In 2022, eCommerce accounted for nearly 19 percent of retail sales worldwide. Forecasts indicate that by 2027, the online segment will make up close to a quarter of total global retail sales: Source Statista

eCommerce is no longer a bandwagon! With resilient integrated enterprise resource planning systems, it is easy to scale up business. It is a very powerful business option for small-scale retailers who want to prove their dominion at globally.

eCommerce outlines the ecosystem of businesses post pandemic. Though a shift to digital world had initiated before COVID-19, post that, it saw an unprecedented growth. When access to goods was limited, eCommerce brought a glimmer of hope and customers got addicted to it. Now the situation is such, that retailers want a buoyant order management system for syncing online and offline businesses, as customers prefer omnichannel purchasing power. It’s an industrial revolution targeting and fulfilling demands of heterogenous market.

What is Order Processing?

Order processing is the workflow linked with picking, packing, shipping, managing last mile connectivity, reaching final destination and handling exchange or returns while building customer loyalty in the process. It is one of the most critical components of order fulfillment and provide scope for expanding business and scaling to the next level. However, before installing an automated engineering process for managing and integrating the operation system of order fulfillment, solution provider should understand the limits and expanse of an ecommerce retailer and deploy a plan accordingly for optimizing order processing system for high-volume eCommerce businesses. Broadly, order processing can be segregated into five sub-heads with their indigenous challenges and ways to curb them for the benefit of an organization.

1. Order Placement– It is the first and the most challenging step for eCommerce retailers. With orders coming from varied sales points, management struggle to streamline each sales point for inventory management and successful order fulfillment. With omnichannel retail systems, management gets more susceptible to failures and going out of competition if supply chain system is not robust and fully integrated for silo-free operations.

Challenges of Order Placement:

It is best explained with an example. The real bet starts during the peak festive season, when demand goes beyond its limits. Suppose, there is only one piece left from a certain inventory and it is displayed on the racks of not one but two online vendors as the system could not update it. Instead of building customer loyalty, customers would be discouraged from shopping from that specific retailer as it failed in order fulfillment.

Solution:

Order Management System should be able to instantly process the availability in the warehouse for taking an appropriate step. If a retailer is approaching a stock out due to high volume of sale, the item should be withdrawn from the display list of an online vendor, where stock is not generating too many sales queries. An intelligent automation leverages retailers with real-time order processing system. It offers an OMS system which automatically reviews the situation and suggests accordingly,

• • withdraws the item from the display list of a vendor
• • prompts for inventory replenishment
• • take stock of the situation before reaching stockouts or overstocking
• • syncs online and offline stores and checks availability for order fulfillment
• • forecasts demand location, region specific

2. Order Picking– A very detailed and an important step of order management and order fulfillment. It involves picking the exact quantity of specific items from the warehouse and it should be done well in time to avoid delays in packing, shipping and reaching the final destination. eCommerce success is solely dependent on intelligent automation of the entire order fulfillment process. Any lacunae can disrupt the system and bring down the profit margins.

Challenges of Order Picking:

Order picking can be either piece picking, zone picking or batch picking depending on the order demand of a customer. Irrespective of the size of the organizations, manual picking can bring errors as system will not get updated instantly on the number of items required, picked and left in the warehouse. During peak festive season, there can be bulk orders and single orders as well. Without an integrated system, it is tough to have a real-time visibility on labor distribution. This would pose a challenging situation for pickers and would also be very expensive.

Solution:

Automated warehouse management system can organize order picking strategy and segregate into piece picking or zone picking or batch picking after automated analyzing of order demand either by a single customer or by several from a single area. This can control cost and be a great support to small retailers, running business on string budgets. A small step of integrating OMS with WMS proves to be a big leap as it streamlines operations, ensures timely order fulfillment, thus enhancing customer satisfaction.

3. Sorting– The third step in order processing involves sorting or isolating items as per delivery addresses. This has to be done with utmost care and patience as any flaw here would land up in a big mess with order being delivered to the wrong address.

Challenges of Order Sorting:

Order sorting is tricky and proves a messy affair when there are orders coming in bulk from multiple sales point. A manual sorting without bar codes or scanners can turn out to be erroneous and expensive affair. Like piece, zone and batch picking, sorting of orders also need to be done in the same manner for ensuring correct delivery of order and in good condition. Take for example, if a customer orders a dress and the other orders the same in different color, if sorting is not done in the right way, order fulfillment will not be successful and build disgruntled customers. This is especially true when there are bulk orders to be sorted out and restocked once the festive season is over.

Solution:

Sorting of orders can be optimized with proper tracking of SKUs through barcodes and scanners. An automated system will optimize order processing as each order will have to go through scanner. An error would be instantly highlighted if it does not match the same SKU code as on order tag. This brings down cost, makes it error free and give happy customers.

4. Packing of Orders– Once the order is sorted, packing the items in appropriate boxes has to be done. Each order is of particular dimensions and type, a packing box has to be picked up accordingly. Even the fragility and weight of an item has to be considered, for transportation cost.

Challenges of Order Packing:

When orders are big, packing can be a cumbersome task and professionals would get burdened. The chances of damage during transit becomes really high if packaging is not done properly. Also labeling is essential, lest it reaches the wrong address and evokes customer anger and dissatisfaction.

Solution:

To make it easy for the professionals working on packing, an automated system provides codes and labels and makes the whole process error-free. It further organizes each item according to their dimensions and simplifies work. The order processing system assigns work to professionals, who are then responsible for packing items as per requirement. The channelizing of resources in the right direction optimizes order processing for high-volume eCommerce businesses.

5. Shipping– Supply Chain Management is an amalgamation of several other small systems which work in uniformity for order fulfillment and for achieving customer satisfaction. If there are any lacunae in the process, delivery of order can get delayed or there can be wrong delivery. One major part of OMS is shipping orders to the right destination. This is processed by the transport management which ensures there is smooth movement of ship from stores or warehouses. The transportation management system works till the last connectivity in the order fulfillment.

Challenges in Shipping of Order:

Logistics can be a very expensive affair, if it is not planned well. There can be duplication of shipment, unnecessary payment to carrier for delivering at the same location, delay in orders, no way to share information with the customers and loss of items during transit.

Solution:

An intelligent automated order processing, consolidates orders from the same location as it is integrated with the Transportation Management System. Once there is system to compartmentalize orders according to location, logistics and transport cost can be brought down considerably. Also delays and damage can be avoided. When there is coordination between the two systems, orders can be shipped from stores nearest to delivery location or can be shipped to closest warehouse. Also, transportation management system provides ways to track and trace orders for monitoring the movement, this keeps both the retailer and the customer informed. During festive season, tracking of multiple orders is useful in bringing down the cost considerably, in fact, if there are returns or exchanges, then also it can be managed and help in accomplishing several tasks. The tracking system leverages businesses to ensure satisfaction through feedbacks or answering questions related to purchased products.

If an eCommerce business can ensure all the steps of order processing are carried in to and in real-time, order fulfillment will increase customer loyalty and expand the profit margin.