delivery status is crucial but sending every customer tracking updates personally can be overwhelming so a software which automates this process can be a great help to improve customer satisfaction.
Now, all you have to do is to implement this understanding in your business and see the scaling to the next level. Automation and digital tools like MapMyChannel is a one stop solution for all these steps and requirements of the order management process. It will not just simplify the process with automation, but also share data insights for your understanding. It can integrate different online selling platforms on one dashboard for easy operations.
Take the first step toward smarter order management system– Register for a free trial now and discover how MapMyChannel can help you save money, boost efficiency
