Fulfilling a customer’s order is more complex than picking and shipping products off the shelf. The process starts long before that. Businesses must consider getting the parts or inventory into their warehouse, sorting everything out, and tracking inventory to ensure they’re well-stocked. They also need to ensure that their shipping schedules operate at a sufficient pace to get products to customers quickly.
Order management software is a powerful tool businesses use to streamline and automate their order fulfillment processes. It enables efficient order management from initiation to final delivery. This software centralizes and organizes all order-related information, customer details, product inventory, and shipping information. By integrating with various systems, such as e-commerce platforms and inventory management software, order management software provides real-time visibility into order statuses, inventory levels, shipping updates, and more.
Order management software additionally provides industry-specific benefits to business owners in different sectors. Some include:
While an order management system will benefit your business, some solutions make more sense than others, and some come with advanced features that make your day-to-day operations easier. Here are the 11 best order management software options, details on who they’re best suited for, their prices, and key features.
Methodology: To compile our list, we weighed software that serves different markets, the features of each, their prices, and their user reviews.
Best order management software solutions in 2023:
At Cin7, we set ourselves apart from competitors by offering two strong products with robust order management capabilities. Cin7 Core, our comprehensive small business solution, automates tasks like data entry and reordering, so you can spend more time running your business. The software also works as a strong point of sale (POS) solution, allowing you to easily track your sales, find new customers, and manage sales from anywhere.
Cin7 Omni, our tool with native EDI & 3PL integrations, elevates order management for small and midsize businesses by connecting products, sales, orders, warehouses, and more in one centralized and automated solution. With your orders living in the same place as the rest of your business data, you can focus more on creating value for your business rather than digging through spreadsheets.
We believe in our tools and their ability to help customers achieve their business goals. See what Software Advice and Forbes say about our software.
Best for: Small and midsize businesses looking to move their order management process from spreadsheets to a centralized platform
Pricing:
Key features: Automated inventory replenishment, e-commerce order downloads, 3PL pick requests, automated purchase orders, Amazon order management
Brightpearl allows businesses to manage order fulfillment with ease so more resources can go into business development. With various fulfillment options ranging from dropshipping to multi-location fulfillment, Brightpearl can be an effective option for various product sellers.
With multi-channel integration, Brightpearl makes it easy for product sellers to integrate with their preferred sales channel. But while Brightpearl can help product sellers reach more customers in different markets, it falls short in providing insights into sales numbers.
Best for: E-commerce brands looking for a scalable order management solution
Pricing: Available upon request
Key features: Plug-and-play e-commerce integrations, automatic sales channel updates, automated stock replenishment
Designed to give large organizations the ability to centralize order management across platforms, IBM Sterling is a strong choice for companies looking for a tool that can simplify more complex product order management processes.
Described by IBM as a “single source of truth” for companies that use various sales channels, IBM Sterling works to centralize order information, allowing enterprise companies to manage all their orders in one place.
Best for: Large companies looking to simplify complex product order management processes
Pricing: Available upon request
Key features: Automated sourcing decisions, multi-location inventory management, enables transfers in the event of a stockout, uses aggregated inventory information for order fulfillment
QuickBooks offers a comprehensive order management feature within their Enterprise tool that allows businesses to manage order fulfillment within one system — simplifying order entry, invoicing, payments, and more.
While the tool is an excellent way for businesses to streamline inventory and order management, advanced inventory management features are locked to Gold users and only available to Platinum and Diamond users — making it a little more costly for growing businesses to access the full order management capabilities.
Best for: Product-based businesses looking for a scalable order management system
Pricing:
Key features: Simplified order entry, centralized order management dashboard, automated invoicing
For businesses looking to easily track incoming orders and gain complete visibility into the order cycle, monday.com is a compelling choice. A comprehensive work and project management tool, monday.com offers several templates and tools that can help product sellers streamline the order process.
While monday.com offers many integrations that are prime for project management, it falls short in providing all the integrations to sales channels that product sellers may be interested in, making it difficult to reach new customers.
Best for: Small businesses looking for more management and visibility into the order cycle
Pricing:
Key features: Order tracking dashboards, automated order updates, email integration, custom order templates
Zoho Inventory is another good option for multi-channel product sellers, as it integrates with Amazon, Shopify, eBay, and Etsy to centralize product and order information.
With Zoho Inventory, you can also automatically print packing slips, generate shipping rates, and track shipments through the order process. Zoho additionally gives you insight into your most and least profitable items — so you can make data-driven decisions about which items to prioritize.
Best for: Solo entrepreneurs or small businesses looking to streamline their order process
Pricing:
Key features: Sales channel integrations, package slip creation, payment integration
Veeqo’s appeal comes mainly from it being a free tool, but it’s still a strong option for solo product sellers or businesses that are just getting off the ground.
Allowing you to print branded shipping labels and create custom invoices, Veeqo can help you create a name for your business — at no cost. Its reporting features can also give you insight into popular products, order history, and accounting.
Best for: Individual product sellers or young businesses looking to speed up the order process.
Price: Free
Key features: Bulk shipping label printing, branded custom invoices, sales reports, internal shipping notes, ability to reroute lost packages
SAP Commerce Cloud has a built-in order management feature that can benefit retailers and wholesalers looking for more visibility into stock and order tracking.
Built within the SAP Commerce Cloud’s order management feature is the Backoffice Order Fulfillment Cockpit, a dashboard that allows users to manage customer orders, review package information, and manage warehouses — providing a centralized view of all your order information.
