8 Order Management Best Practices

To understand why order management matters, you need to align its benefits with specific use cases. Let’s take the following common scenarios you might be experiencing: 

Still using spreadsheets 

A new, automatised order management process saves time and reduces errors. This leaves you with extra hours to allocate back to your business and strategic tasks. 

Juggling multiple systems that don't provide data transferability 

Having disconnected systems can create a silo of data that can cause inventory to go missing or cause delays in fulfilment. An all-in-one order management tool can consolidate your data from all sources to support decision making. 

Relying on a warehouse management software (WMS) that’s either too simple or complex 

An overly complex system is frustrating for staff, while a limited one lacks important functionalities such as multi-channel support. Mintsoft’s WMS operates with intuitive tools and provides all the integrations businesses need to scale without operational constraints. 

Implement these unique best practices from inventory or product placement to returns in order to minimise errors and save time. These eight unique best practices take you through every stage. 

Goods-in and inventory management 

Accurate inventory management is key to good order management because it helps small to medium businesses avoid stockouts, overstocks, or oversells. For eCommerce retailers and 3PLs that do stock holding, managing inventory tracking in real-time is a must for meeting customer expectations.  

You could automate the goods-in process using barcode scanners or RFID technology to reduce human error at the point of receipt. 

Start by implementing a daily cycle counting routine to maintain the accuracy of your inventory levels without replacing a full stock take over. Cycle counting means you’ll get staff to count a small rotating location of inventory daily (like a warehouse aisle or one product category every day).  

Use a mobile app to scan the product barcodes. This will allow you to identify and update stock levels on the fly, finding any discrepancies early, avoiding delays in fulfilment. 

Order receiving 

Manually entering orders is time-consuming and riddled with errors. This can lead to situations where you may oversell or be unable to fulfil orders. With multi-channel order receiving, you can rely on existing integrations with systems you’re already using to automate the process. This way, your order management platform will pull orders directly from your sales channels.  

Mintsoft, for instance, can integrate with most popular marketplaces, including Amazon, eBay, Shopify, and Magento. You can further use the Mintsoft system to build automatic checks (such as stock checks) and ensure orders continue to flow into processing to prevent delays. 

For instance, you can set up Mintsoft to pull orders from Shopify every 15 minutes, and use filters to highlight urgent orders for processing right away. 

Order processing 

This stage must accurately allocate inventory, produce pick lists, and prepare orders for fulfilment. Completing this process manually is tedious and has a high potential for you to miss deadlines or allocate out-of-stock inventory.  

Connecting your order management system with your ERP or CRM is one quick way to maintain and improve consistency when it comes to sales record-keeping, inventory, and customer records. 

Consider using batch processing to manage large volumes of peak orders. Mintsoft lets businesses group orders by shipping carrier or destination. By employing batch processing, you can generate picking lists, improving the accuracy and speed of orders going through the warehouse and being dispatched to customers. 

Picking and packing 

Achieving maximum productivity in your picking is all about improving fulfilment and lowering costs. Consider using zone picking (assigning pickers to specific zones or areas) or wave picking (grouping similar orders based on time slots) to alleviate excess travel time.  

Packing should also have its own standard processes. For example, you can save time by using pre-sized boxes and reduce errors by double-checking orders before sealing them.  

Mintsoft’s mobile picking app gives picking operators real-time, step-by-step guidance throughout the entire fulfilment process. With most warehouse operations automated, your staff only need to verify that the number of packed orders matches the number of picking lists to catch any errors before shipping. 

Accounting 

Manual accounting leads to inconsistencies in revenue data or the timing of financial reports. So another order management best practice to consider is automating invoice generation and syncing these with accounting software. This is what maintains real-time accuracy, minimises manual errors, and streamlines financial reporting. 

Configure your Mintsoft order management system to produce invoices for every order made and sync it all with your Xero or QuickBooks account. You should also review your financial reports monthly or quarterly to confirm the accuracy of the sales data and identify seasonal revenue trends. 

Shipping 

Speaking of shipping, many companies still tend to do things manually since they work with multiple carriers. Connecting with shipping platforms such as Royal Mail, DPD, or FedEx will raise the level of service you can offer your customer, automate your label creation, and allow you to do rate shopping so you can see which carriers are cheaper. 

Automate courier selection with Mintsoft by setting your rules (based on the weight and the shipping destination) for the cheapest carrier or the fastest carrier with every order. After they’re shipped, you can check for tracking updates to make sure that all orders were shipped out on time, and notify customers if case delays occur. 

Customer communication 

Your customers want to get updates along their order journey, from confirmation, all the way through to shipping and delivery. Communicating manually, particularly during peak times, is challenging and easy to overlook. 

Automated emails or SMS messages are better options for ensuring continuous customer communication for order confirmations and shipping/delivery notifications. 

It’s even better to personalise these. Mintsoft to set up personalised order confirmation and shipment emails. On top of these, you can rely on customer inquiries to find additional (if necessary) communication opportunities along the entire customer journey. 

Managing returns 

Returns analytics allow you to identify trends in shopper behaviour and preferences (like if the same product has return issues).  

Among core order management best practices is taking a proactive approach to simplify and manage returns without losing revenue. This level of insight will let you optimise product offerings in the future and enhance the customer experience while protecting profit margins. 

A self-service returns portal allows customers to request returns, automatically generating a return label with the permit request. Retain your profits by first recommending product exchanges instead of refunds while still maintaining customer satisfaction. 

Mintsoft’s cloud-based order management system changes the way eCommerce retailers and third-party logistics companies have traditionally managed orders and fulfilment.  

Mintsoft automates all parts of the order management system to reduce errors and deliver better customer experiences. You’ll now be able to take control of your orders by streamlining every step of the journey automate the process of picking, packing, and shipping and ensure your orders are more accurate and efficient than ever. 

Use Mintsoft to: 

• Track stock and displays inventory levels in real-time to help avoid stock-outs and maintain inventory accuracy. 
• Connect with over 150 platforms (Shopify, Amazon, eBay, WooCommerce, and others) to help speed up and increase the quality of your sales across multiple channels. 
• Connect with 150+ couriers (Royal Mail, DPD, Evri, etc.) to help improve and speed up shipping processes. 
• Optimise your workflows in terms of time and minimise manual errors with automated order batch processing. 
• Set order rules to prioritize or assign couriers based on criteria such as weight, location, or final destination. 
• Improve picking accuracy to 100% with features such as voice assisted picking, barcode scanning, and real-time information. 
• Strengthen customer communication by delivering standardized updates so customers stay informed throughout the order process. 
• Let customers track orders and efficiently manage returns through a self-service portal. 
• Support accurate invoicing, payments reconciled, and financial reporting with accounting integrations for Xero and QuickBooks. 
• And so much more! 

Are you ready to change your organisation’s order management process? Book a demo to see how Mintsoft can transform your fulfilment and grow your business!