Provide real-time end-to-end order observability
Authors:
Michael Wholohan, Holger Lierse
Changed on:
17 Nov 2025
Problem
Without real-time integration between order management, warehouse systems, and carrier tracking, retailers lack accurate visibility into current order status and location throughout the fulfilment journey. This forces reliance on outdated status updates or manual checking across multiple systems, preventing proactive issue resolution and accurate customer communication.
The absence of real-time tracking visibility results in reactive customer service, inability to manage delivery exceptions effectively, increased WISMO inquiries, swivel-chairing and missed opportunities to provide customers with the transparency they expect in modern commerce experiences.
Example
A health and wellness retailer's order status updates were batch-processed overnight, meaning warehouse activity from today wouldn't reflect in the system until tomorrow morning. When customers checked order status, they often saw "processing" for orders that had already shipped, or "shipped" for orders stuck in carrier delays. The service team had to manually call warehouses or check carrier websites to get accurate information, creating significant delays in responding to customer inquiries and preventing proactive management of delivery exceptions or inventory issues.
Solution Overview
Fluent Commerce Order Management serves as the central orchestration and aggregation hub for all information relating to orders, integrating real-time information from all fulfilment and delivery systems (WMS, POS, TMS etc. ) to provide granular, end-to-end order observability for both internal service teams and customers.
Fluent achieves this via Real-Time Data Aggregation & Synchronisation, eliminating reliance on overnight batch processing and guaranteeing the order status is always current and accurate. Fluent's business workflow enables granular order tracking, exposing real-time line-item status throughout the journey.
Additionally, detailed order history, including all relevant events and transitions, is readily accessible, replacing manual "swivel-chairing" with immediate, comprehensive visibility. The platform also supports diverse reporting mechanisms, allowing for customised views of line-item progress to empower operations teams to identify and address bottlenecks. All this data is unified and exposed via the Fluent APIs, ensuring consistency across all touch-points.
By implementing Fluent OMS for real-time observability, retailers achieves a proactive, data-driven operation driving the following outcomes:
- Elimination of Data Lag: Order status updates are instant, eliminating the need for manual checking and ensuring that customers and agents see accurate information, thereby ending the frustration caused by batch processing.
- Proactive Exception Management: Operations teams can identify and address delivery delays or inventory issues immediately, transforming reactive customer service into a proactive function.
- Reduced Operational Costs: The service team is freed from time-consuming manual lookups and reactive WISMO inquiries, directly reducing operational overhead and improving agent efficiency.
