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Key Takeaways

Coffee Chaos—Confirmations Go MIA: A missing order confirmation can disrupt client expectations, particularly for businesses reliant on timely delivery, such as a premium coffee supplier. Proper communication ensures trust and smooth partnership operations.

Communication Breakdown—Business Edition: Even minor communication slips can escalate into significant issues affecting both business and client operations. Maintaining clear, consistent contact helps prevent misunderstandings and fosters a positive business relationship.

Delays Brew Trouble for Your Clients: Delays in delivery, stemming from missed updates, can severely impact client businesses relying on punctual supplies. Proactive management of logistical challenges is crucial for maintaining service reliability.

Supplies and Surprise—A Problematic Blend: Unexpected errors in order processes can lead to operational hiccups for service providers and clients alike. Ensuring robust systems and backup plans helps mitigate potential disruptions.

Operational Overflows from Simple Oversights: Small oversight can snowball into major issues affecting workflow and efficiency for partners. Vigilance and regular systems checks can help prevent such cascading problems.

A missed update, a slip in communication, or a shipping delay.

These don’t just inconvenience your business—they can also completely throw off your client’s operations.

Let’s say you’re a premium coffee, tea, machines, and accessories supplier, and partner with offices and co-working spaces.

A new client signs up for coffee and tea bi-weekly deliveries. But immediately after checkout, your system fails to send an order confirmation. 

That’s the first friction point.

When the client contacts support, they’re reassured the order is in the system and should arrive in one to three days—no specific date and time.

Not ideal, but the client moves on with their day.

But then the delivery takes longer than expected.  Worse, when it arrives, the client realizes there’s a mix-up with one of the items in the package. The client has ordered boxes of dark roast drip bags, not coffee pods.

Stories like this aren’t rare in B2B commerce. 

Seventy-seven percent of B2B buyers found their last purchase too complicated, and the order cycle dragged on for weeks to months.

Small errors in B2B orders can jeopardize two businesses: yours and your client’s. And when confidence takes a hit, they may turn to competitors for a more dependable service.

So, how do you stop this from happening? Start by taking a hard look at your B2B order management process.

In this piece, I’ll show you some expert-backed ways to make it better.

But First, What is B2B Order Management?

B2B order management refers to the entire process that unfolds after your customer places an order. It covers the full journey—from order capturing to inventory management, fulfillment, and delivery. 

Unlike the relatively simple flow of B2C orders, B2B transactions go through a knotty ecosystem of workflows, relationships, and long-term strategies. 

Oracle’s flowchart shows how interdependent each stage is:

b2b order management oracle flowchart screenshot
Source: Oracle

The process starts when the sales team captures the order, and the system links it directly to the specific inventory.

It seems straightforward—capture order, get supplies, ship.

If something disrupts the order-supply-ship flow, the system has to loop back to earlier steps. It could be a rescheduled order, order change request, or supplier delay.

In such cases, the system loops back from Step 7 to Step 1 to update the supply status, adjust reservations, and confirm stock allocation for the order.

Another source of complication? B2B prices are often negotiated rather than fixed. These personalized offers entail a process that isn’t a tidy, linear progression like B2C’s.

Add to that, the challenge of dealing with multiple decision-makers. Maintaining clear, consistent communication and transparency while managing orders is necessary at every step.

Benefits of a well-run B2B order management system

An efficient order management process facilitates faster, error-free orders and smoother customer interactions.

We’ll discuss the actionable strategies later, but first, let’s look at the big-picture benefits.

