The Need to Build an Online Ordering System

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It is no longer the time for all business transactions to be carried out directly. In the last decade, almost all businesses from B2B to B2C have entered the digital world (Online Ordering System) as the most crucial part of sales and various other transactions. Mobile devices have also become the main tool of today’s transactions. Especially in the past year, during the pandemic, health protocols have become our new focus. Technology is now a keyword in the success of various business activities today, including the distribution business.

The demand for the use of technology has now become an absolute thing that must be mastered by almost every company. When physical meetings were limited due to the ongoing pandemic, online sales and e-commerce platforms actually reaped a significant increase. With sales transactions through the internet network, orders can be made directly by consumers because information about detailed product info is already listed on the product catalog page. Bargaining processes such as conventional transactions can also be minimized so that transactions become more efficient. In addition, from the seller’s point of view, the recording process will be easier because it is done automatically and monitoring of sales progress can also be monitored.

The most important thing with building an online ordering system is to encourage the growth of new opportunities. Why is that? First, the Indonesian population is spread across various islands, is a very large market share, the existence of an online ordering system makes it easier for companies to reach a wider market. Second, the existence of an online ordering method will help companies increase brand awareness because product information is easy to obtain. Third, online ordering makes the store seem “no need to close”. Consumers can place orders anywhere and anytime.

Orlin from Pratesis

Seeing the existing conditions and opportunities, Prathesis created a B2B solution platform named ORLIN as a digital-based ordering system that provides many benefits for customers, distributors, and principals, and indirectly benefits the health of the wider community.

This pandemic has changed the behavior of stores which ultimately requires a digitally connected store network in order to continue to grow in the midst of this difficult time. For example, the company’s sales staff visit the store to be hampered due to restrictions that occurred in some areas and cases of out of stock in several locations due to these restrictions.

What are the advantages of implementing Orlin?

  1. Distributors can freely expand their business reach, without area and distance boundaries so that it is easier to open up the market by attracting new customers.
  2. Simplify ordering goods while reducing interaction between sales and product orders in the field.
  3. Digital technology that will facilitate, secure, and encourage business growth.
  4. Utilizing technological advances to improve services, providing convenience in the speed of ordering products 7×24 hours, with all existing devices.
  5. Speed ​​up product orders through the application, directly connecting customers and distributors

Basic Errors in the Distribution Process

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The process of distributing a product is basically all a series of jobs that are quite complex. Many stakeholders are involved, not only producers or principals but also wholesalers, retailers, and the systems involved, then leaving traces of many basic errors in the distribution process. In its development, more and more companies are realizing that activities are not a simple process. The wider the scope of distribution, the more diverse the types of products, the new challenges must be faced every day. That’s why nowadays distribution support applications as one of the effective and efficient distribution solutions are also growing.

However, there are still some crucial issues that often occur and must be anticipated by the company so as not to have a significant impact on the business as a whole.

  • Wrongly Identifying the Market

The market is the most important factor in every business, so is the distribution process. The difference is, the distribution is very dependent on the demographics of the target market, including the character of potential customers, age, preferences for products, and so on. In general, the locations of potential customers can be grouped in one area. The urban or rural target will determine how the distribution pattern is built.

The target market must also consider the individual, family, or corporate market. Of course, the corporate target market cannot be distributed through retailers or retailers. The pattern of treatment of producers/principals towards their target market must also be different. In conclusion, the company must be able to build a distribution pattern based on the target market.

  • Not Controlling Salesforce Activity

Salesforce is the spearhead of distribution. However, there are still companies that do not control their activities optimally. For example, reporting is still manual, not integrated, and not real-time. As a result, reporting is not timely, management’s strategic decisions are often executed too late.

In addition, the salesforce will be burdened with many administrative tasks which end up consuming more time than doing their main task of market expansion.

The existence of digitizing salesforce will also increase sales accountability. All goods out and absorbed in retail or retailers can be well known.

  • Does not control warehousing activities

Distribution companies that are now booming growing, there are still those who consider warehouses to be nothing more than temporary storage places for goods before they are distributed to wholesalers or retailers. In fact, warehousing is an important part of distribution activities. Stock management in the warehouse will affect the frequency of production, the scope of work of the salesforce, and even the fluctuations in product prices.

Warehouse operations also include budget requirements that must be issued by the company. Good management must know how long the optimal goods are in the warehouse because it involves budget requirements and the size of the next production. Another factor that cannot be missed is the selection of warehouse facilities, inventory placement, equipment placement, and storage functions within the warehouse itself.

