The Seven Deadly Sins of Order Management Systems: A Retailer’s Nightmare

Pride blinds retailers to the flaws in their current OMS setup. You often hear, “It worked great two years ago…,” but an outdated system can’t keep up with today’s demands. Overconfidence in a once-successful setup can prevent vital upgrades, leading to missed opportunities and decreased efficiency. Retailers need to stand the test of time and rethink their strategies constantly to evolve and keep up with the market’s needs. 

Greed in Order Management manifests as overselling beyond available inventory due to a lack of real-time, synchronized omnichannel data. Also, overcharging customers for their orders and for shipment due to bad routing options frustrates customers and damages your brand’s reputation. Proper inventory management, accurate, real-time data and full inventory visibility are essential to prevent the pitfalls of greed. 

Lust drives an excessive focus on the frontend—making it visually appealing and desirable—while neglecting crucial backend logistics. A stunning interface may attract customers, but if the backend processes are chaotic, it leads to fulfillment issues and customer dissatisfaction. Balance is key and remember 53% of all customers say the post-purchase experience is the most important part of their customer journey (parcelLab). With a composable architecture, you can make sure to always choose the solution that is right for your use case and build a flexible, efficient architecture that keeps up with a pretty frontend.

Sloth is evident when retailers stick with an outdated OMS, showing a complete lack of innovation. In a fast-moving market, inertia can lead to stagnation and lost competitiveness. Regularly updating your OMS and embracing new technologies is vital to stay ahead of the curve. That enables retailers to get the most out of their OMS. 

Envy causes retailers to fixate on competitors, leading to reactive and often misguided expansion strategies. Mimicking others without considering your unique needs can result in inefficiencies and resource wastage. What works for others will not automatically work for you. Focus on your bespoke requirements and strengths to build a competitive and coherent OMS strategy.

Gluttony in inventory management involves overbuying stock without efficiently utilizing all storage facilities, such as warehouses and stores. This can lead to logistical challenges and financial strain. Efficient stock balancing through ship-from-store and intelligent order routing helps increase inventory turnover and manage uneven stock distribution. Smart inventory management and strategic distribution can help in avoiding waste and optimize resource use.

Wrath unfolds when the implementation and selection of a new OMS backfires due to poor change management, impatience, and lack of trust. Hasty decisions and inadequate planning can create internal chaos and dissatisfaction of employees. Investing time in proper change management and building trust within the employees is crucial. If internal processes go wrong, this will negatively influence your service level and will lead to problems like late deliveries and out-of-stocks. This will have a negative impact on customer satisfaction and will cause customer pushback.