  • Faster processing. Fifty-four percent of industry leaders adopt new or enhanced fulfillment processes to improve order processing speed. Fulfilling more orders in less time can help boost your service and satisfaction levels.
  • Error reduction. B2B order errors cost $17,800, on average. Flagging these errors within the first five minutes of processing can prevent pocket-draining problems, such as delayed deliveries and incomplete shipments.
  • Improved customer loyalty. Transparent order tracking, clear communication, and hassle-free processes create positive experiences that help boost loyalty. Loyal B2B customers aren’t just dependable—they also spend more over time.
  • Scalability. Scaling your operations without disruption allows you to take on more clients and seize new opportunities. A streamlined B2B order management gives you the ability needed as B2B ecommerce is set to exceed $36 trillion by 2026.
  • ‌Supply chain visibility. Supply chain visibility allows you to adapt to transportation delays, seasonal fluctuations, supplier constraints, and regulatory changes. This is a key hurdle for 18% of high-performing B2B companies.

Polishing your order management strategy means fewer headaches and a healthier bottom line. Next, I’ll show you the best strategies to help you get there.

6 Strategies for Streamlined B2B Order Management

So many moving parts are involved in delivering the right products to your B2B customers promptly. By improving each step and your overall strategy, you’ll see better operations and customer experience.

1. Standardize and streamline order intake processes

A clear, repeatable order intake process minimizes errors and keeps operations running smoothly. 

It gives you a safety net, ensuring consistency and reliability to help handle both routine and complex orders effectively.

Order management software (OMS) like BigCommerce and Linnworks are valuable at this stage. These tools can verify inventory availability and payment clearance when capturing order information. 

When integrated with your CRM solution, you also get a more complete picture of the customer.

I like to describe order management systems (OMS) as the backbone of efficient B2B order management.

 

An OMS is responsible for centralizing order processing, which enables real-time visibility into inventory, order statuses, and customer data—all critical for managing complex orders, ensuring fulfillment accuracy, and meeting customer-specific requirements.

becky parisotto headshot

We’ve curated a list of standout OMS platforms to help you find the right tool for simplifying your intake process:

2. Implement real-time inventory management

Delayed fulfillment or canceled orders due to out-of-stock situations puts your clients' ability to meet customer expectations at risk and may damage their reputation.

The stakes in B2B are higher than in B2C, but the solution remains the same: investing in inventory management software (IMS) that provides real-time data.

With IMS solutions like Cin7, you can track orders, sales, and overall inventory, and view reports on their operations. Since these solutions can track sales trends and performance, you can see which items are prone to overstocking and out-of-stock situations.

Example: Gumball Poodle x Cin7

Statement sock brand Gumball Poodle’s founder Erica Easley relies on Cin7 for inventory management. 

The platform consistently provides accurate data and historical performance reports, which she uses to recognize sales patterns and trends. These insights have helped the brand predict demand more effectively and maintain a leaner inventory.

Source: Cin7

IMS also automates other cumbersome inventory-related processes like inventory count updates, reorder alerts, and purchase order generation. 

If you need reliable inventory management software, check out our top 30 recommendations below.

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3. Optimize fulfillment with advanced routing and allocation

The right partners and shipping methods can save your business significant resources. 

Many tools, including OMS, IMS, and warehouse management systems, can help you here. ShipStation, for example, has its own shipping management capabilities.

And then there are also specialized shipping solutions such as ClickPost and Packlink that focus exclusively on optimizing logistics workflows.

Example: Agrim x ClickPost

B2B marketplace Agrim uses ClickPost to automate shipping workflows, such as generating order manifestation, labels, and proof of delivery.  

It also has an automated carrier allocation engine, helping Agrim choose the best carrier for each shipment. This feature uses rule-based machine learning to analyze historical data and select the ideal carrier for each shipment.

Since using the tool, Agrim has seen a 60% reduction in order processing time and customer support tickets.

Source: ClickPost

These tools often prioritize sustainability and make use of AI-driven insights and advanced analytics to help you select the most efficient and eco-friendly logistics partners.

If you need help identifying the best fit for your B2B order management process, explore our list of highly-recommended shipping software platforms:

4. Elevate the customer experience with self-service portals

When buyers experience a self-reflective learning path, they are 147% more likely to buy more than originally planned.

