Order entry is time-consuming. Work smarter with the right order entry software. Discover how with NuORDER by Lightspeed.
In this post, we dive into what order entry software is and the benefits it can provide in more detail. Read on to find out more.
Manually processing individual B2B eCommerce customer orders is stressful, time-consuming, and results in costly errors. Standard manual processing also provides little insight into the sales order cycle, leaving room for inefficiencies.
Using the right order entry software offers centralized data on sales orders from each of your B2B sales channels. This allows for greater transparency and control of your sales order cycle and greater order-to-cash insights. With a streamlined O2C process (order-to-cash process) and automated processing, you can save time and improve order accuracy.
Order Entry Software: An Introduction
Order entry software lets you effectively manage customer and business data and automate order processing — automatically capturing and tracking data on your:
- Customers
- Sales
- Suppliers
- Inventory
- Orders
You can use these data to fulfill your orders quickly and easily.
Order entry software makes it possible to start processing customer orders right away. In comparison, traditional manual order entry is a very time-consuming process. It leaves businesses with a long list of orders to manage manually. It involves painstakingly uploading information every day.
One of the biggest benefits of order entry software is the time it saves since data are uploaded and processed automatically. The time-saving benefits are further emphasized in the case of a high number of batch orders — something order entry software can handle with ease.
Unlike manual order processing, using order entry software helps you avoid the inevitable daily mistakes that go hand-in-hand with manual uploads. It improves the efficiency of your order entry process and saves time that could be spent on making corrections.
As an order entry software user, you benefit from having centralized data on your customers and their orders. Order entry software provides real-time data on your orders from every sales channel, including via:
- eCommerce platforms, such as Amazon
- Mobile
- Web
This allows you to gain a better overview of your sales processes and to gain insights into how you can improve the O2C process.
Having a centralized view of your orders from every sales channel allows your sales reps to easily view and take control of orders online, and lets them process them more efficiently to sell more.
Order entry software also makes it possible to create a custom, simplified wholesale customer experience. Approved customers can view price and product lists and easily place orders online, enabling seamless customer experiences and improving conversion rates.
Is All Order Entry Software the Same?
While every business will be using a simple version of order entry software, such as their eCommerce platform or a spreadsheet, the best tools are those that offer more advanced capabilities.
These impressive capabilities often include:
- Omnichannel order management
- Excellent tracking capabilities
- Mobile and desktop functionality
- Enhanced customer communications, automation, and ease of integration with the other applications and systems you currently use — such as your financing software or your Enterprise Resource Planning software.
NuORDER by Lightspeed was built with both retailers and brands in mind, making order entry easier and better for everyone involved:
Order Entry Software: Greater Transparency for You and Your Customers
Beyond saving you time on order processing and fulfillment, the best order entry systems also offer greater transparency. One of the biggest benefits of transparent data are their ability to improve supply chain management.
As order entry software helps you gain greater transparency on the different stages of order fulfillment, it’s far easier to track and source the information you need from a customer’s order. This makes managing order fulfillment and dealing with any returns fast and simple.
Ensuring you have greater transparency in this area can also help you more effectively analyze your sales, highlighting where you can improve, such as chances for discounts or upsells.
You can also offer greater transparency to your customers by turning on automatic updates that let customers know the stage of the fulfillment process. This goes a long way in helping improve both your customer satisfaction rates and customer retention rates.
Order Entry Software: The Unique Challenges of B2B eCommerce Order Management
As a B2B eCommerce business, you’ll often have to manage orders across a range of channels. As B2B customers typically require a larger amount of high-quality products than B2C customers, your B2B customers will often come with far higher expectations. You have to be ready to meet B2B customer needs with fast, seamless orders and excellent customer service.
B2B customers also expect a range of payment options and delivery options, discounts for bulk product orders, and the options of pre-orders and backorders.
Order Entry Software: The Benefits of B2B eCommerce Order Management
While B2B ecommerce offers its own unique challenges, order entry software can help you meet those needs.
Say Hello to Unified eCommerce and Order Management with a B2B Ordering System
One of the biggest benefits of using a B2B eCommerce platform is that it centralizes your data and offers seamless omnichannel capabilities.
This helps you centralize and streamline your order management processes across several channels, while avoiding the costly mistakes and delays associated with haphazardly managing orders across multiple, disconnected channels at once.
Beyond improving omnichannel management for order processing and sales, you can also ensure your software and processes are both automated and integrated. For example, with an order management system, you can make sure retail data are shared easily between each system – including data on inventory levels, customers, invoices, products, and orders.
Ensuring your customer data and entry management processes are all accessible from one place is also key to ensuring your staff won’t become overwhelmed with too many processes or siloed data.
Improve the B2B eCommerce Customer Experience with a B2B Ordering System
One of the biggest challenges you might face as a B2B eCommerce platform owner is meeting the expectations and needs of your customer base. Order entry or order management software can help you meet these needs and offer a far better customer experience, thanks to:
- Personalized, Automatic Updates
Beyond simply gaining faster delivery times thanks to automation, due to improved tracking capabilities on your customers’ orders, you can also offer B2B customers automatic, personalized updates on the statuses of their orders.
- Easier Ordering with the Cloud
You can also help meet your B2B customers’ needs by using an order management system powered by the cloud. This allows you to arrange orders during in-person meetings.
Do You Need Order Entry Software?
Despite the benefits outlined above, you might still be wondering whether you really need order entry software for your business. Let these four pieces of criteria guide your decision:
- Are your customers frustrated by the lack of transparency into their orders?
Are customers frequently frustrated by the lack of information offered on their orders? Are they often asking your team for updates on when an item will be delivered? Order entry software can automate updates, improving customer satisfaction rates.
- Is your team overwhelmed by unorganized information or multiple channels?
Give them access to centralized data and omnichannel management. It can go a long way in reducing employee stress and improving efficiency.
- Have mistakes become a regular occurrence?
Sending out the wrong order and frequent order delays can lead customers to lose trust in your business. Order entry software does away with the mistakes associated with manual processing by automating the process for you.
- Are you struggling to manage your inventory?
Order entry software ensures you always have enough items in stock to fulfill your orders and that you can manage your orders effectively (thanks to greater transparency).
Capitalize on the Benefits of Order Entry Software
Processing B2B eCommerce customer orders can be stressful and time-consuming. However, thanks to order entry software, your team no longer needs to feel overwhelmed managing product orders across multiple channels.
Order entry software centralizes your data and automates and simplifies order management, reducing errors, streamlining order fulfillment, and improving your customer experience.
Find out how NuORDER by Lightspeed can transform your wholesale business with EZ orders, custom linesheets, reporting, and countless integrations — request a demo today.
