Achieving enterprise-level sales volume in your retail business is a remarkable achievement. It shows you’ve increased product sales and developed a reputation as a reliable business in your industry. With this come newfound logistical challenges.
As your business scales, you’ll need a robust order management system (OMS) to efficiently handle incoming products from suppliers and outgoing shipments to customers. For B2B sellers, a smooth order management process is crucial to meeting expectations and delivering a positive customer experience.
Business-to-business (B2B) sellers turn to an OMS to handle inventory management and order fulfillment processes. If you need one, it’s wise to understand how they work and which features to prioritize. Let’s take a look at how to choose the best B2B order management platform for your business.
What is B2B order management software?
B2B order management software helps sellers process and track orders placed by other businesses. When a B2B order is placed, the software tracks every step of the order process, from capturing purchase details to checking stock levels and coordinating warehouse shipments. This technology reduces human error and keeps buyers happy by connecting all parts of the ordering process in one seamless system.
Types of B2B order management software
B2B order management software takes three forms:
- Traditional order management software
- Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software
- Unified commerce platforms
Here’s how they differ:
1. Traditional order management software
Traditional order management software focuses solely on processing orders and inventory across multiple channels, and comes with an affordable price but limited integration capabilities. It lets you accept orders from multiple places, like your website, physical stores, and online marketplaces like Alibaba where B2B buyers and sellers connect.
Once orders come in, this software manages the fulfillment process by tracking inventory, creating packing slips, coordinating with shipping companies, and updating delivery status.
Benefits:
- Affordable for businesses of all sizes with various pricing options
- Straightforward to set up and implement
- Handles multiple sales channels efficiently
Drawbacks
- Limited integration with other business systems
- May require manual data entry in multiple systems
- May not scale well as business complexity increases
2. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software provides comprehensive integration of all business functions and data in one system, but requires an investment in cost, time, and resources. It aggregates data from product design, inventory, customer relationship management (CRM), sales, and marketing.
With ERP software, your sales team can look up how much inventory remains in your warehouses, and your customer service team can find past purchase orders and delivery confirmations.
Many businesses manage their electronic data interchange (EDI) connections through their ERP system. EDI is a standardized digital format primarily used for exchanging business documents like purchase orders, invoices, and shipping notices with suppliers and trading partners.
ERP software can be expensive, and large companies often opt for a complete ERP ecommerce integration.
Benefits:
- Provides a complete, integrated view of all business operations
- Eliminates data silos between departments
- Offers real-time visibility across all business processes
- Automates data flow between different business functions
Drawbacks:
- Expensive to purchase and implement
- Complex setup requiring months of configuration and training
- Often requires business process changes to accommodate the software
- Typically practical only for larger companies
- Requires significant IT resources to maintain
3. Unified commerce platforms
Unified commerce platforms like Shopify offer a complete solution that seamlessly integrates B2B and retail operations in one system, simplifying data management and providing specialized features for each business model.
Shopify captures purchase details, manages inventory updates, processes payments, coordinates shipping, and handles returns. Businesses using B2B on Shopify see up to a 1.2x increase in reorder frequency compared to those using alternative methods of B2B selling on our platform.
Shopify uses a common data model that can be configured to handle both B2B and retail transactions. If you want to integrate inventory, customer data, and orders, Shopify can sync the data automatically across wholesale and retail operations. Alternatively, businesses requiring separate inventory management for B2B and DTC can set up dedicated stores with customized configurations, a popular choice for retailers selling more than two million dollars in B2B volume.
Having all your sales data in one place makes reporting easier. You can create reports that show just B2B sales, just retail sales, or everything together. You can also track products from warehouse to delivery more easily, see exactly what's in stock, and manage shipping from one dashboard.
For example, The Conran Shop switched from Magento (Adobe Commerce) to Shopify and brought their retail and wholesale businesses together. This cut their costs by 50%, increased sales conversions by 54%, and made their whole order process simpler while still keeping the special features they needed for wholesale.
Benefits:
- Combines B2B and retail operations in a single platform
- Flexible configuration for either integrated or separate inventory management
- Centralized data makes reporting and analysis more straightforward
- More affordable than full ERP systems while offering many similar features
- Easier implementation and shorter learning curve
- Provides end-to-end order visibility from placement to delivery
Drawbacks:
- Might require add-ons or integrations for complex B2B requirements
Key features of B2B order management software
Order management software can optimize your workflows to meet the needs of B2B buyers. Here are five features frequently included with order management software platforms:
1. Order confirmation
Order management software can send automatic confirmations to customers and the seller’s sales team after a purchase. These confirmations may include order numbers, estimated shipping costs, and any sales tax due.
