ORDER MANAGEMENT
		At the heart of every successful direct-commerce business runs an efficient order management system. Is yours up to par? Everything from order processing to batching, kitting, shipping, returns, inventory control, and financial reporting is covered in these articles.

Topic Headlines

cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0> cellpadding=0> Rave Reviews for VendorNet VENDORNET IS A WEB-BASED communications network that manages and tracks the order and delivery cycle between the retailer and the supplier. The company... E-Commerce, Lite Psst! Can you keep a secret? E-commerce is making a comeback. That was the pervasive belief at a bellwether show, Etail 2003, which took place in Boston... Technophobia? Talk to Gus Pagonis, the Sears logistics chief, about the biggest issue in supply chain management, and you might well expect the retired general to... Cabin Fever THE WOOLLY SHEEP is no mammoth retailer, but from its little corner of Weed, CA, an historic lumber town (pop. 3,100) on the western slopes of Mt. Shasta,... Systems Integration Three times a year, while conducting our benchmark surveys, we ask our readers how many sales channels they operate — and each time, their lists... ‘Made in Buffalo’ BUFFALO, NY, is known today for Buffalo wings, Lake Erie, and some of the nation's most punishing winters. Few remember the time when the “City... Glass, Plus SIMON PEARCE may prefer to be known as one of the world's best glass craftsmen, but he is also a trailblazer of another sort. The business that bears... Shelf-Involved Is it true that as Wal-Mart goes, so go all retailers? As the largest retailer in the United States — indeed, as the country's largest corporation... Vital Signs Numbers are a significant part of prevention these days — after all, people change their entire lifestyles on the basis of numbers such as blood... This Wizard Isn't Named Harry ANYONE FAMILIAR WITH a certain (rather popular) series of books will recall the magical map that figures prominently in several of them. It shows not... Loose Ends Remember the days when fulfilling an order was a simple matter of throwing stuff into a box and taping it shut? Today's complex fulfillment processes... A Booth's-Eye View of NCOF THIS PAST APRIL 13-16 I attended the 2003 National Conference on Operations and Fulfillment (NCOF) at Walt Disney World's Dolphin Resort. Mickey Mouse... ‘Anything That Needs a Roof’ “WAREHOUSE FOR LEASE. Offers cooking, laundry, and babysitting services.” No, that ad hasn't run (yet), but the day when it might may not... Hot New Markets in Global Fulfillment At first glance, this may not seem like the best time for a company to expand its operations and fulfillment globally. Worldwide economic woes, uncertainty... ‘Wal-Martification’ RETAIL SUPPLY CHAIN EFFICIENCY has increased dramatically since the late 1990s — and this, as with most other changes in retailing, is a result... ‘Overpaying Is Not Dignified’ IT MAY SEEM IRREVERENT to buy funeral supplies over the Internet, but as the aging U.S. population gives renewed impetus to the funeral business, sending... Budget Quadrille Perhaps the most irritating thing about people who are very good at what they do — aside from how easy they make the job look — is that most... This Year's Must-Have: A Warehouse Management System Looking for a WMS? This could be the best time to buy. A mature but stable market, with falling prices and more feature-rich, reliable applications to... DIRECT-TO-CUSTOMER FULFILLMENT SOFTWARE 2003 REVIEW The direct-to-customer software marketplace is a mature industry whose current trends will mark its direction for the next few years. Though sales of... A Users' Guide to Warehousing EVERY JANUARY AND FEBRUARY, I have the privilege of conducting the Annual Warehousing Forum with several dozen distribution and operations professionals...