Order Management Challenges Archives – unicommerce.com

Top 7 Challenges of Order Management Systems in E-commerce

Team Unicommerce — Tue, 21 Feb 2023 06:00:40 +0000

E-commerce was once the newest way of doing business, and for early adopter companies, bringing customers on board was their biggest challenge. But as it became more mainstream, companies quickly realized that the real challenge lies in managing order operations across multiple sales channels. With increasing competition, customer experience becomes a top priority and an excellent way to ensure it is to manage and fulfill orders efficiently. That is why an order management system becomes indispensable for service excellence in e-commerce and online shopping.

What is a Good E-commerce Order Management System?

A good e-commerce order management solution enables effective inventory management and indirectly reduces the liability of cancellation and returns for online shoppers. Millions can be saved in operational costs; billions can be added to the brand equity if the company has a compatible e-commerce order management platform.

However, there are some inherent challenges of real-time order management systems that every e-commerce company has to face. Overcome these challenges and build a sustainable e-commerce model by identifying and resolving these challenges.

Top Common Challenges of Order Management System

1. Data Gaps and Inconsistencies: As an e-commerce business scales and services multiple markets through multiple channels, millions of touchpoints become susceptible to data gaps and inconsistencies. Due to human errors and inconsistent logic, even a great e-commerce order management software may perform at a less-than-optimal level. Data gaps can lead to order cancellations, deficient order fulfillment, and diminished customer experience. Utilizing analytics can help identify and address these gaps, leading to improved performance and customer satisfaction.

2. Syncing Inefficiencies: If bi-directional syncing of data is not done properly, users accessing the order management system from multiple locations can struggle with communication gaps. Information related to product inventory, pricing, discounting, etc., may not be recorded accurately. Slow or erroneous syncing of data can also cause shipping and ordering mistakes, harming operational costs. Having a good technology foundation for bi-directional syncing is crucial to avoid these inefficiencies.

3. Insufficient or Redundant Features: Every order management system comes with a set of best practices to handle the entire order generation and fulfillment process. If all the required features are not part of a single platform, the best way is to integrate external tools or software plugins from online retailers. At the same time, redundant features may cost the company and complicate the order management process unnecessarily without adding any value.

4. Difficulties with Bulk and Multi-Package Orders: Whether the e-commerce business model is B2B or B2C, bulk ordering and multi-package ordering are essential to business growth. However, bulk or multi-package orders are often complex and take special care to fulfill. When order management systems don’t factor this into their features, the company is forced to handle the process manually, which can lead to challenges with refund policies.

5. Limited Customizability: An e-commerce order management solution is typically selected for the standardization and consistency it brings to operations, supply chain, and logistics in the retail business. That is what builds the foundation of quality service. However, companies may often wish to customize their order management system based on the business model and customer expectations, posing a big challenge as most e-commerce order management platforms offer no-to-low customizability.

6. Incomplete Integration with External Tools: The omnichannel approach is no longer a prerogative for e-commerce online stores. Instead, it has become inevitable, meaning that as the business expands its presence across different channels and platforms, the existing order management system may have to integrate with external tools. Incomplete integration or incompatibility at this stage can negatively impact the omnichannel experience for customers and the company.

7. Poor Service and Support: In addition to software or platform-specific challenges, an order management system can also pose trouble when the backend service and support are not up to the mark. While some e-commerce order management software solutions are user-friendly, others may need assistance from the team of that particular service provider, especially when deployed at the enterprise level and integrated with other existing CRM and ERP modules. If the team behind the software is not prepared to provide the needed tech support, the solution can soon become the problem, affecting the profitability of the business.

Read how Businesses are growing with Unicommerce – How Urban Company Achieved 8X Growth in 27 Months with Unicommerce’s Warehouse Management Solution!

Finding the Right E-commerce Order Management Software

These challenges come with high expectations and at a great business cost, and it is necessary to strategize against them while selecting an e-commerce order management system that can help you maintain a strong online presence for your e-commerce business.

To find a robust e-commerce order management solution that best suits your business needs, look for the following features:

Customized Reports and Dashboards: All inventory-related information should be accurately captured, cataloged, synced, and shared. The OMS should generate comprehensive reports with deep insights into your order operations.
Partner Integrations: The OMS should facilitate seamless integration across global marketplaces, cards, shipping providers, POS, and ERP. There should be minimal delays and zero information loss.
Centralized View of Order Operations: The OMS should allow increased visibility for the entire supply chain and make information view possible from a centralized point.
Customer Centricity and Service Excellence: The OMS must provide extensive customer service and support to facilitate enterprise-wide adoption, usage, maintenance, and regular upgrades.

Read how online businesses are growing with Unicommerce – How Unicommerce’s Order and Warehouse Management System Enabled MPL Sports to Attain 90%+ Fulfillment Rate?

