Meet Canary7
How to Improve Your Workflow with A Product Order Management System
Reliable, Robust 3PL Solutions; Now at your service.
Meet Canary7
Meet Canary7
How to Improve Your Workflow with A Product Order Management System
Reliable, Robust 3PL Solutions; Now at your service.
As time has improved, so has the technology and the way of life. This improvement in technology has benefited the people in their lives and has also proved to be helpful in businesses for the sellers and customers.
Instead of figuring out solutions for minor problems, there are smart solutions that everyone can use and benefit from in the best ways.
One significant example is the product order management system which has made the lives of the seller and the buyers easier. This is precisely what we discuss in the article.
So, without any delay, let us get started on the details of the product order management system and learn more about its functionality and its benefits to its users.
What Is A Product Order Management System?
A product management system is an organising tool used rapidly to develop and improve a company’s goods. These technologies allow business owners and their employees to gather innovative ideas and develop detailed plans to be turned into proper plans to be executed for the products present.
The inventions of systems like these have helped product managers but have allowed them to provide more useful insight information about product development while helping out other departments equally.
Sounds interesting, right?
We now move on to the next heading of identifying and knowing the features of a product management system.
Features of a Product Management System
Based on the companies it serves, an inventory app may have unique functionalities. One can incorporate an unlimited number of pieces based on your industry and usage. Nevertheless, there are key characteristics that every inventory management system should have.
Inventory Management
All of the modules and features of the product management system are carefully designed to keep your critical yet important logistic operations centralised.
This is an excellent feature because it undoubtedly aids in the tracking of all inventory facts such as stock level, product history, and other product features. More crucially, the data is synchronised with the additional inventory system modules. This aids in the accurate operation of inventories, which boosts productivity by fostering a sense of working together and belonging among various individuals working from multiple locations on their systems.
But this is not all as the inventory management software means more than it shows. You can use it as many sub-categories and features to get real-time inventory information.
The system also creates an automated shortage report. These reports are then used to assess the situation, and they are handed over to the next person to have a clear look at them and see if there is anything which needs to be done to rectify any problem arising. Inventory management allows you to establish your eCommerce presence in multiple locations successfully.
With inventory management as the main selling point, you can do countless positive things in the product management system, like the measurement and categorisation of the assorted products and creating a history of all the inventory and the products present within. You can also get livestock reports, complete vendor management and even care for the total inventory management.
Inventory Tracking
The next feature which would be essential to selling is inventory tracking. Based on the companies it serves, an inventory app may have unique functionalities. One can incorporate an unlimited amount of pieces based on your industry and usage. Nevertheless, there are key characteristics that every inventory management program should have.
When you think about inventory tracking, you can do multiple things like Product monitoring, tagging, different audits and reports and Inventory Management Software.
Active Reporting
To run an efficient inventory business, you must have real-time data on product status, driver location, order status, shipment, and much more. In addition, to having an active product management system, you get to integrate multiple reporting tools and features, making the reporting process easy. This is an essential element for any serious inventory business.
Use the reporting feature to have smooth and flawless communication, increase your productivity, decrease human error in all kinds of calculations, utilisation of reporting tools for inventory management, smooth communication and a possible chance of increase in sales due to the proper organisation of the products and active reporting.
Mobile Monitored
Just imagine how effective the inventory management system is and useful as well if you can manage the entire thing remotely. In modern times, if the application has a mobile accessible website or a mobile application, only then it is the most effective product order management solution. Although most companies will aim to produce applications that can support all platforms, it is still a good practice to carefully check and choose the one that does have one.
There are simply a lot of benefits of having a mobile application, it helps to boost your productivity, and you get the work done quickly the 24/7 real-time access, so you do not have to worry and go to the warehouse every time. Of course, the easiest way is to open up the application and check, which is connected to the next benefit: the reduction in inter-department paperwork and the increase in efficiency because of updated data available all the time.
Real-Time Updates for Cloud-Based Software
When you begin to use a cloud-based product order management system, it is essential that you should be able to access the inventory app from any device. The option to access the cloud at any time to have a look at the inventory in detail is a real-time benefit and is very useful. You can access the system from any device, at any time, and from any location, which means it will increase staff coordination. Accurate synchronisation will result in a rapid and perfect judgement.
This also holds numerous benefits due to the cloud support like cost savings, the convenience of usage, presence of real-time data, increased efficiency, better coordination, cloud integration and the surety that it is safe and secure.
