Omnichannel shopping is here to stay, with a reported 75% of US consumers saying they’re researching and purchasing both in-store and online. As the modern shopping experience continues to evolve, leading retailers need the appropriate software systems to ensure a smooth customer experience, no matter where and how shoppers interact with their brand. And a critical component of this tech stack? An Omnichannel OMS.
Automating omnichannel order management offers retailers an effective omnipresence and yields clear benefits, including enterprise-wide inventory visibility, distributed order management, premium customer service, and dynamic store fulfillment strategies. Large retailers, in particular, need an adept software solution that can keep up with thousands of daily orders while ensuring a seamless customer experience.
But an omnichannel OMS is not just an enterprise solution. Growth-minded small and mid-sized businesses can also leverage an omnichannel OMS to cultivate a consistent brand experience, increase cash flow, and ultimately scale their brand.
Why Small & Mid-Sized Businesses Should Be Utilizing An Omnichannel OMS
Regardless of other business factors, retailers with ten or more physical stores or at least one hundred daily online orders should be using an omnichannel OMS. End of story.
It’s not only large enterprise retailers that can enjoy the benefits of an intelligent order management system. Investing in this piece of retail software allows smaller players to keep up with the big brands through new levels of scalability and lower fulfillment and shipping costs.
Once a retailer hits the one hundred daily orders sales threshold, it’s virtually impossible to manually manage and synchronize multi-channel inventory. This opens the door to costly errors, like overselling and order cancellations. An omnichannel OMS provides a unified view of inventory across all channels, minimizing the risk of overpromising inventory and providing an improved customer experience.
Achieving this top-tier customer experience is all the more important for small retailers looking to stand out among the crowd, compete with the bigger players, and ultimately drive business growth. Critically, small to mid-size retailers need an omnichannel OMS that is flexible and built to serve companies of any size, so they can scale the product up or down to fit their unique needs. As your business grows and your needs evolve, your omnichannel OMS must evolve with you.
At first glance, a robust omnichannel OMS designed to handle initiatives from “Pre-Orders” to “Buy Online Pick-Up In Store” may seem too large for growing businesses. However, with a scalable system, small and mid-sized retailers can start with a plug-and-play solution to meet their needs and then customize the solution’s capabilities over time.
Key Benefits of OMS for Growth-Minded Small to Mid-Sized Businesses
More than anyone, growth-minded small and mid-sized retail brands need an OMS solution that can maximize resource output and increase profitability. While there are many benefits to implementing an omnichannel OMS, we’ve identified three key benefits for growth-focused retailers looking to scale their brands.
-
Cultivating A Consistent Brand Experience
Let’s face it: without establishing your brand and cultivating an experience for shoppers that stands out, it’s nearly impossible for small retailers to succeed. And today, when the brand experience is being diffused across multiple physical and online channels, retailers need to foster a consistent experience across every channel to remain competitive.
Leveraging an omnichannel OMS helps retail brands of all sizes provide the same brand experience no matter where your customers prefer to shop: in brick-and-mortar stores, on your eCommerce website, or through additional third-party channels. This consistency drives long-term customer loyalty, which is mission-critical for small brands looking to make a splash in a competitive market.
-
Cutting Down on Costs and Increasing Cash Flow
An effective omnichannel OMS empowers small & mid-sized retailers to increase cash flow and profit margins by successfully scaling omnichannel offerings such as Pre-Orders, BOPIS, Ship From Store, and more. By providing unprecedented inventory visibility and leveraging automation to optimize order fulfillment, an omnichannel OMS helps retailers reduce costs and achieve levels of productivity previously unattainable for smaller retailers.
Furthermore, using an OMS can increase eCommerce sales and average order value (AOV). Key features like delivery dates on the Product Detail Page (PDP) help drive online conversions, and built-in customer service offerings promote customer retention, increasing profit margins and helping small to mid-sized retailers achieve business growth.
-
Driving Steady Business Growth & Scale
Ultimately, growth-minded companies need a robust omnichannel OMS to increase their return on inventory and scale their brand. In addition to maximizing resource output, a dynamic order management solution increases inventory accuracy and speedy order fulfillment, enabling small and mid-sized retailers to keep delivery date promises, reduce delivery time, and offer a customer experience on par with bigger brands.
By investing early in an omnichannel OMS, retailers can drive faster, more efficient growth. And having a scalable system in place eliminates many of the future operational challenges that come with business growth and scale.
* * *
Along with its enterprise-grade capabilities, the HotWax Commerce order management solution also offers ready-to-use plug-and-play solutions for small and mid-sized retailers. With same-day onboarding and seamless scalability, our solution will set you up for success in the long haul.
If you are interested in learning how our omnichannel solutions can take your business to the next level, contact the HotWax Commerce team for a free consultation today.
