The 6 Foundations of a Robust OMS: What 73% of Customers Expect (And You Can No Longer Ignore)
By Charlotte Journo-Baur, Founder of WISHIBAM
Let’s face it: retail is undergoing its biggest transformation since the invention of the barcode. Yet how many of us continue to manage inventory and orders as if Amazon, Shein, and evolving consumer expectations hadn’t changed everything? Just last week, I met with a digital director from a 200-store retail chain who confessed: “We invested millions in our e-commerce site, but we’re still losing 30% of our online sales due to stockouts we could have prevented.” The culprit? The absence of a proper Order Management System (OMS) specification tailored to 2025’s challenges.
It’s no longer a secret: without a solid technological backbone, your omnichannel transformation will remain wishful thinking. But how do you build this technical foundation without getting lost in the jungle of features and commercial promises? After guiding over 100 retailers through their transformation journey, I’m sharing the fundamentals of an OMS specification that will truly make a difference for your business.
Why an OMS Has Become Vital for Retail in 2025
The Omnichannel Consumer Leaves No Room for Improvisation
Let’s face reality: 73% of customers now expect a seamless experience across channels (McKinsey, 2024). This is no longer a nice to have – it’s a fundamental requirement. Your customers don’t think in terms of “channels” – they think “brand.” When they order online for in-store pickup, they don’t want to hear “oh, that’s managed by the website, not by us.”
I’ve seen retailers lose loyal customers due to disastrous click & collect experiences: products unavailable despite confirmation, staff unable to locate orders, inability to return online purchases in-store… Without an OMS, chaos is guaranteed.
A striking example: a fashion retailer we support had a 23% cancellation rate for click & collect orders before implementing an OMS. The reason? Ghost inventory, manual processes, and lack of real-time visibility. Six months after implementing their OMS, this rate fell to 3.8%. The difference between losing or retaining a customer often lies in these operational details.
Ship-from-store, which transforms your stores into mini logistics hubs, is also becoming essential to reduce delivery times. But how can you orchestrate it effectively without a centralized system? It’s like trying to conduct an orchestra where each musician plays from a different score.
The OMS: Conductor of the Customer Promise
An OMS isn’t just a technical tool – it’s the guarantor of your promise to the customer. When you promise next-day delivery or two-hour pickup, it’s your OMS that makes this promise possible… or breaks it.
A high-performing OMS centralizes inventory scattered across your warehouses, stores, and suppliers. It intelligently orchestrates orders based on multiple criteria: geographic proximity, stock levels, logistics costs, promised deadlines. It becomes the central intelligence that transforms your physical network into a competitive advantage against pure players.
I’ve seen retailers transform their commercial performance simply by better utilizing their existing inventory. A home décor retailer increased its online revenue by 18% by making its store inventory available for sale, without purchasing a single additional product. That’s the magic of an OMS.
Without this backbone, you’ll continue juggling Excel spreadsheets, manual processes, and systems that don’t communicate with each other. And in a world where Amazon delivers in just hours, this artisanal approach becomes suicidal.
The 6 Essential Pillars of an OMS Specification in 2025
Key Features You Absolutely Can’t Forget
- Unified real-time inventory visibility
This is the cornerstone. Your OMS must aggregate stock data from all your stores, warehouses, and suppliers with near-instantaneous updates. Beware of solutions promising “end-of-day” synchronization – that’s already too late. Demand real-time visibility with latencies under 5 minutes. - Intelligent orchestration rules
Your OMS must allow configuring sophisticated business rules. For example: prioritizing shipment from stores with less foot traffic, automatically reserving buffer stock for in-store sales, or switching to another shipping point if stock falls below a certain threshold. These rules should be easily configurable by your teams, without heavy technical intervention. - Omnichannel returns management
Often overlooked, returns management is crucial. Your OMS must allow returning an online purchase to a store, exchanging an item for another size or color regardless of the purchase channel, and intelligently reintegrating returned products into available inventory. - Complete order traceability
Each order must be tracked end-to-end, with precise timestamping of each step. This traceability is essential for keeping your customer promises, but also for analyzing and optimizing your internal processes. - Dashboards and analytics
Demand dashboards that allow you to visualize your omnichannel system’s performance in real-time: service rate by channel, average preparation times by store, stockout rates… These indicators are vital for managing your business. - Flexibility and scalability
Your OMS must be able to adapt to your evolving business. New sales channels, new delivery methods, marketplace integration… Ensure the chosen solution can evolve without major overhauls.
Technical Requirements and Digital Sovereignty
Beyond business functionalities, your specification must include non-negotiable technical requirements:
- Interoperability is crucial.
Your OMS must integrate seamlessly with your existing ecosystem: ERP, e-commerce platform, CRM, WMS, POS systems. Be wary of solutions claiming to replace everything – the pragmatic approach is to make your systems work together intelligently. Demand documented APIs, standard connectors, and references of successful integrations with the systems you use. - Performance and scalability are also decisive.
Your OMS must absorb activity peaks (Black Friday, sales) without slowdowns. Request response time guarantees, even at maximum load. A few seconds of latency may seem trivial, but multiplied by thousands of transactions, it becomes an operational nightmare. - Digital sovereignty is no longer optional.
With the US Cloud Act and increasing geopolitical tensions, entrusting your strategic data (inventory, orders, customers) to non-European players represents a real business risk. Favor solutions hosted in Europe, GDPR-compliant, with solid contractual guarantees on data ownership and confidentiality. - Security must be at the heart of your specification.
