Retail isn’t standing still, and neither are customer expectations. Fast shipping, accurate inventory, convenient returns, these are now baseline, not differentiators. Yet many brands are still wrestling with outdated systems that weren’t built for omnichannel, let alone for 2025.
So what really makes an order management system truly advanced, not just functional? What separates it from legacy systems or basic order processing software?
Here’s a breakdown of the core features to look for in an order management system, and how each one solves real retail problems, improves fulfillment, and builds adaptability into your omnichannel business.
What is an Order Management System?
An order management system acts as the brain of omnichannel retail.
The system connects your eCommerce platform, ERP, WMS and customer service workflows to process orders accurately and quickly, whether they’re picked up in-store, shipped from a store, or fulfilled by a warehouse.
At its core, the OMS is where decisions get made: what to ship, from where, and when, based on inventory, timelines, customer rules, and business goals.
Key features of an Order Management System in retail
Enterprise inventory management
The biggest low-hanging fruit opportunity? Fixing inventory visibility.
Even now, many retailers can’t see what’s actually available to sell. Inventory is siloed across warehouses, stores, and third-party vendors, making it difficult to promise accurate availability online. An order management software changes that with:
Unified Inventory
Instead of fragmented systems, the order management system consolidates inventory from every store, warehouse, and third-party location into a single view. Retailers can’t move toward accurate inventory commitments without this consolidation.
Available to Promise
From this consolidated view, the order management system calculates Available to Promise (ATP) inventory, which can actually be sold online. It subtracts inventory held as safety stock, thresholds, already committed to open orders, or unavailable for online sale, leaving only the truly sellable quantity to sync with eCommerce platforms, preventing oversells and unnecessary cancellations.
In-transit inventory
Inventory isn’t static. It’s always moving, between stores, or in response to purchase orders. An order management system doesn’t just track inventory in-hand. It also tracks inventory in motion:
- • Inventory transfer between stores or warehouses, supporting stock rebalancing
- • Inbound from suppliers (PO ATP), enabling pre-orders and backorders
This gives retailers forward-looking visibility and unlocks new selling opportunities.
Distributed Order Management
Distributed Order Management (DOM) is the engine behind every fulfillment decision. It's where the order management software determines if an order should move forward, how to fulfill it, and from where. DOM doesn’t just move orders, the software makes smart, rule-based decisions at every step: order approval, routing, splitting, and fulfillment.
Approving orders
Before any order is routed, it goes through a validation step. The order management system checks if payment has been received, if there are any fraud concerns raised by tools like Riskified, or if the order meets specific business rules. Orders that pass these checks move forward to fulfillment. Others are held for review, reducing preventable costs and operational errors.
Intelligent order routing
Different orders come with different urgency levels. A customer paying for next-day delivery, for example, expects their package to arrive quickly. Others might be standard orders with longer delivery windows. Some might come from VIP customers, others from new customers placing their first order. A modern order management software doesn't treat all these orders equally, and shouldn't.
Instead, it groups orders based on fulfillment priorities like delivery speed, customer tier, or the source sales channel. Once orders are grouped, the routing engine selects the optimal fulfillment location. Standard orders might be routed from central warehouses to minimize shipping costs and avoid unnecessary splits. But for faster delivery, the routing engine may choose a nearby store. This balance between speed and cost helps meet service-level promises without eroding margins.
Partial shipments and order splitting
Customers often buy multiple items in a single order. But sometimes, no single location carries the entire order. That’s when splitting decisions are made. Rather than delaying the entire shipment, an order management software can ship the available items right away and fulfill the rest as inventory becomes available, either from a different store or warehouse.
Of course, splitting orders adds shipping costs, so it's not a decision to make lightly. The system gives retailers control over this logic. They can choose to allow splitting only when it's the only way to meet delivery promises or when the customer is high-priority. It’s not just about speed, it’s about cost-conscious flexibility.
Pre-Orders and backorders
Retailers don’t need to wait for inventory to arrive before selling it. If a purchase order is already placed or an item is part of a launch, the order management software displays Pre-Orders and Backorder availability directly at the product detail pages.
These orders are held in a virtual parking area until inventory arrives. Once available, the routing engine routes them like regular orders, helping retailers capture intent without overpromising.
Store operations
The best order management software doesn’t just manage inventory behind the scenes, it turns stores into active fulfillment hubs. Stores receive, ship, restock, and cycle-count inventory, helping retailers use their footprint more effectively.
Store fulfillment
• Ship From Store
Shipping only from warehouses limits delivery speed, especially when those facilities are located far from urban centers. Stores, by contrast, are closer to the customer.
An order management system provides store associates with lightweight fulfillment apps that help them view incoming orders, pick the right items, pack them, and mark them fulfilled, all on iPads or tablets. The interface is straightforward, so store reps can start using it with minimal training, making fulfillment part of the store’s routine without slowing down day-to-day work.
• Buy Online Pick Up In Store (BOPIS)
Same-day pickup is one of the strongest conversion levers available on a product detail page (PDP). When a customer sees “Available for Pickup Today” right next to the Add to Cart button, it signals speed, convenience, and certainty, especially for urgent purchases. But that promise can only be made if the order management system is connected in real time to local store inventory.