Gartner

This is likely why 83% of them now prefer online self-service to dealing with sales reps.

Having a B2B self-service portal lets customers take charge of their purchasing journey while freeing up your team to focus on other priorities without sacrificing service quality.

With it, your client clients can perform things like:

  • Order and delivery tracking
  • Reordering stock
  • Managing returns
  • Downloading invoices and reports
  • Booking appointments
  • Submitting support tickets and queries
  • Accessing resources (videos, knowledge base, blog posts)

You can leverage the capabilities of B2B ecommerce platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce, and Lightspeed to create a customized, intuitive self-service channel for your clients

Example: Brooklinen x Shopify

Brooklinen, a bed and bath brand, launched their B2B store with Shopify. The platform retained the familiar DTC website experience while delivering robust B2B functionality.

Customers were given personalized accounts for a simpler, more personalized purchasing experience personalized accounts. This helped Brooklinen remove the inefficiencies of phone-based bulk ordering.

Source: Shopify

Most B2B platforms also support robust order management for handling bulk orders, repeat purchases, and complex transactions. 

You also get a central hub for your customer profiles, where you can find purchase histories and account-specific preferences.

If you’ve been considering upgrading your platform, now’s the time. Choosing the right one helps you gain better B2B order management capabilities. 

Take a look at our recommendations for the best B2B ecommerce platforms to get started.

5. Integrate systems for unified information

In this guide alone, I’ve mentioned four essential tools for streamlining B2B order management. And yet, this is just the tip of the iceberg—your ecommerce tech stack likely includes many more.

Connecting all these tools ensures seamless data flow and consistency.  This guarantees everyone, regardless of the department, is working with the data. 

That said, proper integration can take time. First, you must understand how your data flows and your business operates. 

From there, you can select your foundational tools. Then gradually layer in the rest.

When selecting tools, prioritize those with robust APIs or partner apps. For example, leading B2B ecommerce platforms like BigCommerce and Shopify offer a range of integrations to meet diverse business needs.

Here’s another useful tip:

It’s essential to remember that integration isn’t just a technical shift—it’s an operational change that requires aligning teams and workflows.

 

As part of a change management plan, businesses should explore how they can leverage AI and automation to optimize processes, either by suggesting improvements or executing them in collaboration with people.

becky parisotto headshot

Author’s Note:

Tool integration ensures data is consistent, but it doesn’t guarantee data accuracy.

Here are a few data management strategies to ensure your data reflects reality:

  • Train your team to manage data efficiently and recognize potential errors.
  • Schedule routine checks (audits) to verify data consistency across all platforms
  • Set clear data entry guidelines

6. Continuously improve with data and KPIs

Applying the tips above will get you closer to a highly-efficient B2B order management system. But to stay on top of changes in the industry and customer preferences, you need ongoing improvement.

Tuning into metrics can help you find the gaps. Here are some worth tracking according to experts:

Monitoring KPIs such as the order accuracy rate, fulfillment cycle timelines, inventory turnover, and customer satisfaction metrics provides helpful insights into operational efficiency.

 

With these insights, brands are able to make strategic decisions backed by hard data.

 

These operational KPIs enable brands to identify areas for improvement and drive improved results from changes to the overall strategy.

martin balaam headshot

Order accuracy and fulfillment time are your bread and butter, but don’t forget customer happiness—your Net Promoter Score tells you if you’re winning or losing the game.

justin belmont headshot

I highly suggest analyzing customer return rates that point to possible problems with product descriptions or quality.

jacob edwars-bytom headshot

Common Pitfalls in B2B Order Management (& How to Solve Them)

Seventy-four percent of B2B buyers switch to a competitor if it means a smoother buying experience. They expect transparent communication, real-time updates, and fast, accurate order fulfillment.

Order management that employs outdated processes and disconnected systems fails to meet these expectations.