Demand regular audits, certifications (ISO 27001 at minimum), proven backup and disaster recovery procedures. A security incident on your OMS can paralyze your entire omnichannel operation. - Long-term maintainability
Your OMS isn’t a one-time project, but a critical system that will accompany you for years. Ensure the chosen solution benefits from a clear roadmap, an active user community, and a stable development team.
How to Succeed in Your OMS Project with Wishibam
A Business Approach, Not Just Technical
The main error I see in OMS projects? Considering it a purely technical project. In reality, it’s primarily a business transformation project that touches all departments: stores, e-commerce, logistics, finance, IT…
At Wishibam, we’ve developed a unique co-construction methodology that places your field teams at the heart of the project. We always start with immersion in your stores and warehouses to understand your operational realities. This “bottom-up” approach guarantees end-user adoption and avoids the “beautiful tool nobody uses” syndrome.
A concrete example: for a sports retailer, we identified that store associates were reluctant to prepare e-commerce orders, perceiving them as additional work without recognition. We therefore integrated a performance recognition and incentive system into the OMS that transformed this perception. Result: on-time preparation rate increased from 67% to 94% in three months.
Our support covers the entire project cycle:
- In-depth scoping phase with mapping of existing processes
- Co-construction workshops for new omnichannel journeys
- Custom solution configuration
- Training for store and headquarters teams
- Pilot on a limited scope before rollout
- Deployment support with field presence
- Post-deployment monitoring and continuous optimization
This global approach explains why our OMS projects boast a 92% success rate, well above the industry average (about 60% according to Forrester).
Choosing a Sovereign, Agile OMS Designed for Retail
Wishibam isn’t just another tech player that happens to be interested in retail among other sectors. We were born in retail, for retail. Our OMS was designed hand-in-hand with leading retailers who shaped every feature.
- With over 100 retailers supported, from fashion to DIY to food, we’ve developed unmatched sector expertise. Our platform boasts a 99.9% availability rate, even during peak periods like Black Friday when we process several million transactions per day.
- Unlike American solutions, our OMS is 100% European, hosted in France, with transparent data governance. You remain in control of your strategic data, without compromise.
The results speak for themselves. As a fashion retailer’s E-commerce Director recently told me:
“We’ve cut our online stockouts by two-thirds while reducing our overall inventory by 12%. It’s like we’ve squared the circle.”
Another retailer was able to launch its 2-hour delivery service in Paris in just 8 weeks thanks to our agility. When major tech players were talking about 6-9 months for deployment, we met the challenge in record time.
Our modular approach also allows progressive deployment, without risky big bangs. You can start with click & collect, then add ship-from-store, then omnichannel returns management… This “quick wins” strategy guarantees rapid ROI and progressive team adoption.
Conclusion: The OMS, Much More Than a Tool – Your Omnichannel Backbone
In 2025, your OMS is no longer optional – it’s the backbone supporting your entire omnichannel strategy. A solid specification, centered on business needs but technically robust, is the first stone in this transformation.
At Wishibam, we don’t simply sell a technical solution – we accompany you in this profound mutation of your business model. Our retail expertise, field approach, and sovereign solution make us the ideal partner for this journey.
Don’t wait for your competitors to gain the advantage. In a world where 73% of customers demand a seamless omnichannel experience, improvisation is no longer an option. Your OMS is the strategic investment that will make the difference between survival and leadership.
FAQ: Everything You Need to Know About OMS Specifications
What’s the difference between an OMS and a WMS?
An OMS (Order Management System) orchestrates the entire order lifecycle across all channels, while a WMS (Warehouse Management System) only manages operations within a warehouse. The OMS decides where an order should ship from, the WMS optimizes preparation in the relevant warehouse. The two systems are complementary and should be interconnected.
How long does it take to deploy an OMS?
OMS deployment typically takes between 3 and 9 months depending on your organization’s complexity and the number of integrations required. At Wishibam, we favor a phased approach that delivers initial results in 8 to 12 weeks, then progressively enriches functionality.
What ROI can we expect from an OMS project?
Our clients see an average 15% increase in online revenue thanks to reduced stockouts, a 20% decrease in logistics costs through optimized shipping, and a 25% improvement in customer satisfaction. ROI typically ranges from 6 to 18 months depending on the retailer.
Do we need to change all our existing systems to implement an OMS?
No, a good OMS should integrate with your existing ecosystem. At Wishibam, we’ve developed connectors with most market-leading ERPs, e-commerce platforms, and WMS. The OMS complements your architecture, not replaces it.
How do we ensure OMS adoption by store teams?
This is a crucial point often overlooked. Our methodology systematically includes a change management component with team training, creation of adapted materials, and implementation of performance indicators that value stores’ involvement in the omnichannel strategy.
What are the most common mistakes in an OMS specification?
The three most common errors are: focusing solely on technical features while neglecting business aspects, underestimating integration needs with existing systems, and forgetting to involve end users (especially store teams) in defining requirements.
Is an OMS suitable for small and medium-sized retailers?
Absolutely. At Wishibam, we’ve developed specific packages for retailers with 5 to 50 stores, with accelerated deployment and controlled costs. Omnichannel is no longer reserved for large groups – it’s often a decisive competitive advantage for medium-sized retailers.
How do we integrate marketplaces into our OMS project?
A modern OMS must be able to integrate marketplaces as a full sales channel. This involves inventory synchronization, unified order management, and intelligent orchestration including the specific constraints of each marketplace (guaranteed delivery times, customer service rules…).
What key indicators should we track to measure OMS success?
The essential KPIs are: omnichannel service rate (orders delivered on time), perceived vs. actual stockout rate, average preparation time by channel, logistics cost per order, and NPS by customer journey. Your OMS should provide these indicators in real-time via customizable dashboards.
