Data from a new survey reveals opportunities for improvement in order management systems (OMS) for retail and grocery. 

To get the upper hand in a competitive and dynamic shopping landscape, supporting critical functions like order routing and inventory management with advanced technology is essential. But it’s not clear that the current tools offer the most cutting edge, advanced order management capabilities, at a reasonable cost, with as much speed and flexibility as possible.

To better understand the state of order management tooling in grocery and retail, Nextuple Inc. partnered with Retail Dive’s studioID to survey 302 executives about their order management needs. This report explores retail and grocery satisfaction with current OMS vendors and plans for investments, as well as overlooked opportunities for specialty providers and niche implementers.  

The survey results confirm that an organization’s approach to OMS is either a strategic advantage or a limiting factor. Key findings include: 

• Respondents’ needs may not be met by current OMS vendors. Ten out of ten executives surveyed say it is “very likely” or “somewhat likely” they will use their current supplier when they next upgrade their OMS, but only 23% indicated they think their current vendor has modern technology to offer. 
• Platforms and partners. Larger players like IBM, SAP, and Oracle hold 44% of the market, while other OMS providers make up the difference. Respondents tend to rely on solution or platform expert services to deploy their OMS technology (69%).  This seems to indicate respondents may feel limited in their choices even though specialist implementation firms do exist offering lower costs and additional flexibility and speed.
• Features and functions. When it comes to investing in OMS upgrades in the next six months, about four in 10 retail executives (43%) say they’re making the most investment in order orchestration, three in 10 will invest in order promising (30%), and one in four (27%) will invest in order fulfillment.
• Challenges and priorities. Almost half of retail executives (46%) report that the most urgent challenge is seeking a new, improved customer experience or process. When it comes to upgrading an organization’s OMS, retailers and grocers are most motivated by speed of implementation (69%).  

Moving forward, retailers and grocers have an opportunity to secure a real competitive advantage by choosing an OMS or technology partner that can help them leverage the most cutting-edge technology available quickly and at a lower cost.  

“Inventory accuracy and availability and sourcing optimization features are the two main things an OMS can deliver real business value with,” says Chap Achen, Vice President of Product Strategy and Operations at Nextuple. “If a retailer or grocer wants to upgrade these features, it speaks to the fact they are not satisfied with key business drivers they purchased the OMS for in the first place — and that’s where specialty providers and niche implementers can shine.”

Visit Nextuple at NRF 2024, booth 1360 on the 1st floor, or schedule a demo today. 

 

Survey Methodology

This research is based on an online survey conducted by Retail Dive’s studioID on behalf of Nextuple in the fall of 2023. A total of 302 executives within retail-type organizations participated in the research. Most (70%) of the respondents had roles in IT and some in retail operations (11%) and ecommerce (10%), as well as supply chain operations (4%), product management (3%) and omnichannel programs (2%); survey respondents included C-Suite Executive (8%), EVP/SVP/VP (37%), Director (55%). The survey respondents represented companies with an annual revenue of $250 million to $449 million (6%), $500 million to $999 million (67%), $1 billion to $49 billion (26%), and $50 billion or more (1%).