Let’s break down the most common B2B order management pitfalls and explore strategies to streamline your efforts.

Disintegrated systems

Disintegrated systems refer to software tools within an organization that operate independently with no real-time data transfer or sharing. 

Businesses have lost up to $1.2 trillion annually because of the resulting internal miscommunication errors and inefficiencies.

Here’s an example of where this can creep up: 

Your operations team tracks customer orders, manages inventory, and processes shipments through the OMS, while the finance department uses the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system for back-office functions like accounting, procurement, and supply chain management.

Updating shipped orders in the OMS without syncing unprocessed invoices in the ERP can result in revenue leaks and over-extended credit. 

It can further escalate to customer disputes when the billing doesn’t match up.

☝🏼 Solution:

Integrate your OMS with your existing tech stack. 

If you choose a platform like Linnworks, you can count on its 70+ integrations to sync real-time order data across your systems. 

You won’t have to pay for third-party services or spend hours configuring APIs with robust built-in integrations.

Manual errors 

Manual data entry and cross-referencing errors happen due to distraction, lack of staff training, or inconsistent procedures.

Perhaps your warehouse team ships an item with the wrong product code or messes up the quantities. One wrong character input, and you’re flooded with refund requests.

Eighty percent of organizations will fail if they don’t modernize their data governance.

And B2B businesses can face serious fallout from that: production delays, disgruntled clients with ongoing contracts, and withheld payments.

☝🏼 Solution:

Automate your order management. 

Tools like Zoho Inventory have features like barcode scanning capabilities, which can help reduce manual input in stock updates and order fulfillment.

For billing-related processes, QuickBooks Online offers automated invoicing, payment tracking, and bank account integration for quick reconciliation.

Poor capacity management

Poor capacity management comes from businesses that can’t balance their resources with demand due to inadequate planning.

You’re stuck pushing delivery dates back for backorders—a breach of service-level agreements (SLAs) that could cost you lost contracts.

If you’re putting in the effort but still struggling with overbooking or falling short on demand, the culprit may be your archaic system.

☝🏼 Solution:

Using IMS like Settle and Cin7 Core feature real-time inventory visibility and AI-powered demand forecasting to optimize capacity planning.

Upgrading to Cin7 Core’s manufacturing module subscription lets you access its Capacity Planner. You can use it to track available, allocated, and consumed resources and maximize production timelines.

Custom pricing complexities

B2B sales reps manage multiple pricing structures (e.g., volume-based, tiered, contractual).

Without automation, your staff may work off outdated prices or forget to apply the discounts based on order history.

Forty-eight percent of B2B customers care most about pricing when choosing suppliers.

That’s to say: If you can’t nail down competitive, transparent pricing that fits each client’s needs, it can hurt those long-term relationships.

☝🏼 Solution:

Opt for B2B ecommerce solutions that support flexible pricing structures and automate custom rule applications.

For instance, BigCommerce can help set up personalized price lists and discounts, real-time shipping quotes, multi-currency support, and easy coupon/gift cards.

Compliance with industry regulations 

Staying compliant protects your B2B business, but differing regional rules can complicate your efforts.

International logistics, in particular, is overwhelming due to varying laws on data protection, import/export restrictions, and safety standards.

Case in point: Amazon France recently faced a €32 million fine for violating GDPR’s data privacy rules in its warehouse stock and order management.

Failure to comply may force you to halt operations or undergo costly rework to bring your systems up to par. In some cases, this could lead to temporary shutdowns.

☝🏼 Solution:

Build a compliance-proof tech stack with built-in, auto-update tools.

Examples: Acumatica’s ERP manages quality control, data security, and industry compliance for you. QuickBooks Online can help with tax and payroll compliance.

Author’s Note:

Author’s Note:

Don’t forget to run frequent audits to stay ahead of regulatory changes.

