5 Ways To Boost Your B2b eCommerce Order Management

Virginia Miller

October 14, 2024

In this article

The average B2B online sale is more complicated than the average B2C online sale. They frequently have a higher client acquisition cost, and their average buying cycle is longer than average, necessitating the use of more modern technology such as punchouts, RFPs, and EDI.
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Your organization can increase operational efficiency and overcome the obstacles sometimes connected with B2B order management by combining online order management software with best-practice workflows and a solid strategy.

What is an Order Management System?

An order management system refers to any platform, tool, or technology used to centralize or track orders, inventory levels, and shipments. While we'll go over the options in more detail later, there are five common types of order management systems:

The backend of your eCommerce store
Spreadsheets
Standalone order management software
ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software
Retail and B2B commerce platforms

5 Ways to Boost Your B2B Order Management

1. Manage Orders Across All Sales Channels

The best B2B order management software allows you to implement multi-channel or omnichannel strategies. This means you can take orders wherever your customers are browsing and buying, and process them according to your workflows. This saves time for both your customer and your team by reducing back-and-forth communication around B2B inventory, order creation, updates, and payments.

So whether your B2B customers place orders online, by phone, via EDI, or in person, you'll be able to easily keep track of them all. If you are a hybrid B2B/B2C company, your systems should collect sales from other platforms where your retail customers shop, like Amazon, eBay, brick-and-mortar stores, and more.

2. Go Paperless

Most modern order management solutions are cloud-based. By 2022, up to 67% of enterprise infrastructure is expected to be cloud-based. The main driver of cloud solution popularity is that they allow businesses to go paperless. This increases productivity by providing access to data from anywhere globally, while reducing paper usage.

With cloud-based tech, direct mail, faxes, and handwritten letters are no longer needed. Instead, you can engage with customers and take orders via email and specialized web platforms.

In addition to the environmental benefits of lower paper usage, you'll save money previously spent on paper, ink, and toner, which can be allocated to other business needs.

3. Centralize Information Across Channels to Reduce Supply Chain Complexity

All your orders and inventory will be tracked in a single platform, regardless of whether your B2B customers purchase online, in-person, by phone, or via EDI. This ensures consistent, accurate, and reliable data no matter how or where orders are placed.

You'll better oversee global inventory by centralizing order and inventory data.
Track orders from placement through picking, packing, and shipping, and leave status comments.
Do this not only for your own warehouses, but also 3PL provider and marketplace fulfillment center warehouses like those Amazon manages.

4. Standalone Order Management Software (OMS)

The first efficiency improvement step many B2B companies take is implementing standalone order management software (OMS), an ecommerce platform, and separate accounting software.

Order management systems (OMS) centralize order data across channels, and some even incorporate inventory management and reporting. However, this setup falls short of integrating with other systems like shipping, fulfillment, and accounting.

Comparing and correlating data across departments takes longer and requires duplicate data entry, not to mention near real-time data is almost impossible.

5. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Software

When siloed systems and data cause company inefficiencies, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software is the next go-to solution.

ERP systems cover order and B2B inventory management, financials, purchasing, CRM, warehousing and logistics, and even HR and payroll.

However, despite the extensive feature set, ERP software is often not suited to specific industries or business types. This means you could pay for functionality you'll never use while missing out on valuable industry knowledge and best practices. Furthermore, they can be tricky to navigate and take a long time to customize compared to other B2B technologies.

Bonus Strategies

Take Orders In-Person

As mentioned, your B2B customers likely have different needs than B2C consumers. One is the ability to place orders during in-person meetings. With a cloud-based OMS with offline capabilities, you can take orders on the go without missing a beat.

Get Orders Out the Door Faster

Manually managing B2B order processing is time-consuming and frustrating for both staff and customers. By implementing advanced OMS, you can automate various tedious tasks like order allocation, fulfillment, warehouse routing, shipment updates, inventory adjustments, and more. This allows you to get products shipped out faster and into customer hands quicker and cheaper.

Track Orders and Keep Customers Happy

Properly tracking customer orders positions you to keep clients happy. If they want to know order status or need to modify a previous order or invoice, your team can update them in real-time, regardless of who they talk to. Technology lightens the load of mundane ordering, fulfillment, and inventory changes while speeding up operations and enhancing the overall customer experience.

Conclusion

There you have it – five tips to boost your B2B ecommerce order efficiency. By following these simple guidelines, you can streamline processes and spend less time on admin tasks to focus on running your business. Need help implementing these? Contact the Simpl team and let us lift the burden of picking, packing and shipping off your shoulders. We promise you won’t regret it!

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FAQs

What are the main types of order management systems?

The 5 common types of order management systems are: eCommerce backend, spreadsheets, standalone software, ERP systems, and retail/B2B platforms.

How does multichannel order management benefit B2B companies?

Multichannel order management allows B2B companies to take orders wherever customers are shopping – online, phone, EDI, in-person, etc. – and efficiently process them to save time and reduce back-and-forth communication.

What are the benefits of cloud-based order management solutions?

Cloud-based solutions allow companies to go paperless, accessing data anywhere while cutting paper usage. This saves money and environment while increasing productivity and order speed.

How does centralizing order data help B2B supply chain management?

Centralizing order and inventory data, whether from own or 3PL warehouses, ensures consistent, accurate information is available enterprise-wide to better manage global inventory and processes.

What are the drawbacks of standalone order management software?

Standalone OMS falls short on integrating with other systems like shipping, fulfillment and accounting. This can require duplicate data entry and make accessing real-time analytics difficult.

When might a company implement ERP software over other solutions?

Companies may implement ERP software when siloed systems and data are causing operational inefficiencies. However, ERPs can be expensive, tricky to customize, and unsuited to specific industries.

How can automating workflows get orders out faster?

Automating tedious tasks like order processing, warehouse picking, inventory adjustments etc. through OMS reduces manual work for staff so shipments can get out the door quicker.