When you’re running a large-scale business, managing orders is more than just a process—it’s the nerve center of your entire operation. An enterprise order management system (OMS) is the key to maintaining control over every order, every channel, and every customer interaction. Let’s dive into what an enterprise OMS is, why it matters, and how the right system can transform your operations from behind the scenes.
An enterprise order management system is a sophisticated platform designed to oversee and optimize the entire lifecycle of an order, from the moment a customer clicks “buy” to the final delivery. In an enterprise environment, it needs to handle vast order volumes, multiple fulfillment channels, and complex workflows seamlessly. A solid OMS integrates with every part of your business, coordinating inventory, customer data, order processing, and shipping across all sales channels—whether they’re online, in-store, or through third-party retailers.
An enterprise OMS is the command center for your business, and its role goes beyond simply tracking orders. It allows businesses to:
Centralize Data and Operations: Unifying inventory, sales, and customer information across all channels gives you a single source of truth, helping avoid stock discrepancies and improving order accuracy.
Automate Fulfillment Processes: Automating tasks like routing orders to the most appropriate warehouse, managing split shipments, and updating stock in real-time improves efficiency and minimizes errors in order fulfillment.
Enhance Customer Experience: By providing real-time updates on orders, shipping statuses, and availability, an OMS gives customers the seamless experience they expect, which builds trust and loyalty
Global Scalability: For enterprises managing cross-border transactions, an OMS provides the framework to handle varying tax regulations, currency conversions, and shipping logistics, ensuring smooth international operations.
Traditionally, order management systems were designed for simpler retail environments—handling basic tasks like order entry, inventory tracking, and shipping from a single location. These legacy systems operated largely in silos, without real-time data sharing between departments, leading to slow processing times and inefficiencies. They also lacked the flexibility to adapt to complex order routing or scale across multiple sales channels, which limited their usefulness as businesses expanded.
With today’s enterprise ecommerce platforms, these limitations are glaring. Modern consumers expect seamless, omnichannel experiences—whether shopping online, via mobile, or in-store—and they demand fast, flexible fulfillment options like buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS). Global operations further complicate things, requiring businesses to handle cross-border logistics, varying tax laws, and multi-location fulfillment. Legacy OMSs, which were not built to manage multiple channels or complex supply chains, struggle to keep pace with these demands.
Additionally, modern fulfillment requires automation. Legacy systems often relied on manual processes, which not only slowed operations but increased errors. Today, automation in order routing, inventory updates, and customer communication is crucial to handling the complexity of fulfillment at scale.
The complexity of enterprise operations requires a system capable of handling not only today’s demands but also the flexibility to grow with your business. Here’s why an enterprise OMS is crucial for scaling:
Real-Time Visibility and Control: With a large-scale operation, having full visibility into every aspect of your orders and inventory in real time is non-negotiable. A modern enterprise OMS gives you that control, allowing you to monitor stock levels, fulfillment progress, and shipping updates instantly across all locations.
Multi-Channel Integration: Enterprises operate across various channels—web, mobile apps, physical stores, and third-party marketplaces. An OMS integrates all of these platforms so that inventory, orders, and customer data sync seamlessly. This multi-channel synchronization ensures your business operates as a cohesive unit rather than fragmented parts.
Inventory Optimization: Stocking the right amount of inventory at the right locations is a constant challenge for enterprises. An OMS uses intelligent routing and inventory management tools to optimize stock levels, ensuring you can meet customer demand without overstocking or stockouts.
Customer-Centric Fulfillment: Customers today expect fast, flexible shipping options, easy returns, and updates at every stage of their order. An order management system makes this possible by offering features like split shipments, consolidated shipping, and automated return processing, which allow you to meet customer expectations while minimizing operational costs.
Kibo Commerce offers a composable enterprise order management system that’s purpose-built for large-scale operations, equipping businesses with the tools they need to optimize efficiency, handle high-volume orders, and deliver seamless customer experiences. Here’s how Kibo is setting the standard for enterprise order management:
Unifying Operations Across Channels:
Managing orders across multiple sales platforms—whether online, in-store, or through third-party retailers—can be a major challenge for large enterprises. Kibo’s system integrates these disparate data sources into one cohesive platform, eliminating operational silos and ensuring that every part of your order lifecycle is connected, providing consistency and accuracy at every stage.
Built for Large-Scale Complexity:
Whether you’re a b2b ecommerce business that deals with thousands of orders a day or an international retailer that manages multiple distribution centers, Kibo’s OMS is designed to handle the demands of large-scale operations. Its robust capabilities enable complex order routing, multi-location fulfillment, and flexible shipping options, making it a strong solution for retailers, manufacturers, and distributors that need to manage intricate, high-volume workflows.
