Having a product catalogue spread out over several marketplaces can become a real headache in terms of order management. How to know who is buying what, when, and on what platform?
A good product flow management tool is simply not enough: you also need to be able to count on an order management solution, to make managing orders placed via marketplaces easier and thus enhance efficacy levels.
Order management entails full and comprehensive management of your orders’ life cycle, stemming from various online sales platforms (namely marketplaces). To ensure efficient management, each order needs to be subjected to the “three locations” rule:
where the order was placed (for instance a customer who purchased online through a marketplace);
where the ordered product is stored (warehouse or shop);
where the product needs to be delivered to (customer’s address, nearest pick-up point, etc.).
This operation has become much more complicated due to how diverse sales channels are nowadays. To ensure good efficacy levels when selling on several marketplaces at the same time, offering homogeneous (in terms of quality) and coherent (in terms of pricing) services is a must - whilst making sure there is always enough stock to meet demand. Basically, you need an order management solution.
Advantages of an order management solution
The key to utmost efficacy on marketplaces resides in 100% controlled order management. This is precisely what an order management solution offers: orders stemming from different marketplaces are centralised within a common interface. All this information is then redirected to your online store system or information system using APIs - thus providing optimal visibility over all your operations. At any given time, you can know who ordered what on Amazon, Cdiscount, eBay and other similar sites.
An order management system is also used to automate (and rationalise) order management and be provided with continuous updated inventory information. This ensures better stock management - for which you can control availability in real time to avoid shortages and resulting customer dissatisfaction.
Order management is the keystone to omni-channel strategies. And it will without a doubt help you boost marketplace efficacy!
