B2B Info Center

Customer order management and fulfillment is an ongoing process for any company. If you are a wholesaler, manufacturer, or distributor, you may have larger orders to ship out compared to a B2C retailer. Using order management software that allows you to keep track of orders and automatically transmit them to a 3PL (third-party logistics provider) can be the key to getting orders out the door faster and with minimal effort.  Using a high-quality service provider that can help you fulfill your orders will help ensure that you reduce mistakes in the fulfillment process, reduce shipping costs, and gain access to higher levels of technology that you would otherwise be unable to invest in.

How well does your order fulfillment process work? Is everything as smooth as it could be? Do shipments get to your customers on time without errors? Can your fulfillment center get orders from you quickly and out the door with little effort? Could there have been better communication between your company and your third-party fulfillment center (3PL)?

Implementing integrated order entry software is one of the most effective ways to streamline your order processing routine. Your sales reps, customer service staff, and wholesale customers can place orders online, and those orders will be automatically created in QuickBooks without any additional data entry. Order entry software can also help streamline your entire fulfillment process. 

You may have some systems and processes you've outgrown but haven't had the time or resources to address. If you're like a lot of fast-growing wholesale businesses, your order fulfillment process could be very high on that list.

When you first opened your doors, you may have been able to take orders, grab the inventory, and box up the product yourself. Today, you have more incoming orders than you and your team can handle. If you're still using the same process that you did back when you were a one-person operation, you may have a serious problem.

I want to start with some basics about fulfillment strategy and then dig into the details. Many B2B companies struggle with this, but getting it right can be the difference between blowing customers out of the water and failing to impress.

It’s one thing to attract new business to your website, but it’s another to retain that new business. All customers want a streamlined, easy ordering process, but customers in the B2B segment are often relatively neglected compared to those in B2C.

It’s never a bad thing to get new orders. After all, orders keep your business running. The speed bumps arrive when you need to fulfill the order. You’re not alone if you have yet to find the perfect system for fulfilling customer orders as efficiently as possible. Most businesses don’t have a system as streamlined or effective as they’d like.

Why is that?

It starts with the order-taking process. A salesperson may have handwritten a form, called it in, or emailed it, or customer service has taken a handwritten order of its own. 

One of the biggest problems for B2B companies is dealing with data entry errors. You're perhaps one B2B business that still uses antiquated wholesale order management software requiring manual data entry to get order information coordinated. This can lead to vast confusion for your fulfillment center, especially when they have to call you to see why you have discrepancies on record.

Having an order management system that accelerates shipping of your products is imperative if you want to keep a loyal business customer base. In today's fast-paced world, B2B customers expect to get products as fast as possible to keep up with their own customer demands. They also want to be able to order easily, when they want, and be able to access their accounts to see when something ships or when an items in stock.

This can't work well without having proper communication with your fulfillment center. The warehouse you work with can easily have crossed wires without having recurring communication to catch mistakes.

It's no wonder many people choose to be on the wholesale side when considering the thrill of selling tens, hundreds, or even thousands of items with one transaction. On the other hand, wholesale order management can be complex if you don't have the right tools and procedures in place.

Here are some things you can do to ensure that nothing interferes with the excitement of landing those big orders: