I need order management software reviews

[noblenull]

Trying to find REAL opinions on Order Management Software on the web is no easy task. Please do not use this thread as advertisement space for your company, or a company that you resell for.

That being said, I need some help in choosing order management software. I have been looking for about 9 months, and still have not found an easy winner.

My company is a web/phone/mail order company that ships approximately 125 orders a day, 300 orders during peak seasons. We are looking for software that is strong on the inventory management/purchasing side. Our current website runs osCommerce, and we would like to find software that can be integrated. We use UPS exclusively for shipping, and also require that the software supports worldship integration. We would like a complete solution for under $30K. Our website is currently on a dedicated server at an ISP, and we would like to keep it this way. However, we are not interested in a hosted solution. We require approximately 15 concurrent users.

The products that I have been looking at are:

Mail Order Manager (www.dydacomp.com)
Response (www.colinear.com)
Coresense (www.coresense.com)
Ordersuite (www.ordersuite.com)
Atrex (www.atrex.com)
CMS (www.newhavensoftware.com)

Please let me know if anyone has experience with any of these products.

Thanks in advance.

[noblenull]

I found a pretty good resource for information at http://bg.opsandfulfillment.com/ar/f...ritics_choice/. It basically breaks down all of the software I listed, with features and ball park price range. I've tested Order Suite and Mail Order Manager, and have problems with both.

Order Suite seems to be leagues behind Mail Order Manager in terms of functionality. Really nothing revolutionary going on there. I was suprised by the price tag after reading that they only have 2 programmers at the company.

Mail Order Manager seems to have most of the functionality that I need, and definately falls into my price range. However, I have a big problem with their e-commerce package known as SiteLink. I've read a lot of bad things about it, and have tested a few websites using it. It is not at all Search Engine Friendly. A lot of "MOM" users also complain about their servers being down constantly.

I am in desperate need of suggestions. Please let me know of any software that might fit my company (and that wasn't made in someones basement).

[InfoSourcing]

Hi NobelNull,

Looking at your requirements, I have some list of softwares that match your criteria and I will share them, if you can send me an email to info@info-sourcing.com so I don't advertise here ...

[Bael Estri]

Hello,

I am not sure if you have found a solution or not already, but I was going to chime in on what I have experienced.

I should probably note I was using volusion and needed something more substantial that integrated my sales online and offline.

I was looked into mail order manager, colinear, stonedge, ordermotion, and ordersuite. Here is my experience with each.

Mail order manager had most all of the features I was looking for but I wanted some custom reporting and changes to the interface. They were not responsive on adding this functionality and so I decided to hold them as an option for hiring a custom programmer to possibly fix up their software for later.

Stonedge looked like they had everything I wanted, but when I started talking to them more they were alot of fluff and no real meat, the price was good but I did not feel they could facilitate any future changes and give me the support I needed. I took them off my list.

Ordermotion looked cool, it had lots of frills for online working and reminded me of salesforce. Problem I had is that they dont allow for any modifications or changes since their software is hosted online.

Colinear didnt seem like a real company, much like Stonedge their statments are for alot, but looking further and talking to them reveals a lot of unstable promises and no options for change.

I went with Ordersuite. They were able to answer my questions and customize their software to work the way I wanted. I got my solutoin from them in September and their engineer staff consisted of 8 at the time. With all the customizations I added it totaled out to be a little over $18k

I havent had any issues they wont solve, and would recommend them whole heartedly.

I hope you have had some luck in finding something that works for you, and that my info might help if you have not.

Happy Hunting - Xage

[IAG]

I am a consultant working with a client to deploy the Colinear Response system. They sell nutritional products, 250-750 orders per day, 40-users, 60% mail and phone and 40% web (web is increasing rapidly). Colinear was the most honest and straightforward company we looked at. Their CEO readily admitted their weaknesses and sees themselves as "the least of several evils." We requested and got an extensive reference list and contacted six users. They were all very complementary about the product and the company's dedication and desire to serve them. They pointed out that the documentation hasn't been kept up-to-date although they're getting better. Some want integrated accounting to Quickbooks which they say colinear is working on and releasing by early next year. Overall, the power and flexbility of the system is very impressive for the price. The fact that it runs on MS SQL was a big factor in our decision to go with them. Also, that they use Crystal Reports extensively including output for invoicing and purchase orders so you can customize them yourself without any real programming. The Newhaven CMS system was a close second. We chose Colinear primarily because (i) they use MS SQL and Crystal, (ii) the application is richer and more mature, (iii) strong referernces, (iv) great order entry program, (v) long company history good reputation. HOpe this helps!

