Why Your Online Business Needs OMS And WMS

What do you do if your online business suddenly starts getting flooded with many orders? This is especially true for e-commerce and B2B websites selling products by the hundreds or thousands. What if you have orders coming in faster than you can ship them out? This is where Order Management Systems (OMS) and Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) come in.

To run an online business, you must have a good inventory management system. OMS and WMS are two sides of the same coin that can help you keep track of your inventory and orders. While OMS takes care of the front end of the business, WMS attends to the backend processes, mostly warehousing, to fulfil the customer-centric requirements of OMS. Together, they can greatly help you automate and streamline your operations. Let's discuss the benefits of multichannel integration with OMS and WMS for your online business.

OMS and WMS are not exactly chalk and cheese

An OMS and WMS are the highly evolved versions of a successful Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. While it is easy to assume they are the same, they are two vastly different but overlapping subsets of a supply chain. OMS is a customer-facing platform that assists users in placing orders, managing inventory, and checking their order history. OMS also assists a customer in making a trade by offering multiple payment gateways.

On the other hand, WMS is an AI-powered online warehouse management system that allows an organisation to oversee their inventory from the warehousing and inventorying to the shipping process. WMS is also responsible for coordination with Third Party Logistics, also known as 3PLs, for transparent and seamless order tracking and deliveries. This makes WMS more organisation-oriented, while OMS is customer-centric.

Integrated OMS and WMS for optimising online business and seamless customer experience

Any modern-day e-commerce platform is as good as its order management system (OMS) and warehouse management system (WMS). The OMS and WMS cannot work in isolation. Both distinct processes complete each other and help in order fulfilment and customer satisfaction. Therefore, a multichannel integration by merging the two processes is a wise move towards the fulfilment of enterprise solutions. Here are some reasons you need these tools in your business.

Omnichannel sourcing
Consider this: As an online business works with multiple resellers and e-commerce platforms simultaneously, it strains the inventorying team. An integrated OMS system will take the burden off you to monitor all channels for order acceptance and processing and forward the same to WMS.
Improved inventorying
Once the OMS has communicated its transaction details with the customer to the backend operations, WMS steps in to clear orders, update the business management on the stock, and track orders shipped for delivery. This multichannel integration prevents duplication of orders and follow-up on false orders while ensuring the customer demand is met within the allocated time.
Timely and reliable shipping
An OMS is a great software that combines AI to keep the 3PLs updated on every process of the product's inventorying, packaging, and shipping. This allows third-party logistics to track and update the customer on the delivery schedule and update inventory information for replenishing stocks. This integration not only optimises warehousing but also ensures order fulfilment.
Customer satisfaction
Great and successful businesses have a universal motto: customer first. These days a hyper-connected user keeps swiping the mobile screen to check a scheduled delivery. With same-day delivery, order fulfilment in the first delivery attempt can be guaranteed across platforms only when OMS is integrated with WMS.
Reverse logistics and RTO management
A critical component of online business is Return to Origin. Simple, addressed as "returns", these shipments can bleed the bottom lines of fledgling businesses dry. Reports say that as many as 30% of the Cash On Delivery transactions are returned to their origin. A company must have robust reverse logistics to ensure the undelivered package returns safely and on time to the warehouse.

Conclusion

Most of the time, e-commerce platforms are restricted, and you can't do what you want with them. Moreover, they are often expensive. Using an OMS and WMS for your online business is a great way to cut costs and expand your business. Integrating the two processes can make your online business affordable and improve customer experience. You can use them for any type of business and easily integrate them with other third-party software.

If you are looking for a reliable and easy-to-use OMS and WMS, you should opt for Ecom Magnum, the One Partner Logistics Solution from Ecom Express. It is a powerful, hassle-free and intuitive solution that caters to all your logistics requirements. With Ecom Magnum you get multiple partner auto integrations and delivery across 27,000 pin codes.