Order Fulfillment Software: What’s Better, Custom or Off-the-Shelf?

For online retailers looking to grow, the agility and scalability of their order fulfillment software is key. Whether the order fulfillment system is custom or off the shelf determines how agile and scalable it can be.

To explain the ways custom technology makes a pivotal difference in the growth of B2C brands, we talked to Staci Americas' Vice President of IT, Doug Coker.

Q: What is the essential difference between proprietary and off-the-shelf order fulfillment software?

With proprietary order fulfillment software, also known as a warehouse management system (WMS), the third-party logistics provider (3PL) controls the technology and has a development team on staff to manage and support it. They can write customized code to deal with unique situations the client may have.

A 3PL using standard Tier 1 support for off-the-shelf software doesn’t have the ability to make code changes. They must go back to the software company to implement enhancements, which can add time, complexity and expense.

There’s also greater flexibility that comes with custom technology like Staci Americas'. It’s flexibility that the client may not need today, but might need two years from now as they grow and expand.

Q: What are the disadvantages of off-the-shelf order fulfillment software?

Making enhancements always gets messy because the 3PL must work through the outside software vendor.

In a previous life, I was at a 3PL where we used a WMS popular with many fulfillment providers. When we needed something custom, we would have to get the requirements, submit it to the vendor, get a quote, then go back to the client and get approval. After that, we'd have to wait several months for that vendor to go through development and testing. It’s just a very long, drawn out IT process.

When implementing a change like that, vendors take their time because the change will impact their entire customer base. It’s much more complex than it is for us at Staci Americas with our proprietary order fulfillment software, Staci Americas360. We're not affecting 500 companies’ environments and how they process orders.

Q: Do all WMSs have the same basic level of functionality?

“Most 3PLs are probably using systems that have similar capabilities. They can all track inventory, they can all batch orders, and they can all ship orders.

But the ability of a 3PL to control their own systems enables them to operate in a nimble fashion from an IT perspective. When things go wrong, they can address issues in real time.

I’ll give you an example. Just this morning a client sent us the same batch of orders twice. Well, if we didn't have the integration layer that we have and the data validation that we have, we may have shipped out thousands of duplicate orders.

The real differentiating factor for us is not the WMS; it’s more the integration layer and the ease with which you can integrate with other systems and receive data feeds. That’s the thing that differentiates Staci Americas' warehouse management technology – the integration layer, or middleware as others call it.

Q: Why is the middleware used with a WMS so important?

In Staci Americas' case, we receive client data continuously through our middleware and feed it into the WMS. For brands evaluating a 3PL’s WMS for order fulfillment, middleware holds the answers to important questions like:

• How easy is it for me to integrate my backoffice systems to yours?
• Can you accept spreadsheets for my orders?
• What if I don't have a system that can send you an order through an API?
• Do you work with NetSuite?

Staci Americas' client integration layer allows us to flexibly handle unique business scenarios such as aggregating multiple sources of orders – from EDI, Shopify, Amazon, eBay, HSN, etc. Through our unique middleware level, we make it super easy for clients to funnel orders to us from any sales channel. That might not be possible with off-the-shelf order fulfillment software.

Q: How does a custom WMS support a brand’s expansion to multiple channels?

As eCommerce businesses grow, their need to incorporate more sales channels grows, as does their need to handle complex data integrations.

A client might start with a simple set up – let’s say their Shopify website uses an external connector that links to a 3PL for data transfer. Then all of a sudden, they might get Target or Walmart as a client and now they have to do EDI. Or, they might start selling through Amazon or other channels that are going to be generating orders.

All that data needs to flow easily, seamlessly – and without IT-related delays – into their 3PL’s order fulfilment system. When this process requires special programming, it becomes an impediment to growth.

Q: Can you give an example of when a custom WMS is beneficial?

Just about every brand will encounter a situation where they need to modify the system to handle a process exactly as they want. Kitting might be one example, where certain products are combined to create a new SKU. What they need might be different from what we're able to do as a standard setup in our system. With a custom WMS like Staci Americas', we have the flexibility to quickly modify our system to build a one-off process to deal with a unique need. Clients appreciate this flexibility.

Q: Why should brands look for a 3PL partner that has its own proprietary order fulfillment software?

When a systems glitch occurs, it’s incredibly frustrating to have to open a support ticket with an external company and then wait – often many hours – for a response. What might take us 5 or 10 minutes to fix with our homegrown system might take somebody else four hours – just because of the layers that they must go through.

Q: Should eCommerce brands make systems a key component of their selection criteria for order fulfillment services?

Yes, absolutely. Brands should ask how the 3PL does integrations, what flexibility they have for adding sales channels, and whether it’s their own staff doing the development work. Outsourcing dev work will add a level of complexity.

Want to talk more about the PROs and CONs of off-the-shelf vs proprietary order fulfillment software? Reach out to connect with one of our order fulfillment and technology experts.