Integration of the Inventory App with Other Systems
Some businesses have previously been using different software, and there are chances that they have already deployed other software, such as an ERP system like Unleashed. When you are then faced with a situation like this, a product management system app can be readily connected to it and provide more detailed data on a continuous basis. Not just this, but you have an option if you would like to integrate and synchronise with the other applications or not.
Backups and Inventory Security
There is a need for a proper product management system regardless of the industry you are in, and if you use a product Management system, you should be using them correctly. This means from a security and safety point of view. Everything should be protected and properly backed up, from the protection of your assets to the data that accumulates. To prevent our data from hackers, the stock must be properly optimised.
Tagging and Barcoding
The barcoding module assists you in eliminating common human error, which is frequently caused by manual data buildup. When opposed to manual data entry, scanning barcodes deliver faster and more reliable solutions. Simultaneously, establishing a barcode infrastructure lowers staff training time because mastering it takes only a few minutes. The conventional method where you have to train an employee from the start and show them every step on how to record product details required significant effort and labour.
Barcoding enhances inventory control and precisely monitors things like pricing and product characteristics. Through the barcoding and tagging system, you can get the scanning of barcodes with ease, have a faster performance of the inventory buildup, locate products quickly, have a proper management system in place, get precise details about the products, and record things faster than any workforce and be at mental ease about the entire setup by saving a lot of time as well.
Forecasting Inventory
One of the things that every business dreads doing is running out of the favourite products of their customers, right? As the name implies, inventory forecasting allows you to predict which products will be out of stock soon and which will be plenty. This is a terrific technique to have up your pocket to provide your customers with an excellent user experience. The most significant advantage of predicting is that it provides you with the power and insight to invest your resources effectively. To be better prepared, you should be more aware of sales aspects such as size, colour, material, fragrance, and other features. This allows you to make better decisions about buying amounts and when to buy what.
Suppose the system you have offers these benefits. In that case, you can get all the future insights and predictions, manage your sales and marketing efforts accordingly, decrease the risks of stock outs, lower the holding costs, have increased turnover rates, have a better, more accurate forecasting system, and maximise the efficiency of the assets.
Inventory Notifications
Gone are the days of wasting significant business time and money manually monitoring critical stock data. What if it was alerted directly via a low supply inventory alert? With the correct inventory alert feature, you will be able to discover potential concerns in the future directly by email or SMS alert. What goes out, what comes in, shipment status, problems alerts, and so on are all vital components of running a business that may be readily controlled with dependable inventory notifications.
Get the benefits like reduced stock waste, optimised inventory level, Improved cross-department visibility of stock data, get help to manage the investment style, drive more sales, maintaining operational control, and get instant Inventory Alerts.
Integration of IoT
The IoT-driven inventory system is becoming more popular, and as an IoT, together with RFID, it is assisting manufacturers in circumventing manual difficulties. Everything from real-time inventory visibility to automatically recording inventory details could enable you to manage inventory efficiently.
IoT integration with inventory systems boils down to turning RFID reader data into valuable and meaningful insights. Incorporating the IoT technologies into the inventory control will provide insights and keep you focused while informing you of the goods’ location, assets’ live state, movement, and much more.
It also offers a lot of benefits like Automated tracking and reporting, Keeping a constant tab on assets, location, movement, and quantity, having a more optimised and maintained inventory, and Leading time optimisation with an IOT Integrated product Management System.
Capabilities for Transfer Management
The further you expand your inventory-related firm, the maybe you’ll have to handle recurrent and complex inventory transfer requests. Managing these transfer targets is a difficult task. But it is significant. Successful transfer requests are essential to ensuring facilities are correctly filled and corporate activities run smoothly during these changes.
Some of the benefits of having the capabilities for transfer management are the reduction of miscommunication, quick and updated notifications and alerts for any and all discrepancies, saving of time and money and better real-time monitoring so you can be sure that the transfer gets done in a more secure manner.
Handling Stocks Return
This is one of the essential benefits that the product management system might have to offer and a feature that it should have. When we deal with one e-commerce platform, there are increased chances that the customers will not just purchase your product more, but it will also be delivered and returned more often.
In a situation like this, it can be extremely difficult to keep track of all the present stock being returned and then figure out what to do with them.