The system checks the customer’s location, checks inventory across nearby stores, and shows accurate pickup timelines on the PDP, not just default promises. If the item is available at a store within range, the PDP dynamically shows “Pickup Today,” “Ready in 2 Hours,” or similar pickup options.
Once the order is placed, store staff receive an instant alert in their BOPIS fulfillment app. Store teams can see exactly what’s needed and by when, so same-day pickup is not a stretch, it becomes routine.
• Ship to Store
If the desired item isn’t available at a nearby store but can be sent from a warehouse or another store, the order management software enables Ship to Store. This shows up on the PDP as “Pickup in 2 Days” or similar messages, helping keep the sale without overpromising.
Smarter inventory receiving
Inventory enters stores through transfer orders, purchase orders, and customer returns. Traditional receiving workflows are manual and prone to delays.
The best order management system offers store-friendly receiving apps. These apps are built specifically for frontline teams, with interfaces designed for iPads or mobile devices, quick barcode scanning, and zero need to switch between platforms.
Store staff can scan items as they arrive, and the system updates inventory counts instantly across eCommerce and ERP platforms.
Because the apps are simple and intuitive, they require very little training. Associates can start using them within minutes, even if they’re new or seasonal hires.
Cycle counting
Inventory accuracy is never perfect, items get misplaced, scanned incorrectly, or even stolen. Left unchecked, these small errors can compound into major availability issues, especially in high-velocity stores. And relying on quarterly audits isn’t enough to catch problems in time.
Cycle counting solves this. In an order management system, cycle counting isn’t left to store teams alone. Operations team from head-office can create and assign count tasks to specific stores.
The interface also adapts based on who’s using it. Ops team in head-office teams see planning and reporting views, they can create cycle counts, monitor completion status, and review discrepancies across stores. On the other hand, store reps see a focused task list. They open the app, scan the items on their assigned count list, and enter the quantities, no digging, no guesswork.
The system flags any mismatches between expected and actual counts and syncs the corrections across ERP and eCommerce platforms.
Exception handling
• Fulfillment exceptions
Sometimes, an item isn’t found during picking, maybe it was misplaced, sold earlier, or damaged. Store reps can quickly reject the item with a reason such as “not found,” “damaged,” or “short-staffed.” The order management software automatically reroutes the order to the next-best fulfillment location without requiring escalation.
• Receiving exceptions
Exceptions don’t just happen during fulfillment, they’re just as common during receiving.
Sometimes stores receive more inventory than expected, or items that weren’t listed on the transfer order at all. Without proper handling, these extras can disappear into store backrooms and never be counted or sold.
An order management system allows store reps to scan and accept unexpected quantities during receiving.
The system also offers reports that highlight any mismatches, overages, shortages, or unlisted SKUs, and lets staff scan and record what actually arrived.
Customer service & order handling
The best order management system empowers support teams to efficiently manage post-purchase interactions.
Order tracking
Customers want to know where their order is, not just whether it shipped. The order management system integrates with marketing platforms like Klaviyo to send live updates (“Your order is packed") and tracking details, reducing ticket volume and giving customers transparency.
Order modifications and cancellations
Customers often realize they’ve made a mistake, the wrong size or address, right after checkout. While self-service edits may be limited, CSRs can still step in.
If the order hasn’t shipped yet, CSRs can modify (add item, adjust quantities, update address) or cancel the order directly within the order management system. And if the update is made in the eCommerce platform (like Shopify), the system syncs those changes automatically before fulfillment begins.
This flexibility helps prevent unnecessary returns and improves customer satisfaction.
Returns and refund management
Returns don’t need to be painful, for the customer or for retailers. Whether a customer returns an item in-store or online, the order management software coordinates every step.
It supports BORIS (Buy Online Return In Store), allowing store teams to scan returns, restock inventory, and trigger refunds, all from their app interface. This reduces turnaround time and creates opportunities for upselling or exchanges.
Online returns are initiated through self-serve portals. The order management system tracks return status, restocks inventory when received, and syncs refund actions across ERP and eCommerce, keeping systems aligned and reducing support workload.
Better retail starts here: The Order Management System that moves with you
Retail isn’t predictable. Customer expectations shift. Delivery promises get tighter. Inventory moves constantly. What stays constant is the need to see accurate inventory, fulfill faster, and adapt quickly, and that’s exactly what a modern order management software delivers.
It’s not just software that manages orders. It’s a decision-making engine that connects eCommerce, ERP, warehouses, and stores, all the way from the product page promise to the final mile of fulfillment and the customer’s post-purchase experience.
Retailers that want to move faster, stay lean, and deliver better experiences aren’t just looking for basic order processing, they’re looking for an advanced order management system built for the complexity of modern commerce.
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HotWax Commerce OMS gives retailers accurate inventory visibility, intelligent order routing, and streamlined store fulfillment to meet every customer promise.
Connect with us for a demo tailored to your retail priorities.
