Why 72% of ERPs Fail at Omnichannel Retail (and How to Fix It with an OMS)

Introduction

In a world where customer journeys are constantly evolving, the distinction between OMS and ERP systems has become crucial for retailers. I recently worked with a national retail chain that, despite investing millions in their ERP, continued to lose online sales due to phantom stockouts and inability to meet delivery promises. This situation is not isolated. According to recent Forrester data, nearly 3 out of 4 retailers admit their expensive, robust ERPs are failing to effectively manage omnichannel orders.

The reality is undeniable: yesterday’s technological infrastructure no longer meets today’s consumer expectations. In this article, I’ll explain why ERP alone is no longer sufficient, how an Order Management System (OMS) is becoming the essential conductor of your omnichannel strategy, and most importantly, how these two systems can work together to transform challenges into concrete growth opportunities.

Why ERPs No Longer Meet Omnichannel Retail Challenges

ERP: A Historical Management Pillar Limited by 2025 Customer Expectations

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) has long been the backbone of retail operations. This centralized system admirably manages essential functions: accounting, finance, human resources, logistics, and macro-level inventory management. It excels at standardizing internal processes and offers a consolidated view of operations. However, it was designed when commerce was linear, predictable, and sales channels were compartmentalized.

I’ve seen IT directors defend their ERP as one would defend a multi-million-euro investment – which it often is. But the numbers speak for themselves: according to Forrester’s 2024 study, 72% of retailers admit their ERP fails to effectively manage omnichannel orders. Even more striking, an IDC study reveals that 65% of digital transformation projects based solely on ERP fail to meet business objectives.

New Unified Commerce Requirements: Real-Time, Flexibility, Customer Experience

The 2025 customer doesn’t care about your internal silos. They want to buy online and pick up in-store an hour later. Order from their couch and receive same-day delivery. Return in-store an item purchased on mobile. Above all, they want transparency and promises kept.

• Real-time inventory visibility across all channels
• Seamless order orchestration regardless of starting point or destination
• Flexibility to modify orders in progress
• Personalized delivery options based on context

An e-commerce director at a ready-to-wear retailer recently confided: “Our ERP tells us a product is available but can’t tell us if it’s in the central warehouse, in transit, or already reserved for another order. Result: we promise deadlines we can’t meet.”

According to a PwC study, 32% of customers abandon a brand after just one bad experience. For 73% of consumers, the shopping experience is as important as product quality.

OMS: The Conductor of Sovereign Omnichannel Retail

What an Order Management System Does That an ERP Can’t

The Order Management System (OMS) was born precisely to fill ERP gaps in meeting omnichannel challenges. Unlike ERP, which manages business processes vertically, OMS operates horizontally, orchestrating the complete order lifecycle across all channels.

A modern OMS like the one we’ve developed at Wishibam offers capabilities that ERP simply cannot provide:

• Real-time order orchestration: OMS treats each order as a living entity that can evolve, be modified or rerouted at any time according to constraints and opportunities.
• Intelligent inventory allocation: Instead of simply checking if a product is “in stock” or “out of stock,” OMS applies sophisticated business rules to determine the best shipping point, considering customer proximity, logistics costs, service levels, and even environmental impact.
• Channel unification: OMS erases boundaries between online and offline, enabling scenarios such as “buy online, pick up in store,” “order in-store, deliver to home,” or “return anywhere.”

The 2024 Capgemini study confirms the impact: retailers implementing an OMS have reduced delivery times by 35% on average while decreasing logistics costs by 20%. Even more impressive, they’ve increased perceived product availability by 40% – without necessarily increasing inventory.

OMS as a Lever for Profitability and Customer Satisfaction

Beyond technical performance, OMS fundamentally transforms the economic equation of omnichannel retail. Here’s how:

• Logistics cost optimization: By fulfilling orders from the most relevant point, OMS reduces distances traveled and handling. A home decor retailer reduced transport costs by 27% by serving 40% of web orders directly from stores.
• Reduction of stockouts and overstock: OMS offers a unified, real-time view of inventory, preventing both stockouts (which generate missed sales) and overstock (which ties up capital). According to McKinsey, this optimization can improve margins by 2 to 5 points.
• Enhanced customer experience: Reliable delivery promises increase online conversion rates by 22% according to the same McKinsey study. More significantly, NPS (Net Promoter Score) increases by an average of 18 points when customers can track their order in real-time and modify delivery options.
• Existing asset valorization: OMS transforms each store into a local logistics hub, making retail space profitable even during periods of decreased foot traffic. A network director told me: “Our city center stores, once considered a difficult fixed cost to bear, have become our best assets for express delivery.”

