Is Your E-commerce Order Management System Holding You Back?

What is an e-commerce order management system (OMS)?

Picture this: A fast-growing fashion brand launches an exclusive holiday collection, expecting a surge in sales. Orders start pouring in from their website, mobile app, and social media shops. But behind the scenes, chaos unfolds.

Despite having inventory available across multiple sales channels, customers receive “out of stock” messages online. Other customers place orders only to get a cancellation email hours later due to inventory mismatches. Meanwhile, the brand’s customer service team is overwhelmed with complaints, and fulfillment teams scramble to correct shipping delays. By the end of the season, the company loses several thousand dollars because its legacy software couldn’t keep up with the entire order management process.

Unfortunately, this isn’t just a one-off scenario. 43% of small to mid-sized retailers still rely on manual processes to track orders and inventory, leading to costly fulfillment errors and lost sales opportunities. This is where an e-commerce order management system (OMS) becomes indispensable. Acting as the central nervous system of retail operations, an OMS oversees everything from order entry and processing to fulfillment, inventory management, and customer service interactions. It ensures that every purchase—whether made on a website, mobile app, or marketplace—is processed accurately and delivered seamlessly.

However, modern commerce isn’t just about selling online. With the rise of omnichannel shopping, businesses must support fulfillment models like dropshipping, third-party logistics (3PL), buy-online-pickup-in-store (BOPIS), and ship-from-store (SFS) to remain competitive. Managing orders across these multiple channels without a robust OMS often results in delayed shipments, overselling, and operational disruptions.

The global OMS market is projected to grow from $3.2 billion in 2023 to $6.1 billion by 2032, proving just how essential these systems have become for scaling businesses. So, is your order management system built for the demands of today’s e-commerce landscape, or is it silently holding you back? Let’s find out.

The importance of a strong e-commerce OMS

Let’s delve into how a robust e-commerce order management software can significantly impact key areas of retail performance.

Centralized order data

For any modern e-commerce business, centralizing all order data into one unified system is critical to operational success. This centralized platform ensures that all information—whether it’s from an online store, a mobile app, or a marketplace—is synchronized in real-time, creating a cohesive view of orders across all channels. When businesses fail to implement this level of integration, discrepancies between systems can result in delays, errors, or missed opportunities.

Optimized fulfillment process

The order fulfillment process is a key component of unmatched customer satisfaction, and businesses are increasingly turning to AI-powered order routing to optimize how orders are fulfilled. AI can analyze factors such as stock levels, geographic locations, and delivery windows to determine the most efficient fulfillment strategy for each order. This minimizes delivery times and reduces labor and shipping costs.

Real-time inventory visibility

Imagine a customer browsing an online store and purchasing an item based on the estimated delivery time displayed on the website. If inventory is not accurately tracked across all channels, the system could mistakenly indicate that an item is available when, in reality, it’s out of stock or back-ordered. This inconsistency can lead to canceled orders and negatively impact customer trust.

By maintaining real-time visibility into inventory, businesses can avoid such situations. Customers are given realistic delivery timelines and are more likely to experience disappointment when orders aren’t fulfilled as promised. Moreover, businesses can optimize stock distribution by ensuring that inventory is efficiently allocated to high-demand areas, helping to reduce the likelihood of stockouts or overstocks.

Improved customer experience

Customers expect fast shipping and reliable service. A robust OMS helps businesses meet these expectations by streamlining processes and ensuring that orders are processed quickly and accurately. The result is a smoother customer experience that enhances satisfaction and loyalty.

For example, when a customer places an order, the OMS ensures that it’s shipped from the nearest fulfillment center, reducing shipping times and costs. If the customer needs the item urgently, the system may automatically select expedited shipping options to ensure on-time delivery. In addition, it helps reduce the chances of cancellations or returns. By offering accurate stock information and optimized fulfillment, customers are less likely to experience the frustration of receiving out-of-stock notifications after they’ve placed an order. When returns are necessary, the system ensures a seamless process, quickly updating inventory and processing refunds to enhance customer satisfaction.

Operational efficiency

Without an OMS, employees might have to manually track inventory across different systems, process orders, or manually check product availability. This is time-consuming and prone to errors. By automating these processes, the business can ensure that orders are processed without delays, inventory levels are consistently updated in real-time, and customers are notified promptly about their order status. As a result, employees are freed from repetitive tasks, and the business operates more efficiently, with fewer errors and delays.

Data-driven insights

One of the most valuable aspects of a modern OMS is its ability to provide actionable insights into business performance. For instance, with access to data on customer purchase patterns, businesses can identify which products are in high demand and allocate inventory accordingly. They can also assess fulfillment efficiency, pinpointing areas where delays or bottlenecks occur and making improvements to optimize the process. This data-driven approach allows businesses to be more agile, adapting to market trends and changing customer preferences faster than competitors.

In addition, the insights gained from an OMS can provide a competitive edge. Businesses can use this data to refine marketing strategies, improve customer targeting, and optimize pricing, ensuring that they remain ahead of competitors in a rapidly changing marketplace.

