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Research shows that 58% of shoppers won’t wait more than 4-7 days for delivery while 25% abandon their carts if same-day shipping isn’t available. In e-commerce warehouses, faster shipping means you need to handle a high volume of individual orders accurately. This can get overwhelming, especially if you rely on manual processes like spreadsheets for inventory counting or hand-picking products. 

A warehouse management system (WMS) is configured to match your e-commerce workflows through algorithmic optimization and real-time tracking capabilities. It can optimize rapid order processing, single-item picking, direct-to-consumer shipping, and returns processing. It can also integrate with online shopping platforms and provide real-time fulfillment insights through advanced predictive analysis, allowing you to handle large order volumes accurately. 

Whether you’re doing your own fulfillment or partnering with third-party logistics (3PL), this article details how advanced WMS is critical for growing e-commerce business owners to handle high order volume and meet online shopping demands.

What is E-commerce Warehouse Management?

E-commerce warehouse management is the practice of organizing, tracking, and fulfilling online orders within a warehouse. It ensures real-time visibility of stock, efficient picking and packing, and timely shipping so that customers receive accurate, on-time deliveries, a critical factor in e-commerce success.

Without a WMS, your team rushes through aisles, searching for products the system says are in stock, but aren’t. Orders pile up, mispicks lead to angry customer emails, and delayed shipments put your reputation at risk.

Imagine a warehouse where your orders are grouped accurately, picking routes are optimized, and get instant inventory updates. Your workers don’t need to waste time over stock levels or missing items.

A WMS smoothly integrates into your online shopping platform to match your warehouse workflows. It assists your workers by automating repetitive tasks, tracking real-time inventory, and faster single-item order processing accurately through smart decision-making and predictive analytics capabilities.

5 Challenges in Managing E-commerce Warehousing

Here are some challenges in managing e-commerce fulfillment without a WMS: 

High Order Volumes

In e-commerce fulfillment, you need to handle large volumes of small individual orders. Many warehouses rely on the traditional picker-to-parts model, where workers manually retrieve items from shelves for each order individually (also known as single-order picking). This slows down fulfillment, increases labor costs, and leads to higher picking error rates.

Without a WMS, manual processes can cause frequent delays or break down during peak seasons like Black Friday sales, due to misplaced inventory, picking errors, and stockouts. Even with an entry-level WMS, warehouses lack advanced picking and routing optimization features to group orders for faster picking.

Inventory Management Issues

Around 67.4% of inventory managers still use Microsoft Excel for inventory management. And 62% of businesses face financial loss because they can’t track inventory accurately. For e-commerce businesses, inventory management is more complex due to high SKU variability and fluctuating demand patterns. You can’t rely on spreadsheets or manual counting to track your inventory status. 

Many WMS tools have basic tracking features but can’t provide real-time inventory visibility or predictive analysis of demand patterns across multiple sales channels. This leads to overstocking, understocking, or item misplacements, causing financial losses, shipping delays, and customer dissatisfaction. 

Order Inaccuracy

E-commerce warehouses are prone to picking errors due to the wide product range and faster fulfillment demand. Warehouses that use manual systems rely on workers to pick and sort orders individually without proper grouping lists or route optimization. 

Limited automation and a lack of error-prevention tools make it difficult to maintain high levels of precision, especially during peak periods when order volumes surge. Investing in a more advanced e-commerce WMS is important to maximize accuracy and improve the overall customer experience.

High Carbon Footprint

E-commerce warehouses have a high carbon footprint due to energy-intensive operations, excessive packaging, and frequent small shipments. Packaging alone accounts for 45% of the industry’s greenhouse gas emissions, according to Statista.

Basic WMS software lacks advanced algorithms to optimize warehouse layout and storage, leading to higher energy consumption and challenges in meeting industry-specific environmental regulations.

Limited Scalability

E-commerce warehouses need robotics and automated picking systems to streamline multi-channel fulfillment. But, many basic solutions lack multi-channel integrations, real-time tracking, and AI-driven inventory management.

As a result, businesses face delayed order processing, mismanaged inventory, and higher operational costs, making it difficult to scale operations, expand product lines, or enter new markets efficiently.

How the Right WMS Can Drive Growth for E-commerce Businesses

Here’s how WMS can help you overcome e-commerce warehousing challenges and drive growth:

Support Customer Expectations

An e-commerce-configured WMS ensures fast, accurate order processing and on-time deliveries. This results in customer satisfaction and a high retention rate.

Adapt to Same-Day & Next-Day Delivery Demands

WMS can help you achieve faster shipping through automated order processing and fulfillment. It groups orders by priority and optimizes picking paths for workers to pick, sort, and pack for shipping on the same day. 

The software can also transfer incoming shipments directly to outbound trucks without storing them in the facility. This saves space and customers receive orders quicker.

Save Operational and Labor Costs

By reducing errors, optimizing inventory levels, and improving warehouse operations like picking accuracy or labeled item placements, an advanced WMS reduces human errors and labor costs. These savings directly affect your revenue growth.