Streamlining Processes to Cut Costs:
Kibo’s system is engineered to simplify enterprise order management. By automating key tasks such as inventory updates, order routing, and fulfillment workflows, Kibo reduces manual intervention and minimizes costly errors. This automation not only improves speed and accuracy but also drives down operational costs, helping your bottom line.
Seamless Scaling for Growing Businesses:
As your business grows, so do your order management needs. Kibo is built with scalability in mind, making it easy for enterprises to expand their operations without losing efficiency. Whether you’re opening new locations or dealing with peak sales seasons, Kibo’s system scales seamlessly, ensuring your operations can keep pace with demand.
Improving Fulfillment Accuracy and Speed:
For enterprises, fulfilling orders quickly and accurately is critical to maintaining customer satisfaction. Kibo optimizes inventory management and fulfillment, offering real-time stock updates, intelligent order routing, and support for diverse fulfillment models like buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS), and direct-to-home shipping. This flexibility ensures your customers get their orders quickly and reliably, boosting loyalty and repeat sales.
Tailored Flexibility for Your Enterprise Needs:
Kibo’s modular, API-first platform allows enterprises to customize and deploy only the features they need. This flexibility enables businesses to adapt to changing market conditions and customer demands without the burden of overhauling legacy systems. The result? A future-proof system that evolves with your business.
Enhanced Customer Satisfaction:
Improved inventory accuracy and optimized fulfillment processes reduce stockouts and ensure timely deliveries, leading to higher customer satisfaction. Kibo also supports various fulfillment methods (BOPIS, curbside, ship-from-store, etc.) so you can meet diverse customer needs.
We can see the journey from the when the customer started the order all the way through our business channels, dropshippers, our store fulfillment, anywhere that the order has gone.
An enterprise OMS is a centralized platform designed to manage the entire lifecycle of an order across multiple sales channels. It integrates with inventory, fulfillment, and customer data systems to streamline and automate tasks like order processing, inventory updates, and shipping logistics. It’s essential for large businesses handling high order volumes and complex fulfillment networks.
While a standard OMS handles basic order management tasks for smaller or mid-sized businesses, an enterprise OMS is designed for large-scale operations. It supports multi-channel sales, real-time inventory visibility, global compliance, and complex order routing across multiple locations. Enterprise OMS also offers advanced automation and scalability to handle high volumes and more sophisticated fulfillment workflows.
An enterprise OMS is crucial for managing complex eCommerce operations where orders come from multiple channels (e.g., websites, mobile apps, stores). It allows for real-time inventory updates, automated order routing, and optimized fulfillment, all while providing a unified view of your operations. This ensures quicker delivery times, accurate stock levels, and better customer experiences.
Yes, an enterprise OMS is built to handle orders from multiple sales channels—whether online, in-store, or via third-party marketplaces. It synchronizes data across all platforms, ensuring that inventory, customer information, and order statuses are up-to-date in real time, allowing for seamless integration and fulfillment across channels.
Key features to look for include real-time inventory tracking, multi-channel integration, advanced automation, customizable workflows, scalability to support business growth, and the ability to handle complex fulfillment models (such as dropshipping, split shipments, or global shipping). It should also offer customer-centric features like flexible delivery options and easy returns.
Kibo Resources
Stay up to date on retail trends with the latest industry reports, analysis, and thought leadership from your partners at Kibo.
Guide: Building a GenAI Strategy for Digital Commerce
Whether you’re looking to boost productivity, enhance customer experiences, or streamline operations, this comprehensive guide will show you how to leverage GenAI to achieve your business goals.
Kibo’s 2024 Product Highlights: Powering Commerce Growth
Join us for an exclusive webinar showcasing Kibo’s latest innovations in order management, fulfillment, and B2B commerce.
Intelligent Commerce – Integrating AI, Analytics and Unified Systems
Hear from Greg Buzek and Lee Holman from IHL Group and Meagan White of Kibo Commerce discussing about integrating AI, machine learning and composable commerce to enhance customer experiences.
Gartner® Report: Critical Capabilities for Digital Commerce Platforms, 2024
Kibo Recognized for Excellence in Composable Commerce and Unified Retail In the report, Gartner pointed out that, “By 2030, sellers will seamlessly be “in the loop” in both B2C and B2B digital commerce scenarios, when…
What can you do when you start with rich commerce functionality and extend it to differentiate your unique value? Simplify complex commerce today. See how.
Request a Demo