[Gromit]

You all are well on the way to providing other small businesses a kick-ass resource for anyone looking for order management software --- Nothing better than reading about other small business owners' first-hand experiences. Thanks for sharing them with us.

Gromit

[Gil10018]

I'm a bit biased but would love to discuss details with you regarding your options. Feel free to contact me.

Gil
Devix Group, LLC
gil@devix.com
www.devix.com

[jbeech]

I've been involved in a similar search for about a year now myself, and I've not found reviews at all, much less any worth reading. The people at MOM were arrogant and turned me off. For what it's worth, I wasn't too impressed with OrderSuite either. However I found Barney Stone to be straight up about his product and I actually bought it only to discover it was slow on my network, i.e. I'd enter an address or phone number then press enter and then would have to wait (perhaps only a second, but it seems like forever) for something to happen. I hated the latency!

Anyway, Stone Edge offers a 14-day money back guarantee and because I was fast approaching that time frame, I opted to bail instead of taking a chance on working through a solution to the latency issue with them. You know what I mean, i.e waiting to discover this was just how it was and then being stuck with something I hated. Like I said, I opted to bail because I couldn't afford to spend that much money on something i would hate. For what it's worth, while Barney's people obviously weren't overjoyed to refund my money, they did so promptly. Furthermore, if I could resolve the issue with "slowness" I would be quite willing to try them again largely because I liked the accessability of the owner. I offer this to refute what a fellow above said about it not being a responsive outfit, i.e. my 2¢, but that's only my take on things vis-a-vis Stone Edge. Perhaps like others amongst you, I have an overwhelming desire to unify my website, my accounting, and my contact manager (presently Volusion but previously it was osCommerce, as well as QuickBooks, and ACT!) and unfortunately, Stone Edge doesn't handle the CRM end of things (or I don't think they do).

I've also spent a fair amount of time evaluating Colinear's Response, and Lloyd Merriam, the principal in the business, is cut from the same cloth as Barney Stone, i.e. about as straight a shooter as God put on this planet. However, similar to Stone Edge Order Manager, Response isn't strong with wholesale-CRM which I especially need. Furthermore, Lloyd has actually discouraged me from pursuing Response because he feels it'll be too complex for my needs and abilities - he very well may be right - but I feel it speaks volumes about his honesty.

By the way, mine is probably one of the smallest businesses around. We are into hobby wholsesale and in addition to accepting order by mail, phone and web, we sell to about 450 hobby shops. We're quite a small operation though and while we're growing, we only do 20-30 orders a day and sometimes struggle to do a mere 5 or 8 orders. Also, while retail customers are as apt to call as use the web, the hobby dealers are far more likely to call when placing an order versus using the website. This is changing, but not fast; they like to speak to somebody.

Another thing is I prospect incessantly for new hobby dealers, and call the owners or managers of my hobby shops about 4 times a year. As you might suspect, I live in ACT! but desperately wish I had a good link to QuickBooks so I could know when someone owes me money while I'm on the phone. There's other data I wish I had during a call, i.e. if they pay me promptly, or if I'm constantly having to chase them for payment (meaning I'm not that eager to sell to them again on account and need to ask for a credit card or a COD status - so this is critical data when I'm working the phone).

I'm presently looking at MailWare 2005 and Bruce Kowkabany has also been a straight shooter (as far as I can determine), but he and I are presently engaged in phone tag and thus, it's much too early in the process of evaluating this product so I cannot contribute much to this discussion in this regard.

One product you didn't mention, which I found to be the single best product in the category - but simply out of my financial reach at present, is called Everest. A 2-station license is $6500, but the web add on is another $5000, plus they say $10,000 for implementation is low. Basically they seem to be telling me to expect to pay $25-30k. Ask for Sean (or Shawn) though this seems a strange name for the fellow because I detect an Indian or Pakistani accent (to my uneducated ear). Anyway, Sean is very knowledgeable about his product. Contact him at (800) 382-0725 ext.6628. One thing I didn't like is you need to spend 1200 bucks for a software bridge, their term, but basically it seems to be something you buy so you can import your existing customers or product data . . . like, "You want tires with your new car also?" if you catch my drift. Seemed pretty chicken shit to me, but perhaps I've misunderstood how this can be an option when you're spending this class of money, but then again, we're small potatoes in the grand scheme of things.

