BY JAMES COOKE, EDITOR AT LARGE
techwatch
Is your DC struggling with fulfillment?
Consider DOM software
THE DAYS WHEN CONSUMERS DID MOST OF THEIR SHOPPING
at stores are long gone. Today’s shopper is just as apt to order an item
online or with a mobile phone as walk into a shop, and that’s creating
big headaches for some retailers. In particular, many are struggling to
make sure they have the right inventory on hand and in the right
places to keep the customer happy.
That’s why a number of retailers have begun using a type of software
known as “distributed order management” (DOM). Distributed order
management applications determine the best fulfillment location for a
particular order. Essentially, they provide visibility into inventory
holdings on a network-wide basis—at distribution centers, in stores,
“A lot of retailers grew up using different systems
and serving different channels,” says Chad Hooker,
senior director of supply chain solutions at the
Oxford Consulting Group. “With DOM, you get the
visibility as to what the customer is doing across all
channels.”
Although retailers are currently the main users of
DOM software, industry experts believe that other
sectors struggling with order fulfilment across mul-
tiple channels may soon begin turning to these apps
as well. Hooker notes that the government is showing an interest in
this type of software, while Gartner analyst Jessica O’Brien says that
the life sciences industry has started looking into its use.
Despite the recent surge of interest, DOM software is not new. These
applications have been around for more than a decade. But they’ve
been gaining traction in the retail sector in the past two years as more
merchants struggle with multi-channel fulfillment. Interest in this
application is “largely driven by retail and the need to support all-channel commerce seamlessly without busting the budget,” explains
Jim Le Tart, director of marketing at RedPrairie, one vendor of this
type of software.
In addition to RedPrairie, a number of well-known vendors provide
DOM software, including Manhattan Associates, Sterling (IBM),
Oracle, and Softeon. Other software companies in this space include
Jagged Peak, IMI, OrderMotion, and VendorNet.