If not managed professionally and using a technology-supported system, warehousing will actually cause many obstacles in the distribution process.

  • Mistakes in Building a Supply Chain

It is basic knowledge that the longer the supply chain, the higher the product price because of the many channels that must be passed. Determining the distribution channel chain can affect the smoothness of sales which will ultimately have an impact on profit, capital, risk, and the effectiveness of the salesforce.

The supply chain is basically influenced by two things, the first is the type of goods and the second is the geographical location. Perishable goods (short shelf life) of course require shorter distribution channels to reach consumers. If the goods must be distributed to locations with geographical locations far from the factory, it will require greater warehousing costs and transportation costs which in turn will have an impact on the selling price.

Meanwhile, non-perishable goods tend to have a longer distribution pattern, as more companies or individuals want to be involved in seeking profit.

In this case, the role of the principal and distributor becomes very important because the management must conduct research and then determine what distribution chain is the most appropriate for its products. Of course, this also requires periodic evaluation.

Some management considerations in this topic are the nature of the goods, the nature of the distribution, alternative costs, available capital, levels, benefits, and the estimated number of requests.

With these aspects, the company can determine the length of the chain in the distribution channel that is considered the most appropriate. Companies that have complex distribution channels with many links make margins very thin so they risk rising selling prices which makes the product uncompetitive in the market.

Implement Sales Force Automation (SFA) to Increase Sales

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Automation of this sales system is often referred to as Sales Force Automation (SFA). Basically, SFA is a system that can simplify business processes and tasks that are usually carried out by the sales team. Its goal is to make business processes more efficient and the sales team can focus on making sales.

In almost all businesses, sales are the spearhead of the company’s growth rate. It is not surprising that this profession is always highly paid, even though the challenges that accompany it are also high. Although the main task is to generate turnover, actually every salesperson has a different character depending on the type of company business. In the distribution business, the sales force is often referred to as the sales force. They are the ones who are in the field, opening up market opportunities, monitoring the absorption of products to arranging the delivery of goods to wholesalers and retailers. The complexity of the salesforce task makes every company required to build a system that can automate all the functions in it.

The following are some of the functions that SFA can automate :

    1. Order and purchase process
    2. Tracking the whole sales process
    3. Monitoring the location and presence of sales with GPS
    4. KPI salesforce
    5. Reporting and analytics.

Then, what exactly is the SFA detail function?

  1. Make sales management more efficient

As explained earlier, selling is a complex process. Sales are not only the process of handing over the goods and then a transaction occurs, but more than that, there are many processes that accompany it to arrive at the transaction.

For example, a salesperson must know with certainty his target market, know the distribution area of ​​his products to know the character of his customers. Another tough task is that each salesforce is required to make periodic reports, which are often still found to be done manually. It is undeniable, the complexity of these processes actually ends up consuming more time than the core task of a salesperson, namely increasing turnover.

SFA makes almost all of the above processes digitized and integrated with other functions in the business. Ultimately, SFA will ease the work of the salesforce and allow them to focus on their primary work of expanding the market and acquiring new customers.

  1. Simplify the Upselling and Cross-Selling process

Through the sales data contained in the system, SFA can assist marketing processes including up-selling and cross-selling. Both of these activities are basically part of a promotion or marketing gimmick. With SFA, the sales team can decide which products can be given an upselling program and which ones can be cross-selling.

The goal, of course, will increase the number of products absorbed in the market and ultimately provide new income for the company.

  1. Save operational time

One of the benefits that can be obtained from Sales Force Automation (SFA) is that it can save time, costs, and sales team personnel. If it used to take a long time to present customer data reports, record daily visit reports, and other administrative activities, with Sales Force Automation (SFA) you can present data in real-time and can be accessed via your smartphone anywhere.

In addition, SFA will reduce errors in data input for sales tasks that used to be done manually and took a long time. This means that with SFA, sales staff can more easily update the data anytime and anywhere because it is cloud-based.

  1. Improve service and build relationships with customers

This SFA application is designed to assist the marketing department in attracting and retaining customers, account management, and most importantly to provide profit from sales. In addition, SFA also helps managers both in activities that are directly related to customers and internal company activities that are always struggling to meet customer demands.

With optimal service, a good relationship is formed between the customer and the salesperson.