Mastering Global Order Fulfillment: Essential Configurations for Your OMS

In today’s digital economy, eCommerce is not just a local affair—it's a global enterprise. As more businesses look to tap into international markets, the complexity of managing orders, inventory, and fulfillment across multiple regions becomes increasingly challenging. An efficient Order Management System (OMS) is essential to enabling global eCommerce fulfillment, ensuring that businesses can meet customer expectations worldwide.

Why Global eCommerce Fulfillment is Essential

Global eCommerce fulfillment is the backbone of cross-border trade. It involves managing the end-to-end process from the moment an order is placed until it is delivered to the customer, no matter where they are in the world. For businesses, this means dealing with different currencies, languages, shipping regulations, and taxes, among other factors. The ability to do this effectively can significantly broaden your market reach and enhance your brand reputation.

As the global eCommerce market continues to grow, with sales expected to hit $6.3 trillion by 2024, businesses that can navigate the complexities of international fulfillment will be best positioned to capitalize on this growth.

Key Considerations and Corresponding Configurations for Global Fulfillment in an OMS

To enable global fulfillment within your OMS, there are several essential configurations and strategies that need to be in place:

1.    Multi-Currency and Multi-Location Support:

It’s crucial to manage the source of inventory, payment currencies, and fulfillment locations for international orders. This involves ensuring that your OMS can handle transactions in multiple currencies and that inventory is strategically located to minimize shipping times and costs.

2.     Evaluating Current Infrastructure Limitations:

Assess whether your current OMS infrastructure can handle the increased volume and complexity of international orders. This includes understanding the limitations of your platform, such as the number of orders it can process and any restrictions imposed by your current subscription.

3.    Cross-Border Shipping Configurations:

Managing international shipping involves understanding and complying with various regulations, taxes, and duties. An effective OMS should integrate with multiple shipping carriers and support cross-border shipping by calculating duties and taxes at checkout, offering tracking, and managing customs documentation.

4.    Ensuring Compliance with Global Regulations:

Compliance with international regulations, such as commercial invoice requirements and tax obligations, is critical. Your OMS should be configured to automatically calculate and collect the appropriate taxes and fees, and to generate compliant documentation for international shipments.

5.     Integrating with Fulfillment Partners:

Integrating your OMS with global fulfillment partners is key to ensuring smooth international deliveries. This includes connecting with platforms like Global-e, and FedEx Cross Border that specialize in cross-border eCommerce and offer services like localized checkout and global shipping solutions.

6.   Enhancing the Customer Experience:

The customer experience should remain seamless regardless of where the order is being shipped. This includes providing accurate tracking information, offering localized payment methods, and ensuring fast and reliable delivery.

Getting Hands-on to Implement a Global Strategy 

Configuring the order management system is crucial to enabling international orders. The following checklist outlines essential configurations for systems like MAO:

Configuration area	Related To	Covered
Order Configuration	Shipping charges Return fees Modification rules	✓
Order Type Creation	Order Source Return Processes	✓
ATC Views	Inventory visibility Inventory tracking Inventory locations	✓
Ship Via	Shipping method Carrier services	✓
Allocation	A.     Allocation rules B.     Inventory utilization	✓
Payment types and rules	Payment methods Refund and cancellation process	✓

Managing Orders Across Multiple Regions

Implementing global order fulfillment involves complex configurations and managing orders across multiple regions. Some of the key challenges include:

Complex Configuration Needs:

Ensure your OMS is configured to handle the specific requirements of each region, including custom order modifications, order types, and shipping methods. The above checklist can be utilized as a foundational guide.

API Modifications:

Modify API calls to ensure compatibility across all integrated systems, especially for processes like order status notifications and sales posting. Many of these changes might be required at integration layer.

Geographical Data Loading:

Load large volumes of geographical data, such as latitude and longitude, to ensure accurate routing in your OMS.

Refunds and Cancellations:

Align refund behaviors and cancellation policies across regions to ensure consistency.

Order Publishing & Sales Posting:

Update templates and processes for publishing orders and posting sales to accommodate international transactions.

ETL and Analytics:

Modify existing ETL processes and analytics reports to include data from international orders, providing a comprehensive view of your global operations.

Data Security and Privacy: 

Handling customer data across different jurisdictions involves strict compliance with global data protection regulations like GDPR. Your OMS should have robust security measures to protect customer information and ensure compliance.

Best Practices for Implementing a Global OMS

Incremental Implementation: 

Implement changes gradually, using an incremental change strategy with regular demos to ensure new workflows do not disrupt existing processes.

Testing Framework: 

Establish a robust testing framework to identify and resolve any issues before they affect your operations.

Invest in Automation: 

Automation helps reduce manual errors, speeds up order processing, and ensures consistency across all regions. Automate as many processes as possible, from inventory updates to tax calculations.

Prioritize Customer Experience: 

Ensure that your OMS is designed to enhance the customer experience, from seamless checkout processes to real-time order tracking and reliable delivery.

Conclusion

Mastering global eCommerce fulfillment is a complex but essential task for any business looking to expand its reach. At Undocked, we have been assisting our customers in configuring their OMS to handle the nuances of international orders and implementing best practices. Chat with our OMS experts to ensure your business is ready to meet the demands of the global market.