It’s your job as a vendor to keep up with evolving B2B customer expectations. Here’s what’s on the horizon and why you should embrace them ASAP:

AI-driven analytics

Algorithms move much faster for data recognition. 

So long as you input the right data, relying on AI-powered tools can give you accurate, deeper, and more actionable insights. Not to mention, it saves your team some serious time in data mining. 

Here’s an example of how it can benefit your process:

AI technologies, such as machine learning and natural language processing, enable systems to handle orders in various formats and languages, understanding the context of the order and providing a fully detailed status in real-time.

VAO Labs

Predictive forecasting 

Predictive forecasting uses AI models to identify patterns that impact your business. 

In order management, this plays a key role in inventory management. You always want your products in the Goldilocks zone—just the right amount, avoiding overstocking or understocking.

Cin7’s Inventoro, a sales forecasting tool, leverages this to create highly accurate predictions, down to the day.

Omnichannel order management

Omnichannel order management, or Total Commerce (as Linnworks likes to call it), handles all orders across all your sales channels. 

Having all the information in a single system gives you a complete picture of what's going on with your inventory. This level of transparency can help you provide customers with the goods they want at any given time.

Here is an example of how a particular solution is changing the game:

Customers do not differentiate their interactions by channel, they want one brand experience across all channels and DataXStream’s OMS+ supports this.

 

Whether your customers are using the B2B portal, calling, emailing, faxing, sending EDI orders, walking into a store, changing orders at the truck, buying in the yard, OMS+ supports your sales team, transacts in real-time and does all of this in an easy-to-use interface.

caitlin yates headshot
Caitlin YatesOpens new window

CMO at DataXStream

Mobile-friendly interfaces

In B2B, over 40% of enterprises considered user-friendly online and mobile interfaces a necessary part of customer experience. 

If you don’t engage the decision makers who use their phones or tablets when shopping, you’ll lose out on business opportunities, traffic, and user engagement. 

Hop on the trend and make placing and tracking an order online as intuitive as possible on any device.

Final Thoughts

When you streamline your B2B order management, you can stay steps ahead of potential friction points, from the intake process all the way to delivery. 

This is important because you’re not only completing a transaction—you’re building a long-term partnership. 

Every order is an opportunity to show your customers they made the right choice. Apply what you learn here, starting with having the right tools in your arsenal.

For more resources on order management operations and useful tools, check out:

B2B Order Management FAQs

Here’s a handy list of FAQs to further optimize your B2B order management:

How do I know if I need an order management system (OMS)?

If you constantly scramble to track orders, update inventory, or meet SLAs, it’s probably worth investing in order management solutions. Instead of juggling all these moving parts, you get a system that keeps things organized and running, boosting customer satisfaction.

How does a B2B order management system support omnichannel selling?

Omnichannel is a growth driver for ​​​​​​​​​​65% of B2B ecommerce firms. However, it can be a nightmare to track orders, inventory, and customer interactions across sales channels.

OMS syncs orders and inventory levels across all your touchpoints. Your clients get a consistent, frictionless experience regardless of how and where they buy.

What’s the difference between B2B OMS and inventory management software (IMS)?

OMS manages the end-to-end order flow—processing, invoicing, customer updates, and timely fulfillment.

Meanwhile, IMS specializes in inventory control with key features like stock monitoring, reporting tools, demand forecasting, and IoT integration.

How do B2B order management systems handle returns and exchanges?

OMS facilitates returns and exchanges by automating approval workflows, processing return requests, and tracking items throughout the return journey.

The system sends automated updates on the return status, enhancing the post-purchase customer experience.

Jul Domingo

Jul Domingo is a B2B writer with five years of experience in the marketing and retail/ecommerce sector. Born into a family of fashion entrepreneurs, she's passionate about helping ecommerce managers and SMB owners maximize their marketing initiatives, business strategies, and tech stack. Outside of work, she enjoys hiking national parks and exploring charming small towns and villages in northern Spain with her trilingual dog.