Best for: Enterprise companies with complex product order management
Price: Available upon request
Key features: Automated order workflow, sourcing, order splitting, ability to view fraud reports, ability to pick, pack, and label shipments
The Salesforce Commerce Cloud includes an order management feature to centralize omnichannel sales in a single platform. The top CRM in the world, Salesforce’s inclusion of an order management tool makes it convenient for existing customers to handle all their resources in one place.
The main advantage of Salesforce order management is its ease of integration with its other products. If you use Salesforce for different business needs, like B2C Commerce or B2B commerce, your OMS will easily fit in with your other tools.
Best for: Existing Salesforce customers looking to streamline omnichannel order management
Price: Available on request
Key features: Order servicing, distributed order management, omnichannel inventory, automated order rerouting
Katana’s order management system simplifies order management for manufacturers — allowing them to automate manufacturing cost calculations using bill of materials data and gain complete visibility to the shop floor through a mobile app.
Additionally, the insights from Katana’s order management tool allow manufacturers to view all available raw materials and make sales and production decisions based on what is and isn’t available.
Best for: Manufacturers and e-commerce businesses looking for a centralized order management solution
Price:
Key features: Real-time data management systems, automated manufacturing cost calculations, shop floor visibility through a mobile app
Sana Commerce helps product sellers elevate their online stores by automatically creating custom product pages based on the products in your ERP and PIM system.
From there, the software uses its native ERP integration to ensure all changes made to product pages get reflected in your online store — allowing you to focus on driving sales rather than keeping tabs on your online marketplace.
Best for: Product sellers looking for streamlined order management and an elevated online store
Price: Available on request
Key features: Automatic language translation, automated returns, automated order editing, order tracking
Order management systems are not only helpful for you, but they can also benefit your customers and vendors. You’ve probably had some unfortunate instances in shopping yourself; maybe you’ve ordered an item only to find out later that the company sold out of that piece, or perhaps the company didn’t have very good order tracking, meaning you didn’t know where your package was until it showed up at your door.
With the right OMS, you shouldn’t have to stress about orders reaching customers on time, but there are more perks than that. Some other benefits include:
Customer trust isn’t built just by getting deliveries to a customer’s door. Consumers want to know the process end to end: From estimated delivery time to real-time updates in the shipment process.
Order management software significantly improves customer service by giving businesses real-time visibility on order statuses, shipment updates, and delivery tracking, allowing them to provide accurate and timely information to customers. By offering this, businesses can create a sense of transparency and trust with their customer base, encouraging them to make repeat purchases.
Order management software strengthens vendor relationships by streamlining communication and collaboration regarding vendor managed inventory (VMI). By facilitating order placement and providing clear insight into order fulfillment, OMS can help businesses maintain efficient communication with vendors.
OMS also allows companies to track vendor performance, monitor delivery times, and identify any bottlenecks in the supply chain. Order management software helps build strong and reliable vendor relationships by fostering effective collaboration and transparency.
OMS allows businesses to automate inventory tracking, triggering alerts for low stock levels or potential stockouts and reordering certain products accordingly. Companies can improve operational efficiency, reduce carrying costs, and ensure timely order fulfillment by maintaining optimal inventory levels.
By automatically setting reorder levels for you, the right OMS will ensure that you never experience a situation where you can’t get products to customers.
Order management software offers robust reporting capabilities that enable businesses to gain valuable insights into their order fulfillment processes. This software can generate comprehensive reports on various aspects, such as order volume and status, and insights into your most and least popular products.
With these extensive reporting features, businesses can identify trends, track performance metrics, and analyze operational efficiency. By leveraging these insights, companies can make informed decisions, identify areas for improvement, and implement strategies to enhance order management and fulfillment.
Customer relationship management (CRM) and order management software (OMS) serve different functions. While a CRM focuses on managing customer relationships, an OMS prioritizes optimizing the order fulfillment process.
While OMS focuses on addressing the order fulfillment process and logistics, CRM is broader in scope and encompasses a more comprehensive range of customer-centric activities. Some solutions, like Cin7 Core, include both order management and basic CRM functionality –– including tracking leads and opportunities.
While industry-specific needs will undoubtedly play a role in deciding your OMS, you should consider certain universal elements when switching to a centralized platform. When browsing OMS, you should:
As your business grows, you’ll want an OMS that can grow with it. A good OMS scales with your business by accommodating increasing order volumes and expanding business operations. The best order management software should be capable of handling a growing number of orders, managing a more extensive inventory, and supporting additional sales channels.
If you’re a retailer, you’re undoubtedly using several different sales channels to reach your customers, so choosing an OMS that includes all the integrations you need to reach your customers is crucial. Ensure you’re selecting an OMS that integrates with all your sales channels to get the most out of your solution.
Different industries may have unique requirements and processes related to order management. The best order management system should offer industry-specific features and functionalities catering to the business’s needs.
For example, those in the food industry might need features for managing expiration dates, batch tracking, and order freshness since they’re dealing with products with quick turnover.
Finding an order management system is just one part of running your business effectively. One of the reasons these systems work so well is that they grant the ability to consolidate all your information in one place.
The best order management systems should free you from monotonous data entry and worry that products aren’t reaching customers and let you instead focus on adding value to your business. With a centralized solution like Cin7 Core or Cin7 Omni, you can streamline your processes and make sure you never miss a beat.
Ready to ditch spreadsheets and track orders more efficiently? Start your free trial of Cin7 Core to see what automated order management can do for you.
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