Anyway, Everest is from iCode, but they've recently changed their company name to their software's name, Everest (like the mountain). Call and ask for the long demo CD and you'll be blown away, I assure you. Seems to me they're right up your alley on money. Frankly, I only wish my budget were five to ten times what it is so I too could afford to got for Everest.

Another solution you've not mentioned is NetSuite, but then again, you stated a preference for a non-hosted solution. Personally I didn't want a hosted solution either, but I'm undergoing an ongoing re-evaluation of that position but haven't made a decision. I kind of like NetSuite, but the sales people piss me off. They actually try to force me to make a decision quickly . . . kind of like I'm dealing with a new car salesman - and worse, get offended when I call them on it! Anyway, I'm trying to overlook that issue but it's especially irritating to get the, "This is the end of our month, quarter, year and we have this special pricing just for you, but listen, I just learned our prices are being adjusted upward so you have to act quickly to reserve this pricing!" routine. What a load of crap!

Basically, this segment of the software market (all the players) seems to be one where there's a lot of hand-holding and they, naturally enough, need to be paid for it. However, it also seems to me that part of the reason there's so much hand-holding required is documentation is absent, or inadequate. I thus wonder if it's on purpose (so the hand holding is required for the lucre it represents). I don't want to point fingers, but it sure seems like a motive to dumb little old me! Alternatively, the documentation is for the last version (or older), or it just plain sucks. For example, I asked the Everest people for a look at the documentation and got a song and dance abiout they don't permit prospects to see it. They don't know it, but if I were in the league to spend $25k, they would produce the damned documentation, or I wouldn't buy, regardless of how much I liked the demo . . . period!

I realize that with this last statement especially I'm painting with a very broad brush, so if I'm wrong, please don't hesitate to speak up - anybody!

[Barney Stone]

John -

Did you have speed problems throughout the Stone Edge Order Manager, or just when entering orders manually into the system? The delay you described sounds like the program was looking for a match on the customer data you entered (email address, phone number, etc.). But even that should not cause a noticable delay if everything is set up properly. I just tried entering a phone number that pulls up one of the last customers out of a quarter of a million customers from a test file, and it was virtually instantaneous. Your problem may actually have been another program, such as Norton AntiVirus or ZoneAlarm, both of which can really strangle Microsoft Access by using up to 70 or 80% of CPU time. If you would like to give the Order Manager another try, and see if we can solve the speed issues for you, please give us a call.

One other thing: the return period is 30 days, not 14, and we occassionally extend that if someone needs a little more evaluation time. (And yes, we hate giving refunds! What merchant doesn't? Fortunately it does not happen often!)

[jbeech]

Barney,

I apologize for the 30-days vs. 14-days thing, the important issue was you had a reasonable return policy plus you didn't wiggle much when I asked for a refund. Also, I agree totally, there's not a merchant on Earth who likes refunds - including me!

Frankly, the latency issue drove me BATTY! And yes, I suppose it very well could have been anti virus, or something. Furthermore, I wouldn't mind at all trying it again . . . but there's one thing, and it's an issue with you, Mailware 2005, and even Response.

I preceive a weakness in CRM . . . but you see, I LIVE inside ATC! largely because I'm the salesman for the company and I am always prospecting for new dealers, or talking to existing dealer. Also, I have so many dealers (450 active, 650 totl) that I cannot begin to remember whom I told what - so I rely on ACT! completely because I put everything there.

Everything? Yes - from their stores hours, to what day a contact is off, to who the A/P person is (and if they're off on certain days), to their dog's name if I get it.

What happens in practice is a dealer calls me up, I immediately open his record in ACT! (Everest would open the record for me based on caller ID). So while we're speaking I input whatever notes I think should be there. Unfortunately, I have ZERO data about purchase history unless I put it in my notes, so if Lynn is handy I'll ask her to tell me about his order history (she is the QuickBooks user). Also their payment history (more important to me than pretty much anything, naturally). If Lynn's not handy I have to wing it, i.e. make do with what I remember (I hate QuickBooks). For example, below is the kind of info I have on hand about a dealer - this one just happens to be open in ACT! right now because I need to call on him . . .

