Next generation order management with MACH

In an omnichannel age where customers can make a purchase via any platform, it remains a universal truth that a business cannot sell what it does not have.

Accurate information on stock is essential if a business wants to reduce stock-outs, cancelled or unfulfilled orders, and disappointed customers. This is even more critical as those retailers, brands and wholesalers enter periods of growth and seek to maximize margins or move into new channels, markets and regions.

Fluent Commerce seeks to address this issue by offering a flexible, distributed order management system that enables adaptive workflows that let businesses optimize complex fulfilment processes, managing modes such as in-store pick, pack and pickup.

Reflecting the profound impact that MACH strategies have had on the omnichannel world, Fluent Commerce joined the MACH Alliance shortly after it was formed.

The MACH philosophy has been a core part of the Fluent Commerce value proposition since it was founded in 2013, and the order management specialist has collaborated with many members of the Alliance.

This has seen the development of connectors and accelerators, as well as MACH education sessions and solution delivery for joint projects such as Aldo Group, Arterra Wines, Emma Sleep, Etos, Francesca’s, JD Sports, and Ted Baker.

The innovation that has driven these partnerships includes the recent launch of Fluent’s Order Management Experience (OMX) framework. This is a low-code configuration-based, UX and Workflow framework that accelerates client and partner innovation.

This was followed by the release of Fluent Store - built on OMX. Fluent Store is a new webapp designed to manage store fulfilment operations, which can be extended with new UX components and processes in hours and days, not weeks.

These innovations and partnerships reflect the changing role of retailers and brands. As brands capitalise on the opportunities of selling direct and retailers seek to extract more value from their distribution networks, they are both looking for improved efficiencies that can better serve customers.

This will necessitate partnerships, especially within the supply chain – making it even more important to track inventory accurately. Fluent Big Inventory – another system built with MACH in mind – is set to address the difficulties in tracking inventory through separate, siloed systems, and indeed across different partners.

For further detail on MACH at Fluent Commerce, please contact the team.