top 5 capabilities your oms may lack ebook
03 Apr

New eBook: Is YOUR OMS Capable of These 5 Things?

By Jim Cahill In Omnichannel, Order Management System /   No Comments

Courtesy Pixabay | Tumisu

More than 75% of consumers will stop doing business with a brand after a bad experience. And more than HALF of all consumers say they’ll complain to family and friends after a bad experience.

What does it take to make a bad experience? More importantly, how can you avoid it? How can you give your customers the best possible interaction with your brand? Ensure you’re creating an outstanding experience for every customer, every time?

A key component to solving all these brand-busting problems is the right order management system (OMS).

Learn all this and more in our latest downloadable eBook Top Five Capabilities Your OMS May Lack. We teach you everything you need to know about what an advanced OMS should provide.

In this eBook, you’ll learn how the right OMS can help you quickly and seamlessly:

  • Achieve your business goals
  • Gain a competitive advantage
  • Develop a reputation for excellence, dependability and efficiency in your industry

Find out why Freestyle’s Multichannel Order Management (M.O.M.) is the leading PCI compliant inventory and order management software on the market. Streamline processes, cut costs, improve your customers’ experience and increase revenue with M.O.M.

Learn more by downloading Top Five Capabilities Your OMS May Lack today! Or Contact us at sales@freestylesolutions.com to learn more.

Have questions about how you can implement the best, leading OMS out there? Reach out to Freestyle today for a free demo and to learn more about how we help businesses bring in a collective $200 million a month in revenue and engage over 1 million shoppers every day!

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21 Jan

Top 3 Takeaways from the 2019 NRF Show

By Tony Kyberd In Omnichannel, Order Management System /   No Comments
outside view of Javits Center in NYC

Courtesy Pixabay | lookfinda

Were you at The Big Show (also known as NRF) last week? Freestyle Solutions was…and we learned a lot about what’s becoming increasingly important in the eTailer and eCommerce landscape.

Read on for our top three takeaways from NRF’s Big Show 2019.

  1. Customer experience – in a nutshell, is everything.
    In the digital age we live in, where social presence is a given, and the viral potential to make or break a brand with just one influencer’s tweet or post a mere a click away, the experience you provide your customers can be a game changer in growing your brand. Personalization is key. Enabling store associates to delight is a must. Touch screen and interactive devices and displays are quickly becoming the norm (not to mention all but demanded by consumers).
  2. Business optimization – is more important than ever.
    Consumers expect a lot from the brands they support these days, and to say they’re finicky about being inconvenienced is a grand understatement. Customers want fast, efficient and effective in everything from the research leading up to, all the way to the check-out experience when they purchase. Processes need to reflect this ease-of-purchase. Store automation, bots and in-store self-serve, from price checkers to check-out procedures, are key.  
  3. Data – use it to your advantage…and don’t make it harder than it needs to be.
    The days of managing trends via spreadsheets and careful manual analytic examinations are gone. Particularly in the era of multichannel platforms, with exposure to your brand available across a plethora of interfaces, you simply can’t afford to manage your business without the help of software geared toward inventory and order management. What to look for in your Order Management Software (OMS)?
  • AI
  • Intelligent pricing and promotions
  • Predictive data
  • Ability to capture shopper insights
  • Ways to connect offline-online

The Freestyle Connection
How can Freestyle Solutions help you grow your brand and business? Freestyle’s Multichannel Order Manager (M.O.M.) is industry-leading software that’s a game changer for retailers big and small. If you have any presence as an eTailer, you need software that’s scalable, cohesive and allows for continuous process improvement on the back end.

Freestyle Solutions’ M.O.M. has the ability to capture and analyze customer data, preferences and trends, which means you’ll know more about your ideal customer, keeping the old ones happy, and the new ones finding you. To sum it up, M.O.M. can improve customer experience, optimize your business and help you get the most out of your data.

Were you at NRF? Do you have questions about what we found there? We’d love to hear your thoughts! Reach out to us today at marketing@freestylesolutions.com, or leave us a comment below.

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13 Dec

How You Can Save Money with the Section 179 Deduction

By Jim Cahill In Inventory Management, Order Management System /   No Comments
tax day

Courtesy Pixabay | stevepb

Do you like to save money? (Don’t we all?!) Have you heard about the Section 179 tax deduction? It’s still available, and it might just mean you can save a ton this year!

Read on to learn more about how you can make the Section 179 deduction work for you.

There were many tax law changes during 2018, but there’s some good news for eCommerce companies – you can still take advantage of deductions for certain equipment and software purchases you made throughout the year.

Section 179 Deduction

We don’t claim to be tax experts, but we are more than happy to point you in the direction of useful information on the subject over at the Section 179 Deduction site.

There, you can learn everything you need to know about this awesome deduction opportunity, including:

  • Deduction limits
  • Spending caps
  • The ins and outs of bonus depreciation (and what the difference between it and Section 179 really is)
  • What the Section 179 Deduction means for you
  • How Section 179 works
  • Much more!

If you’ve been looking for that one, last reason to pull the trigger on a major purchase, this may just convince you. And if you need software that can help improve your inventory and order management capabilities, you can drop us a holiday card at marketing@freestyelsolutions.com or send us a request for more info.

 

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cyber shopping
21 Nov

The OMS of the Future (a Look Back and Moving Forward)

By Jim Cahill In Order Management System /   No Comments
Online shopping on mobile

Courtesy Pixabay | PhotoMIX-Company

In 2016, we looked at how Order Management Systems (OMS) in the future would change the world of retail for everyone. It’s been two years since we put those thoughts on the proverbial paper…

What’s changed?