The numbers are compelling: retailers equipped with a high-performing OMS show customer satisfaction rates 35% higher than the industry average and convert 1.8 times more visitors into customers on digital channels.

OMS + ERP: The Winning Duo for Sovereign Omnichannel Digitalization with Wishibam

How to Make OMS and ERP Work Together for the Best of Both Worlds

The most common mistake I see retailers make is viewing OMS as a competitor to ERP, when it’s actually its natural complement. The ideal architecture positions ERP as the system of record for financial and HR data and macro inventory management, while OMS acts as the system of engagement for everything related to order lifecycle and micro inventory visibility.

Here’s how to structure this complementarity:

• Two-way data synchronization: ERP remains the primary source for product data, base prices, and aggregated stock levels. OMS manages fine inventory allocation, availability rules, and order orchestration.
• Clear division of responsibilities: Let ERP do what it does best (financial consolidation, purchasing management, global reporting) and entrust OMS with processes requiring agility and real-time capabilities (customer promises, order routing, exception management).
• Integration via modern APIs: The best OMS solutions, like Wishibam’s, offer standardized connectors to major market ERPs, enabling rapid implementation without heavy development.

The key lies in a decoupled but coherent architecture where each system can evolve at its own pace without blocking the entire ecosystem. This is exactly what we’ve designed at Wishibam: a solution that integrates with your existing systems while freeing you from their constraints.

Why Choose a Sovereign Solution Like Wishibam for Successful Transformation

Digital sovereignty is no longer a luxury but a strategic necessity for retailers. Choosing a sovereign OMS like Wishibam offers decisive advantages:

• Security and regulatory compliance: Your customer and commercial data remain under European jurisdiction, with hosting in France and full GDPR compliance. As geopolitical tensions intensify, this provides insurance against legal extraterritoriality risks.
• Technological independence: Unlike American solutions that often impose their roadmap and ecosystem, Wishibam guarantees control over your technological destiny. Our OMS adapts to your strategy, not vice versa.
• Proximity and responsiveness: Our development and support teams are based in France, speak your language, and understand your specific challenges. A digital director from a major French retailer testifies: “With Wishibam, we finally have a partner who understands our business and regulatory constraints, not just a technology provider.”
• Local ecosystem enhancement: By choosing Wishibam, you contribute to strengthening French expertise in retail tech, creating a virtuous circle of local innovation.

The sovereign dimension makes perfect sense in the current context. One of our clients, a major player in French luxury, recently confided: “With Wishibam, we’ve regained control of our digital value chain. We’re no longer dependent on roadmaps decided in Seattle or San Francisco, and we can finally build a customer experience that reflects our DNA, not that of an American giant.”

This sovereignty isn’t just about economic patriotism—it’s a concrete competitive advantage. It allows you to innovate faster, differentiate more clearly, and build lasting trust with your customers.

Conclusion: The Future Belongs to Retailers Who Intelligently Orchestrate Their Technology

The era when ERP alone could meet all retail needs is definitively over. Faced with consumers demanding fluidity, immediacy, and consistency, the strategic ERP+OMS combination has become the new standard.

Tomorrow’s successful retailers will be those who effectively connect these two systems: ERP as a stable management foundation, OMS as an agile engine for omnichannel orchestration.

At Wishibam, we support retailers daily in transforming this complementarity into a decisive competitive advantage. Our sovereign approach guarantees not only technical performance and regulatory compliance but also perfect alignment with your specific business challenges.

The future of retail is omnichannel, agile, and sovereign. ERP alone is no longer sufficient. It’s time to take action with an OMS like Wishibam to transform your challenges into opportunities and regain control of your digital destiny.

Contact us to discover how our OMS can integrate with your existing ecosystem and propel your omnichannel strategy to new heights.

FAQ: OMS/ERP Distinction and Complementarity

Charlotte Journo-Baur, Founder of WISHIBAM