6/8/2005 Charlie - Randy bought helicopter and will become field rep.
3/7/2005 Charlie - 3 ARF helis, 2 kits, 3 stands, plus 3 of all crash parts.
11/9/2004 Charlie - 3 ARF helis, 2 of crash parts
10/28/2004 Charlie - e-mails CS pics and Tiger link - interested - ask for order.
4/3/2004 Charlie - Has left 5/5, 11P
8/1/2003 Charlie - sold 5 VHS no DSP . . . doesn't know why sales are slow.
5/27/2003 Charlie - 5/15, 12P, 5E, 0C, 4F
9/8/2002 Charlie - Subject: MS0501 modelSPORT about to ship
2/10/2002 Charlie - M15, R4, B10
5/4/2001 Charlie - I/D Status Dealer
11/25/2000 Charlie - NRHSA 00

. . . from the above, lets pick the line for 5/27/2003 5/15, 12P, 5E, 0C, 4F

This is my shorthand for an order - it means 5 DVD and 15 VHS of my modelSPORT product, 12 of my radio programming videos, 5 of my engine videos, he didn't want any of my car videos, and he took 4 of my flight videos.

Barney, the problem is I don't have another entry for him until 8/1/2003 however, because I just asked Lynn, I now know there were two more orders in between . . . but I don't have access to those unless I either happened to have called on him on a particular date and made noets in ACT!, or I ask Lynn for the data. By the ay, on those two dates, he called us to place an order, so Lynn has the record in QB . . . but of course, I don't.

Naturally, I use the scheduling fuction of ACT! to make a call on such and such a date and time . . . but while I'm only using a small fraction of the power of ACT!, this is pretty much all I use it for.

Also, as it turns out, there's a piece of software which works to give some A/R data to ACT! . . . but it sucks - plus I find it awkward (because it's obviously been grafted on). I suppose I shouldn't complain because something is better than nothing, but I'm unhappy with it nonetheless. Anyway, two years ago is about when I started on my quest to find something better.

Barney, the Everest product looks great, but it's overkill for the likes of me and quite frankly is so far out of my budget I could cry that's a killer piece of software if it's for real. In fact, I would go so far as to say that effort is the cat's meow - however, I hear stories on this very forum which give me pause even if I could afford it vis-a-vis their present management and goals which I don't feel align with my needs (which is perfectly fine because after all it's their product and they have bigger fish to fry than me).

Meanwhile, since we last had contact, I switched from using osCOmmerce to a shopping cart offerd by www.volusion.com which is decent. One thing I especially like is it offers a phone order page. But it's slow also (largely because as I type in a product SKU for a phone order, I must press enter after each SKU and then wait for a screen refresh over an Internet connection).

Worse, Volusion doesn't show wholesale pricing while I'm taking a phone order from a wholesale customer - despite permitting several pricing levels depending on how the customer logs in, i.e. if a wholesale customer logs into the website they see wholesale pricing vs. retail pricing - so it drives me bonkers that I, as the administrator entering an order for a wholesale customer, can only see retail pricing . . . do these people ever use their software????

Anyway, Volusion doesn't address my CRM issues and I'm afraid you don't either. NetSuite does address the CRM issues (very nicely in fact), but then again I'm stuck with slow-ish software (though they make promises).

On the other hand, you integrate practically any shopping cart on the planet and if the speed issue is resolved (and I'm confident it can be largely because you are confident), then your software handily solves my problem of order entry when a phone call comes in. But I'm still stuck between a rock and a hard spot because CRM is where I live. Frankly, I could cry sometimes!

Anyways, I'm all ears to what you respond with.

Kindest regards my friend,

John

[jbeech]

Barney,

I apologize for the 30-days vs. 14-days thing, no slight intended - the important detail was you had a reasonable return policy plus you didn't wiggle much when I asked for a refund. Also, I agree totally, there's not a merchant on Earth who likes refunds - including me!