Key challenges of traditional e-commerce order management

While traditional e-commerce order management systems were once sufficient for retailers, they now struggle to keep pace with the rapid evolution of customer demands. Let’s explore the key challenges that arise when relying on outdated systems.

Siloed systems

E-commerce businesses typically operate across various platforms, from online stores and point-of-sale (POS) systems to third-party marketplaces. If data isn’t unified, order information, inventory counts, and customer interactions can become fragmented across these systems. This data fragmentation leads to discrepancies in order processing, delays in inventory updates, and missed sales opportunities.

Legacy technology with outdated capabilities

Many traditional order management solutions often struggle to integrate with newer tools and technologies, such as AI, machine learning (ML), or cloud-based infrastructure. Without leveraging these technologies, businesses cannot optimize order routing, offer personalized shopping experiences, or respond quickly to market changes.

Inventory inaccuracies

When inventory isn’t updated automatically across all channels, retailers cannot provide customers with accurate stock information or timely order delivery estimates. The inability to synchronize inventory in real-time also leads to inefficiencies, as businesses cannot optimize stock levels across warehouses and retail locations to meet demand.

Manual processes

Many traditional OMS solutions lack automation capabilities for order entry, fulfillment, and customer service, which are time-consuming and prone to human error. For instance, sales representatives may manually input orders into the system, leading to mistakes that could delay fulfillment or misroute inventory. Similarly, customer service agents may struggle to quickly access accurate order information, creating delays in resolving customer inquiries or complaints.

Slow shipping speeds

Businesses struggle to optimize shipping without an automated fulfillment request system that intelligently selects the most efficient fulfillment locations based on proximity to the customer and available stock. This leads to delayed deliveries, dissatisfied customers, and potentially lost sales.

Limited scalability

Traditional OMS platforms often lack the scalability to handle fluctuating demand or the rapid growth many e-commerce businesses experience. As a result, these systems can become overwhelmed during peak shopping seasons or unexpected surges in demand, leading to operational bottlenecks, stockouts, and fulfillment delays.

How fabric can solve your e-commerce order management challenges

fabric OMS enables businesses to scale efficiently, reduce costs, and meet modern commerce demands. Here’s how.

Centralized order hub

Managing orders across multiple channels—DTC websites, marketplaces, brick-and-mortar stores, and 3PL providers—can lead to data fragmentation and inefficiencies. fabric unifies all order data into a single platform, providing a real-time, accurate view of inventory and fulfillment across the entire network. This eliminates system discrepancies, reduces processing delays, and ensures seamless order orchestration.

AI-powered fulfillment

Optimizing fulfillment requires more than just automating tasks—it demands intelligent decision-making. fabric’s AI-driven order routing analyzes factors like product availability, warehouse proximity, shipping costs, and carrier performance to determine the most efficient fulfillment strategy. By dynamically selecting the best location for each order, businesses can reduce costs, minimize transit times, and improve delivery reliability.

Real-time inventory visibility

Without real-time inventory tracking, businesses risk overselling, stockouts, and fulfillment bottlenecks. fabric continuously updates stock levels across all sales and fulfillment channels, ensuring accurate inventory data at every touchpoint. 

Improved order accuracy and speed

Order errors—whether caused by manual entry, system mismatches, or fulfillment mistakes—lead to costly returns and customer dissatisfaction. fabric automates order validation, fulfillment workflows, and routing decisions to ensure each order is processed quickly and correctly. This reduces mispicks, shipment errors, and order cancellations, leading to fewer disruptions and higher customer trust.

Increased operational efficiency

Manual order processing is inefficient and unsustainable at scale. fabric automates key workflows, from order capture and validation to routing and fulfillment, reducing reliance on manual intervention. This accelerates order processing and frees internal teams to focus on strategic initiatives rather than administrative tasks.

Enhanced customer experience

Customers expect fast, seamless, and transparent order fulfillment. fabric enables businesses to meet these expectations by optimizing fulfillment locations, providing real-time order tracking, and offering flexible delivery options like BOPIS and same-day shipping. Accurate stock information and timely delivery updates enhance customer confidence, reducing cancellations and improving retention rates.

Data-driven decision-making

fabric’s analytics engine provides deep insights into order trends, inventory movement, and fulfillment performance. By leveraging real-time data, businesses can optimize inventory distribution, identify operational inefficiencies, and make proactive decisions to improve margins. These insights also help refine demand forecasting, reduce excess inventory, and enhance supply chain agility.

Choose fabric for commerce success

Legacy systems and manual processes can no longer keep up with the complexities of omnichannel fulfillment, real-time inventory tracking, and rising customer expectations. 

fabric is built to solve these challenges. By unifying order data, optimizing fulfillment with AI, and providing real-time inventory visibility, fabric empowers businesses to scale efficiently, reduce costs, and deliver seamless customer experiences. 

Whether you want to streamline operations, improve fulfillment accuracy, or gain data-driven insights, fabric provides the agility and intelligence needed to stay ahead. Learn more about how fabric OMS can transform your e-commerce order management and drive business growth by scheduling a demo today.

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