As a result, if you have an effective product management system in place, it will be able to create, confirm, or cancel returns, allocate them to the appropriate warehouse, and add pick-up dates. Maybe you can also add a return explanation so that it can determine whether the merchandise should be refunded or replaced.
Get a competitive advantage, save time and money, improve customer satisfaction, reduce the chances of any wrong entry, and get the Help you need to streamline a tedious process.
Such are among the most important and common aspects of the product management system. Still, you can incorporate as many functions and functionality as you want and customise and optimise them to meet the needs of your industry.
To conclude all the benefits, it is vital to understand that investment in any product management system will not provide you with the greatest returns. Instead, you may end up with a management system that you do not even like or understand. The solutions provided might not be best suited for your company and company needs, therefore, do not go for those options. It will only cause an affect your time and efforts,
You should seek product management system apps that provide a comprehensive list of benefits by incorporating these crucial aspects into their deliverables. Having an efficient product management system will save you many labour hours, which you can use to improve your strategy and marketing.
Furthermore, once you have completed your research, you must choose the best product management system application development business to assist you in obtaining the best solutions.
Moreover, when choosing a company, you should consider whether or not the organisation can complete the project on time.
After you have confirmed everything on your end, such as the cost of the product management system, duration, and requirements, you are ready to begin working on the projects.
Start Your Demo Now
Enter your details to book a demo of the Canary7 WMS, built for 3PLs, and fulfillment houses.
How to Select a Product Management System?
As discussed above, looking for a product management system can be difficult and an essential task for your business because you need it to make your life and business decisions easier and not difficult. Still, when you are faced with the issue of so many options, there are ways which can help you narrow down to the best one as per your need.
Below, we have set up a shortlist to help you decide on which system you should opt for.
Check for Usability
The first thing that comes to mind when thinking about an application is its usability. How easy or difficult is the application to use in real life. Since a person has to run an entire business, how much time would it take for him to learn and start using it?
Moreover, do they have good customer service, so if you do not understand anything, you can simply ask them across different platforms? Also, any courses or training which helps to learn the system and the applications better, any resources?
So, if most of the answers to this question are positive, then the particular system can be the first option to use and start managing your business; if not, you might have to take more time and look for a product management system which helps you tick mark all these things we discussed above for a seamless process.
User Interface
When using an application, it is essential to make sure that you can use it easily. The application’s interface should be simple yet readable and easy to use. Moreover, it should be clean, intuitive, and modern-looking across multiple operating systems, including mobile and PC variants.
Integrations
Integrations were not a very essential and famous feature in the previous applications and systems usage; however, their demand has increased exponentially. When choosing one, you need to check if it integrates with other applications and presents all your data collectively in one place. Also, how many and which ones does it integrate with? Are they the ones you are using? These questions might sound vague now, but the more integrated system you choose to go with, the easier it will be for you to work and get started.
Value for your money
Buying the premium version or a bundle which helps you get more services is not a bad deal, but the bad part is that the system should be worth what you are paying for it. Look at the features and the other options it has and probably compare it to some other one to see which one suits you more.
Functionality
The last yet most essential feature is the functionality one. You can look for the answers to these questions:
Task Management
Does the solution support the management and organization of product-specific tasks? For example, is the assignment navigation solution appropriate for product development and testing?
Product Spec Templates
Is there a product spec template in the product management system for convenient storage of technical information, documents, and consultations?
Customer Input
Can the product management system collect customer feedback via email, support chat, browser-based help tools, and CRM integrations? Is the tool mentioned above capable of compiling feedback into highly legible and useful results?
Idea Capturing
Not every item is a “must-have” right soon, so any good product management solution should make room for operational bucket lists and ideation outcomes.
Benefits of a Product Management System
Deciding to choose a new management system or even a minor change in the business is sometimes incredibly stressful because we are changing the fate of our entire business because of the one decision we make. Similarly, the question of ‘why’ before adopting a product order management system arises quite often. The business owners interested in this want to know how and in which way it will affect them and their business.
You need to understand that in today’s modern times, everything has changed, including customer expectations and product demands. While the potential or current customer goes through the entire buying process, companies must create a seamless customer experience and be cost-effective for the business. So while you might be thinking of numerous solutions as a business, a product order management system can significantly help you.
They can deliver essential advantages that connect the company with changing consumer expectations and market demands.