Frankly, the latency issue drove me BATTY! And yes, I suppose it very well could have been anti virus, or something. Furthermore, I wouldn't mind at all trying it again . . . but there's one thing, and it's an issue with you, Mailware 2005, and even Response.

I preceive a weakness in CRM . . . but you see, I LIVE inside ATC! largely because I'm the salesman for the company and I am always prospecting for new dealers, or talking to existing dealer. Also, I have so many dealers (450 active, 650 totl) that I cannot begin to remember whom I told what - so I rely on ACT! completely because I put everything there.

Everything? Yes - from their stores hours, to what day a contact is off, to who the A/P person is (and if they're off on certain days), to their dog's name if I get it.

What happens in practice is a dealer calls me up, I immediately open his record in ACT! (Everest would open the record for me based on caller ID). So while we're speaking I input whatever notes I think should be there. Unfortunately, I have ZERO data about purchase history unless I put it in my notes, so if Lynn is handy I'll ask her to tell me about his order history (she is the QuickBooks user). Also their payment history (more important to me than pretty much anything, naturally). If Lynn's not handy I have to wing it, i.e. make do with what I remember (I hate QuickBooks). For example, below is the kind of info I have on hand about a dealer - this one just happens to be open in ACT! right now because I need to call on him . . .

6/8/2005 Charlie - Randy bought helicopter and will become field rep.
3/7/2005 Charlie - 3 ARF helis, 2 kits, 3 stands, plus 3 of all crash parts.
11/9/2004 Charlie - 3 ARF helis, 2 of crash parts
10/28/2004 Charlie - e-mails CS pics and Tiger link - interested - ask for order.
4/3/2004 Charlie - Has left 5/5, 11P
8/1/2003 Charlie - sold 5 VHS no DSP . . . doesn't know why sales are slow.
5/27/2003 Charlie - 5/15, 12P, 5E, 0C, 4F
9/8/2002 Charlie - Subject: MS0501 modelSPORT about to ship
2/10/2002 Charlie - M15, R4, B10
5/4/2001 Charlie - I/D Status Dealer
11/25/2000 Charlie - NRHSA 00

. . . from the above, lets pick the line for 5/27/2003 5/15, 12P, 5E, 0C, 4F

This is my shorthand for an order - it means 5 DVD and 15 VHS of my modelSPORT product, 12 of my radio programming videos, 5 of my engine videos, he didn't want any of my car videos, and he took 4 of my flight videos.

Barney, the problem is I don't have another entry for him until 8/1/2003 however, because I just asked Lynn, I now know there were two more orders in between . . . but I don't have access to those unless I either happened to have called on him on a particular date and made noets in ACT!, or I ask Lynn for the data. By the ay, on those two dates, he called us to place an order, so Lynn has the record in QB . . . but of course, I don't.

Naturally, I use the scheduling fuction of ACT! to make a call on such and such a date and time . . . but while I'm only using a small fraction of the power of ACT!, this is pretty much all I use it for.

Also, as it turns out, there's a piece of software which works to give some A/R data to ACT! . . . but it sucks - plus I find it awkward (because it's obviously been grafted on). I suppose I shouldn't complain because something is better than nothing, but I'm unhappy with it nonetheless. Anyway, two years ago is about when I started on my quest to find something better.

Barney, the Everest product looks great, but it's overkill for the likes of me and quite frankly is so far out of my budget I could cry that's a killer piece of software if it's for real. In fact, I would go so far as to say that effort is the cat's meow - however, I hear stories on this very forum which give me pause even if I could afford it vis-a-vis their present management and goals which I don't feel align with my needs (which is perfectly fine because after all it's their product and they have bigger fish to fry than me).

Meanwhile, since we last had contact, I switched from using osCOmmerce to a shopping cart offerd by www.volusion.com which is decent. One thing I especially like is it offers a phone order page. But it's slow also (largely because as I type in a product SKU for a phone order, I must press enter after each SKU and then wait for a screen refresh over an Internet connection).

Worse, Volusion doesn't show wholesale pricing while I'm taking a phone order from a wholesale customer - despite permitting several pricing levels depending on how the customer logs in, i.e. if a wholesale customer logs into the website they see wholesale pricing vs. retail pricing - so it drives me bonkers that I, as the administrator entering an order for a wholesale customer, can only see retail pricing . . . do these people ever use their software????