2. Shipping confirmation
Order management software can send a shipment notification to a customer. It can also inform you, the seller, when your products leave your warehouse (or a dropshipper’s warehouse).
3. Order tracking
Order management platforms can fetch shipping data from delivery services like USPS, FedEx, and UPS and display shipping updates from third-party websites. This lets customers track orders from your website rather than an outside site. They can easily check their order status and receive timely notifications.
4. Price management
Order management software makes sure your B2B customers see their negotiated prices everywhere on your site. When wholesale clients log in, they'll see their specific contract prices on all pages, from search results to product pages to checkout. This keeps pricing consistent even when you update your base prices.
The software handles different price levels for different customers, so each business client sees exactly what they should pay. It’s a good way to make purchasing easier for your B2B customers, and prevent pricing mistakes that can harm relationships.
5. Supply chain management
Some order management software can help you track items shipped from suppliers. It provides inventory data, and can even automate procurement so products are automatically reordered when supplies dip below a specific threshold. This includes proper allocation, to guarantee you always have the right stock in the right location to prevent back-order issues.
Five factors to consider when choosing B2B order management software
As you research order management software for your B2B sales platforms, you’ll find many options with various prices and features. Streamline your search by focusing on these five key factors:
1. Integration with other software
The best order management software easily integrates with your current software tools, including accounting software for financial management and customer relationship management (CRM) software used for managing customer data.
If you choose enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, you opt for a system that integrates all your software applications and databases. ERP systems can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, though they can provide cost savings over the lifetime of your business.
2. Ease of use
Order management software is only helpful if your team members know how to use it. Your IT department might oversee its initial integration, but everyone in your organization must be able to use it. This means sales reps can look up order data for their customers and warehouse managers can monitor inventory levels. Choose software everyone on your team can learn quickly.
3. Scalability
Your OMS must be able to scale as your business grows. A truly scalable system includes:
- Modular architecture that allows you to add new features without disrupting existing operations
- Cloud-based infrastructure that can automatically allocate more resources during order surges
- Easy integration with new sales channels or third-party services
Flexibility is essential. This means your OMS should adapt to changing business models—whether you're expanding from online-only to physical stores, entering new markets, or accommodating seasonal demand fluctuations.
The right OMS provides this adaptability without requiring a complete system replacement, saving you significant time and resources as your business evolves.
4. Range of capabilities
The features you need from your OMS depend on the nature of your business. If you work with dropshippers, you may only need an OMS to process customer orders. If you ship your own products, you need order management software that handles the logistics behind every purchase order, from shipping to inventory management.
Your business will require features like negotiated pricing, which shows a range of prices to users based on their customer profile and the time of purchase. You may need to offer wholesale pricing as well as retail, or different shipping options, such as USPS for standard delivery and FedEx for same day delivery.
Taking time to think about what your business really needs will help you pick an OMS that works well now and as you grow.
5. Price
Order management software prices vary based on the features, the number of users, and the number of orders it processes each month. Many platforms offer tiered pricing, which allows you to match your software subscription to the size of your business. This software is typically sold on a monthly subscription basis. Consider choosing the most robust software suite you can afford and upgrading over time.
Top five B2B order management software
Order management software can enable smoother business operations and help increase customer satisfaction. Here are five B2B order management software options worth considering:
1. Shopify
Shopify is a unified commerce solution that can optimize your B2B and business-to-consumer (B2C) order management. Among its many functions, Shopify can power your checkout (online and in person), order processing, email confirmations, fulfillment, and follow-up customer service.
With Shopify as your OMS, you can automate the entire order lifecycle with automated workflows, centralize inventory management across channels, and access order tracking capabilities. The platform supports complex order workflows, including order modifications, back orders, and partial fulfillments.
B2B on Shopify offers custom company profiles that handle multiple buyers and locations with different access levels, giving each B2B customer a personalized experience. You can set up wholesale accounts with tailored product catalogs, pricing, order quantities, volume discounts, payment terms, and self-service options. This helps businesses create complete buying experiences while making operations more efficient with easy bulk-ordering and account management tools.
Shopify integrates with a variety of third-party tools like ERPs, email marketing platforms, and customer relationship management systems, with these integrations available in the Shopify App Store.
You can use Shopify to import B2B orders from non-Shopify platforms, centralizing all your order data in a single, intuitive admin experience that allows teams to create and analyze reports easily. Shopify also provides B2B customers with a complete self-serve buying experience where they can place their own orders, manage their accounts, and review and track order history within your online store.