What’s to be expected moving forward?

When we first looked back to see how much things have changed, we realized — it’s not so much what has changed, but how much OMS has grown (and continues to grow) in capability.

A solid OMS simply means you can streamline ALL your buyer/user experiences. And we’d argue that this, in a nutshell, is the single most important determiner in how successful your brand will be. No matter what industry, what brand or who your target demographic is, virtually all consumers demand a stellar experience from the brands they support.

As they say, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

Keep reading to learn more about how and why OMS continues to be the wave of the retail future, and how it can help you plan for success.

OMS – Why You Should Care

Your image is important. How much does that have to do with OMS? We’d argue everything. But how exactly is your image related to the need for an effective OMS?

Simply put: your online presence must match your brick and mortar vibe – must match your social postings – must match your downloadables available – must match your email marketing campaigns – must match your…you get the point.

What type of experience your customers have across any and all channels can directly result in their overall view of your brand.

  • Are you consistently out of stock on orders?
  • Are delivery times lagging?
  • Do customers browse your online inventory only to show up to your retail store and find you don’t actually have a product?
  • Do you get product back in stock but lose track of backorders?

All of these can negatively affect your brand image. An OMS can support the image of an eTailer by aligning back end processes with front end marketing and promises. The end result? A positive image of you, as a brand and retailer, as competent.

Phew…we know…it’s a lot. But it’s important, and in the world of finicky consumers who thrive off a deep sea of competitor comparison shopping in just a few clicks, the power is theirs and you cannot afford to miss a beat.

Why OMS?

An effective OMS will support and centralize order and inventory management from every sales channel you promote.

What Can an OMS Do for You?

A solid, effective OMS will allow for one, holistic, singular view of everything you need to account for to be successful:

  • Demand
  • Inventory
  • Supply
  • Delivery-time estimates
  • Returns
  • Buy online, pick up in store (BOPIS) activity
  • Shipping options: ship from store; ship to store for pickup; ship direct

Want to learn more about Freestyle Solutions industry-leading M.O.M software for order and inventory management? Sign up for our FREE demo today.

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15 Mar

How to Integrate Data for Optimal Order Management

By Jim Cahill In Order Management System /   No Comments

integrate data order management

Retailers are constantly looking for new ways to incorporate data to help expand analytics, and much more. A recent IBM Analytics podcast discusses four ways data analytics will transform the retail industry:

  • From “less is more” to “bring it on”
  • From data mandate to data inform
  • From data reporting to data story-telling
  • From “industry-itis” to embracing the blur

As retailers begin to embrace new ways to include data into their efforts, inevitable shifts will come along, such as expansive data information. They speak about how retailers are starting to take a more balance approach to data.

As one retail executive shared, “Retail is science and art, and the art comes from people.”

Retail analytics and order management are no stranger to each other. Incorporating the correct data is essential to properly manage all of your business processes. Errors are most common when businesses fail to implement a way to deliver the right information to the right person, at the right time. Optimize performance by leveraging the power of actionable and timely information.

Features to Keep in Mind for Optimal OMS Performance:

  • Customized views based on business area – sales, inventory, orders, etc.
  • Ability to drill down into a dashboard with the click of a button
  • Easily export data via Excel, PDF or .CSV formats so you can manipulate or store your information wherever you’d like
  • Up-to-date view of key business information
  • Visual dashboards for quick view versus old standardized reporting

Specific initiates, such as buy online, pick up in store are some movements retailers are beginning to make in order to stay ahead. Internet Retailer reported about the home décor retailer, Kirkland, recently and examined their efforts to implement the ever-growing popularity of buy online, pick up in store.

“More than 70% of the retailer’s online revenue of $7.7 million in the second quarter, or about $5.4 million, were fulfilled via the buy online, pick up in store option.”
Internet Retailer

Along with the effort to implement new ways to keep consumers happy, retailers should also use a variety of differentiators to understand the needs of their individual customers. This includes customizing store views with advanced analytics that are targeted and localized, as well as providing real time reports for online order management.

Advanced analytics and data will give retailers and retail executives an advantage in anticipating changes in customer traffic patterns, defining ideal delivery routes and inventory levels, and enhancing unit profits. With data-driven, real-time fulfillment options, retailers can expect maximized profit margins.

 

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18 Nov

Why Your Order Management System Needs to Do More

By Jim Cahill In Order Management System /   No Comments

inventory and order management

Customer loyalty greatly relies on how effective your order management system is. Responding quickly to your customers is a given, but what else can you deliver?

An effective and streamlined OMS plays a pivotal role in your sales and delivery operation and gives you the upper-hand in customer service.

“95% of leaders say providing a good customer experience is the top priority, but only 37% have the budget and means to implement ways to improve the experience.”
– Forrester Research Study

Discovering the ins and outs of how your solution can truly benefit you is the next step to success.

The back-end order fulfillment processes are often seen as an afterthought when building a functional website. You want to be sure to focus on the ‘inside’ too when managing your orders. After all, customer expectations are dramatically increasing, and will only need to get stronger as time goes on.

Processing orders can be overwhelming for all businesses, and even more so as growth comes. A comprehensive order management solution is more than convenient for a few reasons. When all features and functionality are utilized, it can improve your business processes and help increase your online sales.

Find out exactly what you need in an order management system to ward off
the competition in the OMS eBook below.

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