Provide Data-Driven Insights for Decision-Making

With powerful analytics and reporting, the right WMS provides insights into key metrics such as inventory turnover and order trends. This enables more informed decision-making on stocking strategies and demand forecasting.

Improve Fulfillment Workflow 

Automating routine tasks and optimizing workflows frees up your team to focus more on strategic growth initiatives and improving the customer experience. 

Support Scalability

A good WMS software is flexible, scalable system that grows with your business. Whether you’re expanding product lines, entering new markets, or handling seasonal surges, a WMS adapts to your growing inventories and changing customer demands without compromising the workflow.

4 Best Practices to Implement an E-commerce WMS

Here are 4 best practices to implement an e-commerce WMS in your warehouse:

1. Organize and Clean Your Data

Inconsistent or outdated inventory records often lead to errors and stockouts. Thoroughly clean up existing inventory data before WMS deployment to avoid mismatches when orders flood in from multiple channels. 

Also, regularly audit your product information to maintain data reliability.

2. Integrate WMS with E-commerce Platforms

Multi-channel operations require smooth data exchange between the front-end (online stores) and back-end (fulfillment systems). A fully integrated WMS allows real-time updates on orders and stock levels across all sales channels.

3. Train Your Team to Use WMS

Provide hands-on training and create reference materials (quick guides, videos) for warehouse staff. This allows workers to know how to effectively use WMS to improve operational workflows like accurately picking items or placing them in the right bins.

4. Collect Feedback for Continuous Improvement

Warehouse workers might spot unexpected demand or physical layout problems that algorithms might miss. By combining WMS software with employee feedback, you can maximize storage space, avoid underlying issues, and ensure each product is in the right spot.

Benefits of Da Vinci WMS Solution

Da Vinci stands out as a comprehensive e-commerce WMS. Here’s how it can benefit your warehouse management:

Real-Time Inventory Tracking

Da Vinci provides real-time inventory updates on stock movement, from shipment arrival to outbound shipping. This helps you and your workers track stock levels to avoid stockouts or overstocking. Our cloud-based software centralizes real-time data to help you respond faster to demand shifts and manage the storage of your best-selling products.

Improved Order Accuracy

With automated picking and packing processes, Da Vinci significantly reduces human error. Our software uses advanced algorithms to analyze demand trends and accurately assign storage locations for incoming shipments. 

For example, it can assign high-demand items closer to picking zones for workers to pick without traveling long distances. Paired with real-time tracking, WMS ensures every order is fulfilled accurately, leading to fewer returns and higher customer satisfaction.

Optimized Space Utilization

Da Vinci WMS allows you to maximize your warehouse’s potential with intelligent inventory organization and smart warehouse layouts. If you have a high SKU variability, WMS can help you categorize, label, and assign storage locations to avoid order fulfillment errors. 

Faster Omnichannel Fulfillment

You can store, manage, and fulfill orders faster with Da Vinci’s WMS features. Here’s how it helps:

  • It analyzes historical demand patterns to predict high SKU demand, especially during peak periods like Black Friday sales or seasonal orders. 
  • It places high-demand and frequently grouped items closer to picking zones for faster retrieval.
  • The software uses advanced picking methods (batch, wave, or zone) to generate grouped lists and optimize picking paths based on order volume.
  • It can match incoming shipments with pending orders and redirect them to outbound trucks (also known as cross-docking) to save space and speed up fulfillment.
  • It provides omnichannel management and fulfillment capabilities with popular e-commerce platforms like Shopify. 

Integration with Automated Systems

Our team tailors Da Vinci’s WMS code to easily integrate with emerging technologies like Internet of Things devices (sensors or cameras), autonomous vehicles, or robotic arms. It can also dynamically assign tasks between automated systems and human workers to complete order fulfillment faster.

Optimize Shipping Rates

Da Vinci features rate shopping to help you pick the best-priced shipping options, depending on your product (weight, dimensions, or delivery destination). It can integrate with multiple carriers, making it easier to onboard new shipping options. 

Improve Worker Performance

Our WMS automates repetitive tasks like inventory counting and storage assignment, allowing your workers to focus more on high-value tasks like picking items accurately or quality control inspection. 

How WMS Can Support Future Technologies in E-commerce Warehouse

As e-commerce grows and customer demands increase, warehouses must adopt emerging technologies to scale efficiently, automate operations, and manage higher order volumes.

A WMS plays a critical role in adopting these future technologies:

  • Internet of Things (IoT): IoT will enable real-time tracking of inventory, automating data collection through RFID and smart sensors, and reducing stock discrepancies. A WMS integrated with IoT can automatically update stock levels and optimize storage based on demand patterns.
  • Big Data Analytics: Large datasets generated by e-commerce logistics can be analyzed using AI-driven WMS platforms. Predictive analytics will help optimize inventory placement, forecast demand spikes, and reduce wastage, minimizing operational disruptions.
  • Cloud Computing: Cloud-based WMS solutions can provide scalable infrastructure, allowing warehouses to integrate real-time data from multiple locations, manage distributed fulfillment centers, and ensure smooth communication across supply chains.

Discover how Da Vinci Unified can help grow your e-commerce business. Request a demo today with our team of experts to learn more.