The Shopify Plus plan starts at $2,300 a month for standard setups and integrations on a three-year term, or $2,500 per month for a one-year term.
2. Cin7 Omni
Cin7 Omni is a multichannel order and inventory management system. Its features include inventory and warehouse management, retail operations and point-of-sale (POS) services, invoicing, payments, and shipping logistics. Its pricing tiers start at $999 per month and can accommodate any business from a simple B2C ecommerce operation up to a multinational distribution service.
3. Brightpearl
Brightpearl by Sage is a retail operating system. It includes the signature features of B2B order management software, including inventory and order management, shipping and fulfillment, warehouse management, and CRM tools. It integrates with many third-party sales platforms, including Shopify, and offers customer service to help you get maximum value from your subscription. Contact Brightpearl for a price quote.
4. Pipe17
Pipe17 is an integration platform for businesses managing both B2B and DTC sales channels, connecting Shopify with ERPs, marketplaces, and fulfillment centers. It automatically syncs inventory, routes orders, and manages data flow between all connected systems in real time through a user-friendly dashboard.
The software handles complex operations like order splitting, kit management, and multi-location fulfillment without requiring technical expertise. At $24,000 per year for the standard plan, it's positioned for midmarket and enterprise sellers processing up to 4,000 orders monthly across up to five connected platforms.
5. SparkLayer
SparkLayer is a B2B wholesale solution that turns existing Shopify stores into wholesale websites, offering customer-specific pricing, quotes, invoicing, and team collaboration. It provides tiered pricing starting at $49 per month for up to 50 orders, with free onboarding services and customer support rated 4.9 out of 5 by Shopify App store users.
The platform allows both customers and sales representatives to easily place orders, integrates seamlessly with existing Shopify themes, and supports multi-language and multi-currency for international businesses.
Benefits of a B2B order management system
Increase efficiency
A B2B OMS helps your business work smarter and faster by cutting out unnecessary steps and putting all your information in one place. It automates routine tasks, creates consistent processes, and grows with your business so your team can handle more orders without hiring more people.
Here are some key ways it makes your team more efficient:
- Shows your inventory levels across all sales channels in real time
- Speeds up order approvals so orders don't get stuck waiting for signatures
- Makes payment processing faster and easier to track
- Lets customers place orders and check status themselves without calling you
- Replaces paper forms with digital records that are easy to find
- Processes many orders at once instead of one at a time
With these efficiency improvements, your team can focus on serving high-value wholesale accounts, negotiating better supplier terms, and expanding your distribution network instead of getting bogged down in manual order processing.
Improve cash flow
When your order data lives in one system, you get real-time visibility into metrics like order values, payment status, and customer credit limits. It enables more accurate cash flow forecasting and helps identify high-margin customer segments. You can also track payment behaviors across your B2B customer base to refine credit policies and reduce days sales outstanding (DSO).
Automate complex supply chain processes
A B2B order management system automatically routes orders to the right fulfillment centers based on inventory levels, customer location, and delivery requirements.
Less manual coordination between procurement, warehouse, and finance results in higher operational efficiency. You'll have better visibility into inventory costs and can optimize working capital by maintaining appropriate stock levels.
Manage your B2B and wholesale orders with Shopify
Whether you're dealing with B2B buyers directly or collaborating with distributors, you need a solution that centralizes sales orders, tracks shipments, and improves operational efficiency.
Without this centralization, wholesale businesses struggle with order errors, inventory discrepancies, and inefficient manual processes that limit growth. Grow and run your wholesale business on Shopify with tools optimized for flexibility and customization, for all your buyers.
Explore how to run and grow your B2B business on Shopify.
B2B order management software FAQ
What is the difference between OMS and CRM?
CRM stands for customer relationship management. CRM software focuses on relationships with existing and potential customers, tracking everything from demographic data to order history. Order management software specifically addresses the logistics surrounding purchase orders.
Can B2B order management software integrate with existing ERP and CRM systems?
Yes, the best B2B order management software can integrate with many other software platforms, including ERP and CRM systems.
How secure is B2B order management software in terms of data protection and privacy?
Most B2B order management software platforms have multiple levels of data protection, including encrypted servers and two-factor authentication upon login. Train your teams in best practices for customer privacy and data management.
Is B2B order management software scalable to accommodate business growth?
Yes, nearly all B2B order management platforms are scalable and allow you to upgrade to higher tiers as your company reaches enterprise-level order volumes.
