Order Management System (OMS)
An Order Management System (or OMS) is one of the key components of an eCommerce business. Its primary purpose is to manage the lifecycle of a customer order from the point of order capture through to completion, whether its delivery to the customer or return. All online businesses require some form of order management, whether it is built into an e-commerce platform or is a separate system. There are many OMS providers on the market, so there is a system available for a business of any size. The key is to find one that best fits your business’ needs now and in the future. (1)
Features of a Modern Order Management System
Order management solutions will typically support shipping from multiple locations.
Here is an example. Imagine a brick-and-click business with one website and two store locations: one in Minneapolis and one in St. Paul. The online store’s inventory is drawn directly from the stores’ inventories.
A good order management solution could look at inventory levels at each store and assign certain orders to one location or the other. Workers at each store could ship the orders assigned to them, without getting confused.
Similarly, if an online seller uses more than one vendor to drop ship orders, a good order management system could divide orders based on shipping rules and automatically notify each vendor about the items it should ship. (2)
References
- What an Order Management System can do for your online business, http://ecommpoint.com/articles/managing-the-business/what-an-order-management-system-can-do-for-your-online-business/
- 4 Reasons to Consider Order Management Software, http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/71043-4-Reasons-to-Consider-Order-Management-Software