The importance of OMS for order and inventory management in unified commerce

Unified commerce is a business strategy that integrates all a company's sales channels, data and back-end systems into a single platform. Its aim is to create a seamless, consistent shopping experience for customers across all channels, while giving companies a global view of their business and centralized management of their operations (1). For merchants, unified commerce generates clear efficiency gains for retailers' internal systems operations, and also opens up opportunities for sales growth, both in-store and online.

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How does unified commerce improve the customer experience?

A customer can order a product online and pick it up in the store of his or her choice without waiting.

An item purchased online can be returned in-store, offering greater flexibility and reducing refund times.

Thanks to data centralization, in-store sales staff can consult the customer's purchase history and make relevant recommendations.

If a product is out of stock in a store, it can be quickly dispatched from another outlet or a nearby warehouse, without the customer having to travel.

Customers can choose between home delivery, in-store collection or a relay point, depending on their preference.

“In today's retail world, customer expectations are at an all-time high. Shoppers demand seamless experiences, real-time inventory visibility and multiple delivery options, each with a precise delivery time, across all channels. That, in a nutshell, is the definition of the customer promise. A promise made early in the experience, whatever the channel, and keeping it, is a key success factor for the retailer”.

– Guillaume Vanbrugghe, Lead Product Marketing at OneStock

Inventory management in unified commerce

One of the pillars of unified commerce is the instant updating of inventory and orders across all channels. However, this requires a robust technological infrastructure capable of synchronizing data in real time. Delayed stock updates can lead to errors, such as selling an unavailable product or mismanaging order reservations. Companies must therefore invest in high-performance systems to guarantee total transparency of inventories and transactions.

The integration of an order management system (OMS) and a centralized inventory management platform represents a significant initial investment. Between deploying new technologies, training teams and overhauling internal processes, the costs can be high. However, while this investment may seem substantial at the outset, it pays off in the long term by optimizing inventory management, reducing errors and improving the customer experience.

Faced with the challenges of unified commerce, several solutions can be put in place to ensure efficient and effective integration. At Novatize, we focus on helping our customers integrate high-performance Order Management Systems (OMS) to accelerate their transition to unified business. Thanks to our partnership with OneStock, the Order Management System (OMS) specialist for B2C and B2B merchants, this next step in eCommerce will be facilitated and optimized. Among other things, OMS enables:

Real-time stock overview

Efficient stock management requires centralized, real-time data across all sales channels. This prevents stock-outs and improves customer satisfaction.

Shared inventory and omnichannel

Unified inventory means that physical stores, warehouses and eCommerce platforms share the same inventories. Orders can therefore be shipped from different points of sale (e.g. click & collect, ship-from-store).

Demand forecasting

The use of advanced analysis tools makes it possible to anticipate consumption trends and adjust inventories accordingly, thus reducing the risk of out-of-stocks or unnecessary surpluses.

Returns management

Good inventory management must include a fluid process to enable customers to return a product in-store or online, without disrupting the overall inventory.

The crucial role of OMS (Order Management Systems)

“OMS has become a mature solution in B2C, and we can now speak of a renewal market. In B2B, we're still in an equipment market. OneStock is seen as a modernization of ERP, because it's a solution that acts as an abstraction of the information system, and which can be called up in real time, while offering off-the-shelf OMS functionalities, which is not the case with ERP”.

– Guillaume Vanbrugghe, Lead Product Marketing at OneStock

An Order Management System (OMS) is essential for optimizing order flow and ensuring efficient order fulfillment. It centralizes all orders, regardless of sales channel, and tracks their fulfillment. It orchestrates stock allocation, shipment planning and returns management. It also ensures seamless order management and facilitates flexible customer journeys (e.g., ordering online and picking up in-store, modifying an order in process, etc.). Finally, OMS automates essential tasks such as inventory assignment, distribution center selection and shipment management, reducing human error and improving processing speed.

Data synchronization

To ensure efficient unified commerce, OMS and the inventory management system must be perfectly synchronized. This guarantees accurate, up-to-date information in real time.

Optimizing stock levels

OMS helps to adjust stocks to requirements by informing the inventory management system of quantities to be replenished and stock movements between channels.

Error reduction

An integrated system avoids errors such as double booking of stock, misallocation of resources or order cancellations due to poor synchronization.

The integration of an order management system (OMS) with an inventory management system is essential for success in a unified business model. This synergy not only enhances the customer experience by ensuring that inventory is always available and orders are optimized, but also reduces operational costs and increases profitability. For B2B and B2C companies, the transition to unified commerce is becoming a strategic necessity in order to remain competitive in an ever-changing market.

Interested in integrating an order management system (OMS)? Contact our specialists today.

Source :

(1) eCommerce growth guide 2025 - Shopify