Anyway, Volusion doesn't address my CRM issues and I'm afraid you don't either. NetSuite does address the CRM issues (very nicely in fact), but then again I'm stuck with slow-ish software (though they make promises).

On the other hand, you integrate practically any shopping cart on the planet and if the speed issue is resolved (and I'm confident it can be largely because you are confident), then your software handily solves my problem of order entry when a phone call comes in. But I'm still stuck between a rock and a hard spot because CRM is where I live. Frankly, I could cry sometimes!

Anyways, I'm all ears to what you respond with.

Kindest regards my friend,

John Beech - GM (and janitor)
Genesis Hobby Distributor
407-302-3361
www.genesishobby.com

[Barney Stone]

John -

The Order Manager will get pretty close to what you described. There are a series of tabs across the bottom of the View Customers screen. On the Orders & Transactions tab, you see a list of the current customer's orders (our order number, the Web order number, which shopping cart did the order come from, order date, total amount, and balance due), with the customer's total balance or credit due. Below that you see a list of that customer's transactions (payments and refunds; with date, description and amount), and total net amount.

On the Notes tab, you see an Explorer-style tree on the left, showing one line per note, with the note date, and a plus sign if a note has any follow-up notes. On the right-hand side, you see the full text of the selected note, plus who entered the note, its priority, what event triggered the note, any follow-up task for the note, who it is assigned to, when it is due, etc.

I think the only thing you mentioned that we don't show is some indication of how promptly the customer pays their bills, but you could easily use one of our custom fields for that, or you could pay us to add that feature to the program.

Finally, we do not currently support Volusion, although we have had several requests for it and are considering it for next year. (We just finished integration with XCart and should be adding VP-ASP before the end of the year.) In the meantime, you could use Shopping Cart Assistant (from www.writeitonce.com) to import from Volusion, and from there get your data into the Order Manager.

If you (or anyone else who is interested) give me a call during the week, I will invite you into my computer and show you the features I described.

[bkowkabany]

Hi noblenull,

I just caught your thread. If you are interested I will be happy to show you Mailware. In keeping with your request not to plug our software please feel free to contact me directly at bruce@core-tech.com.

Thanks,

Bruce

[splights]

I've been using NetSuite for about 4 years now. I have to say, I have always loved that it is truly a complete system with order processing, CRM, and complete accounting and payroll. My business is 100% ecommerce so it has worked well for me. The reason I chose Netsuite at the time was that is was one of the only solutions that integrated seamlessly with my Yahoo Store. Netsuite's partnership with Yahoo has since dissolved causing major issues for me. The sales dept. at NetSuite is a joke, I've had probably about 5 or 6 account managers in 4 years who are basically clueless about basic funcionality of the software. The tech support isn't much better and most of the time calling support I felt like I knew more about how the software works than they did. I started out when the Software was called Oracle Small Business, now it's Netsuite Basic. I have lots of grandfathered features that I guess someone would have to pay a lot more for if signing on now. The last straw for me with NetSuite is they are now insisting I shell out an additional $2000 to upgrade my package to NetSuite Limited just so I can some of the features that I already have, working correctly.

My problem is this, in looking at alternative packages I have yet to find something that is a true all in one solution. I don't like the idea of using separate software for accounting, etc. I also do not like renewing my software contract every 1-2 years which is the case with NetSuite. The other packages I'm considering are Ordermotion, Ordersuite and Everest. I have a feeling Everast will be way out of my budget. I have a demo with ordersuite tomorrow and so far the company seems to know what they're doing. It seems like they are willing to customize their software to exaclty what I need. This seems like the way to go, because I would ideally only pay for the software once but it would be exactly the way I need it. In the long run that would save the company money.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[jazzcat]

splights,

One thing to consider: when you say you don't want to pay yearly for software: are you expecting to pay yearly to have the privilege of using the software, or are you expecting to pay yearly for support? While it is reasonable that you should be able to use software in perpetuity, it is also reasonable that a software company be compensated for the work that they do. While bugfixes should always be free, they shouldn't have to provide tech support 5 years down the road for no additional charge.

Having said that, there are some interesting free options for CRM and accounting; while they won't neccessarily integrate with yahoo sales, they do provide excellent value.

http://www.sugarcrm.com
http://www.linuxcanada.com