Navigating the complexities of international order management poses challenges, from diverse regulations to inventory issues
Ensuring prompt and seamless product delivery to customers is a top concern for many companies. To achieve this goal, they need a streamlined order management process. This intricate task involves organizing, coordinating, and monitoring operations from the initial order creation to the final shipping and delivery.
This process becomes notably more complicated for international businesses as they must deal with specific complexities that emerge when operating globally. This article describes the common challenges of handling orders internationally and explains how a custom order management system can help.
Order management challenges international businesses face
Complex regulatory landscape
Managing international orders requires adherence to different customs regulations, trade laws, and import/export restrictions. Product packaging, labelling, and documentation must also meet regional standards, requiring additional attention to detail. Please meet these regulations to avoid delivery delays, fines, or even the confiscation of goods.
Stock-outs and overstocks
A company should keep up with customer demand to avoid inventory shortage and redundancy. Handling demand fluctuations across diverse regions involves thoroughly considering cultural, seasonal, and economic factors influencing consumer behaviour.
Furthermore, effective inventory planning relies on precise coordination with suppliers, distributors, and partners. However, the diversity of time zones, language barriers, varying technological capabilities and operational practices, and supply chain disruptions due to geopolitical or natural factors can hinder timely stock replenishment or cause overstock.
Complicated order routing and fulfilment
As customers are dispersed across different regions, determining the most strategically located fulfilment centres and the most suitable carriers can take time and effort. Shipping costs and delivery times can vary significantly across international borders. Businesses must consider different carriers, shipping methods, and routes, considering each destination’s diverse geography and infrastructure.
It is important to establish order priority to process and fulfil time-sensitive orders promptly. Additionally, ensuring the proper handling of special products, like fragile or perishable goods, is essential during picking, packing, and shipping.
Extensive integration needs
In international business, OMS is just one piece of the supply chain ecosystem, and its seamless collaboration with various solutions is essential. For example, global companies must often integrate their OMS with diverse sales channels, including e-commerce platforms, marketplaces, and brick-and-mortar stores in different regions.
Controlling inventory management in various locations demands real-time OMS data integration with multiple inventory and warehouse systems. Integration with dedicated customer support and ticketing systems helps promptly and efficiently address customer requests from different languages.
Offering customers the flexibility to choose convenient payment methods also requires integrating OMS with particular payment systems and gateways prevalent in target countries.
Furthermore, OMS is often intertwined with compliance management software, shipping and logistics platforms, and CRM and ERP systems. However, their varied architectures and tech stack can hinder smooth integration and data exchange.
How custom OMS can help
Smart automation
Custom OMS incorporates a flexible business rules engine, allowing users to define and customize rules across various aspects of order management. Such a solution can automatically check and validate orders against regulatory requirements and compliance standards. For example, when an order for electronic devices is placed, the system automatically verifies the product details against a database of region-specific safety certifications. Custom OMS can also automatically adjust order processing according to any changes in regulations, tariffs, or trade policies.
Custom OMS can dynamically recalculate safety stock levels based on real-time factors such as seasonality, promotions, or unexpected fluctuations in demand. The software triggers reordering processes when inventory falls below predefined thresholds. Moreover, during stock-outs of a particular product in one location, the system can allocate available inventory from other warehouses to fulfil customer orders promptly.
Besides, a custom order management system can automate order routing to fulfilment centres or warehouses based on the customer’s geographic location. It sends requests for delivery to carriers that meet predefined criteria, such as cost considerations or customer preferences.
Additionally, a tailored OMS can customize picking rules. For example, if an order contains fragile items, the system generates handling instructions for the fulfilment team. Also, it will prioritize orders with perishable items for earlier picking and packing to minimize the time in transit.
Advanced data analytics
Custom OMS includes business-specific metrics and KPIs relevant to the industry, market, or particular operational goals. It enables the creation of dashboards and reports focusing on the specific data points crucial for the organization’s success. It can also integrate advanced analytics techniques, such as machine learning, predictive analytics, and AI, for more sophisticated insights.
The system analyzes historical consumer behaviour and market trends, forecasting demand to optimize inventory levels. Inventory analysis facilitates inventory control, highlighting slow-moving items, overstock situations, or products nearing expiration. Custom algorithms factor in shipping costs, delivery times, product requirements, and current inventory levels to help select the most suitable carrier and fulfilment centre.
Smooth integration
Custom OMS offers APIs or pre-built connectors that help integrate it with existing corporate systems or third-party software solutions. As a result, data can be exchanged smoothly between OMS and other systems without extensive data transformation.
Real-time synchronization ensures accurate and up-to-date information, which is essential for effective decision-making. For instance, when OMS is synchronized with logistics systems, shipping and fulfilment details are immediately processed. The logistics system promptly receives shipping information, enabling the generation of tracking numbers. This integration ensures that both the business and the customer receive timely updates on the delivery status.
To sum it up
International order management entails many variables, extensive communication with diverse stakeholders, and coordination of numerous operations. Region-specific standards and regulations further complicate the process.
A custom order management system emerges as a strategic solution. It can provide intelligent automation to streamline processes, advanced data analytics for insightful decision-making, and seamless integration capabilities. In addition, custom OMS software can accommodate the growing needs of international businesses as they expand into new markets. Thus, with a tailored OMS, businesses can gain the flexibility and precision required to enhance order management on a global scale.
