Inventory management is not an easy job. You would know that all too well. One moment a product can be extremely popular, while next month you aren’t delivering any of this product. Thanks to your experience, knowledge and analysis, you can predict certain patterns. However, perfectly managing your inventory is almost impossible. Therefore, you may recognize the situation in which an order comes in but your inventory is inadequate. In that case, using backorders is the right solution to help you on your way.

An empty warehouse calls for backorders

Backorders are orders of your customer that cannot be delivered because of a shortage in your warehouse. When an order is confirmed, and one or more articles aren’t in your inventory, it means you must postpone the delivery until these goods have entered your warehouse again. Using backorders, you can then complete the order quickly and efficiently. Thanks to this new functionality the incoming articles aren’t stored in your warehouse but are immediately available for picking. As a result, you can deliver the articles to the right address as fast as possible and raise your customer satisfaction.

Backorders in your warehouse process

When an order is received, a notification can pop up that tells you there is not enough stock in place to complete this order. Using backorders, the order will automatically be set on hold. When the articles are received in your warehouse, a check is done to see if any backorders are open for these articles. When there are, there is the possibility to continue processing the articles or to immediately transport the goods to a dock or an expedition floor.

Full or part delivery

In the use of backorders there are two possibilities when implementing the functionality:

• Full delivery: the complete order will be put on hold when the inventory is inadequate. When the missing articles are received, the complete order will be delivered.
• Part delivery: split the order in two. The missing articles of the order are extracted and placed in a new order. This document is an exact copy in which we change the customer reference using a SUFFIX (-01). When the articles are received this order will be delivered to complete the order.

Backorders in your WMS

Are you interested in how you can apply backorders in your system? Feel free to contact us at info@elevate-it.be. We're happy to help you on your way