Understanding Sales Order Processing  

This white paper will explain how Sales Order Processing systems impact business and what you need to know before you start to implement a system.

 

Successful order management, right from the start!

Order processing is simply the act of buying and selling. When a customer decides to purchase a product, you must be able to receive confirmations of orders, confirm availability of stock, process payment details and calculate shipping charges and the delivery of goods. When the order has been dispatched, the money is in your bank account, and replacement goods are on order, the process has been completed.

Order processing can be extremely complicated as there are lots of checks and procedures that need to be completed before an order can be successfully processed. If you are operating a medium to large business then you can expect to be processing many orders a day which will take up a lot longer than you expect - in fact it is not untypical for every stage to add up to half an hour per sale.

Many companies still process their orders via email or telesales. Having a static website and running your business in such a way is not suitable anymore as retrieving entries is time consuming and error prone. Order processing can be automated and help your business process more orders day in and day out. As your company grows the pressure from daily orders will increase so you will need to find a way to manage this and ensure orders are processed and delivered on time.

Because processing orders, especially credit and debit cards, is a complicated procedure, you will require authentication from the Banks. Integrating such systems into your existing website can be extremely difficult unless you have advanced technicians working with you - it is also vital that this ‘interface' to the Banks is kept up to date, ie, when card schemes such as Visa or MasterCard change their rules.

Order processing includes price listings, product details and admin tools such as stock control, promotional codes, warehousing and delivery. These are things that should be controlled by you to help you grow your business. Mistakes in order processing can lead to difficulties and returns of goods.

If you look at large online traders such as Amazon.com, the customer experience is generally pleasant and simple. Users details are kept on record so returning customers are not asked to keep entering their card details time and time again. Multiple delivery address are stored so one can be chosen at a click of a button and placed orders are processed fast.

Order processing might also include tax codes and VAT and shipping. Tax and shipping rules for different countries apply and you should be able to calculate all of these and have them entered into a log of some kind.

You should be able to keep track of all orders placed and be able to provide a service for customers who are not satisfied or have experienced some problems. Keeping a detailed and up-to-date record of each order is essential to any online or mail order business. Operators can use this information to help deal with complaints, disputes or order enquiries.

If your order processing system is not up to scratch it could delay transactions or discourage the buyer from using your website again to obtain their products in the future. Your order processing systems needs to be efficient and easy to use. Your website should be painless to navigate and accessible to buyers. Websites such as play.com and amazon.co.uk are simple and straight forward. It is easy to purchase items with just a few clicks and this is what people like... the goals of order processing is to make the back office is efficient as the front end.

Your order processing system should also help you increase the amount of information your have about your customers. Trends in buying can help you distinguish what products are selling well and which customers are buying what. This can help you market certain products at certain groups of clients and keep them informed of new and updated products they might be interested in.

Cyrane has developed a direct, simple and easy to use system that can meet all your order processing needs. It is accurate, detailed and flexible to meet the demands set by businesses who wish to trade online or over the phone / mail order.

It has been designed to allow your business to grow and can keep track of all transactions, order histories and customer information. You will be able to store information on all your products details including pricing details, product weight and size and stock control. Operators can query stocks levels, products features, order histories and estimated delivery dates for customer orders.

Cyrane can integrate with your accounting systems, such as Sage and can be run via the web as an on demand service or it can be installed and set up on your own networks. The size of your company doesn't matter - Cyrane has been developed to handle virtually any size of business.  Contact the something4 team for more information.