Watch how Order Management System (OMS) helps in timely order fulfillment –

Final Thoughts

In conclusion, if these challenges of order management systems are prevalent in the existing platform, strategic measures must be taken to overcome them. While smart integration and process automation should be explored for existing order management systems, a new platform must be considered if the challenges persist. The end goal should be finding the right technology solution that ensures seamless order fulfillment, cost optimization, and zero process failures.

Schedule a FREE demo with Unicommerce’s Order Management consultants.

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Order, Inventory, and Logistics Management in the UAE – Challenges & Solutions

Team Unicommerce — Mon, 28 Nov 2022 00:00:09 +0000

The e-commerce industry is booming in the United Arab Emirates. While the growing young tech-savvy cohorts of the UAE could be one of the reasons for this transformation, the overall market design has evolved to incorporate the existence of digitalization. Right from the growing consumption of e-commerce marketplaces to merchants from across borders coming to claim their digital property, the whole market scenario in the UAE seems to be taking a shift with e-commerce coming into play.

From establishing multiple touchpoints across channels to retaining loyal customers to evolving marketing strategies, you have a lot of opportunities lying at your fingertips.

Are you a budding entrepreneur thinking about starting an e-commerce business in the UAE? Or maybe you have an established brick and mortar, but you are finding issues synchronizing your orders and inventory. Or maybe you do have a great online presence, but your operational costs are hampering your ability to grow your bottom line. Well, the answer is to integrate your order, inventory, and logistics in such a way that you not only speed up the inventory turnaround but also synchronize your efforts.

But before that let’s first focus on the current market opportunities and understand the untapped potential for e-commerce businesses in the market!

1. Growing Opportunities for E-commerce Players in the UAE

In the current scenario, the GCC region includes the largest e-commerce penetration rates globally. Not only consumers highly dependent on the upcoming technology systems, but businesses are also leveraging them to build their retail capabilities.

Coming over to the marketplace platforms in the region. Now, that’s something you, as a seller, can’t afford to miss. Amazon.ae has become the biggest player in the UAE market, followed by Namshi.com and Noon.com. While Amazon has been the greatest e-commerce platform in the area, there are still others that you can definitely leverage, especially if you are a startup and are looking for niche consumers.

As we talk about e-commerce, it would be wrong to leave the logistics as achieving operational excellence is the goal of each e-commerce business. While enhancing the logistics and supply chain management capabilities could be the main focus of the businesses in the region, the new and improved technological methods, such as GPS-driven solutions, RFID tracking, and 3D printing, could be leveraged to support growth and scale business. Moreover, the emergence of shipping providers has empowered SMEs.

Now, the question is how can you actually make the most of these lying opportunities?

Well, it’s understandable that working in sync and optimizing operations has to be the top priority, but what are the actual challenges that work as a roadblock in your e-commerce journey, especially when you are operating in the UAE? Have you ever thought about that? Let’s understand!

Growing Opportunities for E-commerce Players in the UAE

2. Challenges associated with Order, Inventory and Logistics in the UAE –

We have seen that e-commerce is growing at an explosive pace in the United Arab Emirates, and people are shifting to online channels, but there are still some challenges that e-commerce businesses face even today. But, first of all, you need to understand that inventory, order, and logistics are correlated to each other. Even if you have mastered any one of these, you won’t be able to amplify business profits because the process will remain incomplete.

Imagine that you have adopted an automated e-commerce inventory management system to get more control & visibility over your inventory. But you are still not able to fulfill orders on time. What could be the reasons?

Maybe your outbound workflow is not strong enough. Or maybe you are not able to assign your orders to shipping providers efficiently. Manual errors could be one of the common problems that companies witness without proper implementation of inventory, order, and logistics systems.

Some of the challenges that you are bound to encounter without a proper inventory, order, and logistics system are:

1. Inventory Management Challenges in the UAE

Businesses in the UAE are experiencing e-commerce inventory management challenges such as keeping the real-time inventory count and maintaining fast stock replenishment. One of the main reasons for the inventory challenges is the obsolete and poor infrastructure of warehouses that are not competent to house the inventory in a systematic way. Moreover, the value chains are complicated in nature and also hinder the growth of e-commerce businesses. Some of the main inventory management problems that people in the UAE face are:

Unable to keep up with the real-time inventory count
Hard to maintain the fast stock replenishment
Difficulty in locating the inventory in the warehouse due to limited visibility
Problems in consolidation & sorting of inventory due to obsolete warehouse infrastructure
Witnessing the situations of stockouts amid peak season
Difficulty in managing the marketplace orders due to poor sync between inventory and online orders

2. Multichannel Order Management Challenges in the UAE

One of the biggest problems in the UAE region is that bulk orders are difficult to route and fulfill. For example; you deal in the online business of fragrances and home aromas. Amid Eid al-Fitr, you come across bulk orders of Oudh. But due to the poor logistics capabilities, you are not able to fulfill them. In the order management process, this kind of problem is generally faced by businesses. Moreover, handling order returns is yet another issue that e-commerce brands face. Right from assigning the delivery partner for the returns, to hastening the overall process, there are a lot of aspects in reverse logistics that businesses need to gain control of. Some of the main order management challenges that people in the UAE face are:

Hard to pick & pack optimization of SKUs at the order level
Difficulty in fulfilling orders faster amid the seasonal demands
Controlling the quality of the products to avoid delivery of damaged products
Challenges in aligning the returns management process

3. Logistics Management Challenges in the UAE

The countries in the UAE have the biggest disadvantage of postal codes over any other country. Many countries in the region don’t have postal codes or mail courier systems, which in turn creates a cluster in the minds of the businesses as to what orders need to be delivered in which region. For example, in Dubai, there are no street addresses for retailers to deliver the products, which makes it difficult for them to fulfill the demands of their customers on time. Moreover, e-tailers face difficulties in picking up products from SMEs as they are not much aware of e-commerce and are aligned to rather sell products to physical retail stores. Some of the main logistics management challenges that people in the UAE face are:

Difficulty in tracking the order from the fulfillment center to the final destination
Delay in delivering products due to the lack of postal codes
Hard to assign deliveries to various shipping providers on the basis of the nature of the order
Inability to integrate various fulfillment centers & warehouses due to lack of full-stack supply chain solution

3. How Can You Overcome the Challenges in the UAE? Curated E-commerce Management Solutions to Overcome These Problems

In the digital age of technology, it has become increasingly important for you to opt for a technology that can manage and handle your operations with utmost ease. Right from maintaining the track of the inventory to automating the order updates to integrating with the leading logistics players, you can perform an array of tasks.

Overcome the Challenges in the UAE

Let’s hop on and understand the processes and steps to solve the operational challenges in order, inventory and logistics management.

1. Inventory Management Solutions in the UAE

Be it centralizing inventory to analyze the inventory levels and stockouts, or updating the inventory from offline, online, and warehouse in real-time, a centralized Inventory Management System – like Unicommerce – will empower you to understand the depth of multichannel and omnichannel retail. Moreover, with inventory management software you will be able to:

Assess and update on virtual, and actual stock across multiple sales channels in real-time
Integrate offline and online inventory seamlessly that eventually gives omnichannel experience to customers
Monitor stock movements in order to build a steady stock pipeline and disbursement across all the sales platforms
Synchronize stock automatically in order to ensure accurate stock visibility that eventually improves sales and controls order cancellations
Rotate stock to address multichannel challenges, such as loss of freshness in the stock, old stock, damage, holding the cost of dead or unmoving stock

2. Order Management Solutions in the UAE

An intelligently deployed multichannel sales tactic doubles up the sales volume with the addition of an order management system. The order fulfillment software enables quick order processing even during the situations – products of mixed prices, and varied nature of orders (fragile/inflammable/expensive).

If you are planning to employ a multichannel order management system, you should opt for a solution like Unicommerce, which ensures a 100% fulfillment rate!

The following are the features that a scalable order management system enables:

Handle bulk orders; right from the order creation in various internal systems and marketplaces to invoice and label printing and shipping arrangement
Handle unified orders across all the sales channels to process orders faster while saving your time and resources so that you can focus on your business expansion
Ensure brand loyalty and grow repeat customers base across multiple touchpoints
Reduce time in the processing of orders, thereby hastening the reverse logistics process

Apart from that, you should also utilize services such as multi-fulfillment centers (MFC) that are designed and curated to cater to the needs of your customers!

3. Logistics Management Solutions in the UAE

Being one of the crucial tasks in the process of operations management, logistics not only helps you fulfill orders faster, but you can also enhance the customers’ experience with improved delivery services. To manage logistics in the UAE, you need the following listed logistics management solutions:

Outsource experienced logistics professionals to ensure fast and efficient delivery of orders
Employ local delivery agents who are familiar with the city’s nooks & crannies so that they can deliver seamlessly in the absence of postal codes

Leverage marketplace platforms such as noon.com, which has invented a geotagging system that captures the location of the customer automatically

Join hands with full-stack eCommerce enablement platforms like Unicommerce as they provide logistics integrations with world-class last-mile delivery platforms in the UAE.

While the e-commerce industry in the UAE is on the brink of a massive shift due to changing consumer preferences, it’s imperative for you as a seller to understand the upcoming challenges & their solutions. Why? Because your operations are the fundamental of your business, and if you brace yourself against all the challenges then you will surely be able to accelerate your business growth, and who ain’t looking for that?