Order Management Made Simple
When a consumer places an order, the basic product order management process begins and finishes when the product or service order is delivered to its address. One thing that needs to be understood by everyone is that the instance a sale is made, the process should be made seamless and as easy as possible for the customer. But it does not only help the customer; it is also helpful for the seller. Therefore, your order management solution must ensure that the entire process flows smoothly across all touch points. It must also place flawlessly, with no delays or other issues.
If a buyer has any hitches, glitches, or other disruptions to the whole buying experience, that individual is more likely to grow dissatisfied with your firm.
Full Visibility
We have talked a lot about the benefits that it offers to the customers by creating an easy and seamless journey for them, but one thing that we have not talked about is how much it benefits the seller from the start to the end.
A product management system is extremely useful because it helps you manage a lot of different tasks for you, including inventory tasks. So, while you might have to add every product or service in your inventory manually and take care of it the same way, the management system does that for you without any trouble. As a result, you tend to have more accuracy in your inventory, and everything is processed simultaneously without any problem.
Product Delivery Across Multiple Channels
You will find multiple product management systems which will help to cater to clients on different platforms such as Shopify, eBay, WooCommerce etc. Customers have additional alternatives to purchasing things from a worldwide ock which can be supplied anyplace thanks to this never-ending technology.
Moreover, a customer will be extremely satisfied when they get numerous options of delivery, and frankly, this is what they always expect from the business. It includes buying online/pick up in-store (BOPIS) to same-day shipping because this increases their levels of engagement. Not just this, but they also want the orders to be delivered to them at the most convenient time and location for them.
Now all the touch points throughout the entire route present an opportunity so they can create an excellent client experience while increasing retention, getting new customers and growing revenue.
Customer Service Center
Today’s customers are quite different from the old customers. Now the new customers want to know all about the purchase they made. They want to be familiar with the point they are in the buying journey, get email updates, be able to track their package and get SMS or alerts. A delay in any of this only proves to be harmful to the business’s reputation and sales.
Product order management can do all of this for you and your customer without hassle. It stores the customer information and lets you filter out the data from one location. Now you can imagine how beneficial it would be for the customer service representative.
All the client and order information is consolidated in one area for customer care. This eventually helps the customer support representatives be more knowledgeable about the user’s journey and offer a more comprehensive picture across distribution channels and fulfilment centres to resolve any shipment, delivery, or cancellation issues.
Sourcing and Global Inventory
Remember that the size of the company cannot decide on the opportunities you get and the potential for expansion to increase it further. Therefore, the use of a product management system is very useful because it helps the company get free from the hassle of thinking about the product.
As a business owner, you can easily view real-time information on where the products are and how many have been purchased and acquired by the customers. Even if you have multiple inventory locations, such as a store and a warehouse, the global inventory and sourcing will allow you to quickly identify the quickest and most cost-effective way to get the products to the customers.
Not just this, but if you manage numerous platforms, you can have a more advanced inventory control by specifying the SKUs and quantities of those items and mentioning which are sold on which channel. This also helps to choose channels based on demand and profits. This, in return, can prove to be very useful for success resulting in high sales.
Benefits for Both Small and Large Companies
The one clear thing is that it equally benefits both small and large scale companies. Even though you might have multiple stores present on various channels, these systems give you the option to connect all of them in one place. With order management, you can bring together those multiple channels for different nations in one spot.
Adopting an order management system for multinational corporations is obvious; smaller firms can also profit. They can add customization and extensions as the business expands. They can also begin to cater to the needs of their customers like multinational corporations. Using an order management system lets them keep your inventory and tracking in check while also offering a smooth service for your consumers.
Now all you need to do as a company is find an order management system. Once you find it, the order management solution, combined with a solid and reliable digital commerce platform, will help give the extra functionality and features required to satisfy the expanding demands and expectations of customers.
Keeping in mind the severe competition you might be going through, your company must rely on simply standard order management systems. Therefore, it is critical to invest in a modern system that allows for flawless order processing, tracking, customer service, and multichannel capabilities.
Despite all the capabilities and advantages an order management platform may provide, many large retailers do not prioritize digitizing this procedure. However, they need to understand using a product order management platform essential for continuous growth and profitability. So you can benefit from it, whether you run a local business with one outlet or you even might be a giant, billion-dollar organization.
Conclusion
The product order management system is a valuable tool to keep track of your business and run it problem-free. It has numerous benefits and features that are just amazing, and you cannot possibly say no to them.