How Order Entry Systems Can Transform Your Business Operations

Order entry programs, also known as order entry systems, simplify the way orders are captured between businesses. Instead of relying on last week’s catalog, it gives your buyers a customer ordering portal with live product updates with exclusive offerings, and features. With the right order entry program in place, you can effectively replace the manual workarounds (email, calls, sales rep orders) with one platform for all your order entry intake. The confusion lies in the nuances of the offerings - ERPs for distributors and suppliers can manage orders, but they don't allow order entry across ecosystems. 

This article will outline your options and help evaluate the tight order entry program for your business. 

What Is Order Entry?

Order entry refers to the process of inputting purchase requests from customers into your systems. In B2B, it often involves manually keying in order data between emails, portals, and spreadsheets.

However, modern businesses use digital order entry systems that give customers a streamlined way to browse live inventory while still adhering to the B2B nuances of personalized pricing.

An advanced customer order entry system ensures that buyers can self-serve, and your internal team can shift from chasing down orders to driving growth.

Why Order Entry Needs to Evolve

Manual order entry might be manageable if you're a small Shopify seller, but for B2B operations with orders coming across multiple channels and formats, the complexity adds up quickly.

You’re not just entering an order.

You’re:

• Checking product availability across warehouses

• Confirming pricing by customer or group

• Inputting orders manually

• Chasing follow-ups

This level of administrative overhead isn’t sustainable or cost effective. Every delay or typo creates a ripple effect downstream, impacting your bottom line.

That’s where automated order entry systems come in.

Unlike entry-level order entry programs that simply provide a digital portal, automated systems are built to manage the full spectrum of B2B order intake in one integrated workflow.

With automation in place, your business gains:

• Real-time inventory validation: Customers can only order what’s available

• Built-in pricing logic: Customer-specific pricing is applied automatically

• ERP integration: Orders are instantly synced with back-end systems

It’s the difference between digitizing one piece of the puzzle and unifying orders, end to end.

If you're still relying on disconnected systems, you're holding your team back. An automated order entry system changes how your business scales.

Benefits of Implementing Order Entry Systems

Improving B2B Buying 

If your buyers can’t, or worse, won’t buy from you, the outcome is clear and consequential. As a supplier, the second most important job you have after producing sought-after goods is to make retailers want to purchase from you. 

In 2025, without a program or solution for order entry, you risk independent retailers not wanting to transact with you. At least 74% of your buyers want to order from some kind of B2B ecommerce or order entry program. Providing buyers with a portal where they can enter their orders at any time with your live inventory helps improve your customer service and retain your buyers.

Time Savings For Your Team

Without a program in place for buyers to purchase orders digitally, your team is forced to rely on traditional B2B order management. Orders come in via email attachments, calls, and Excel files, which are often placed referencing your catalog from the week prior. While lots of products are still available, any inventory that’s sold out isn’t immediately visible to your team or your buyers. 

To put it simply, without an order entry program, your team is wasting hours per day manually processing orders, and it could be costing you additional sales. 

With the right software in place, your team is freed up to spend more time developing customer relationships that facilitate sales. In B2B, half the work is the relationships you build and maintain. 

Implementing an order entry program isn’t about replacing your current team. It’s about order automation that manages the tedious, entry-level data management, so you can empower your team to grow into more senior roles and focus on the human side of B2B. In an increasingly digital world surrounded by AI and bots, what’s going to stand out is the humanity we bring to our business relationships. 

Order Entry Software vs. Order Entry System

While the terms are often used interchangeably, there’s a difference between order entry software and a fully integrated system.

A sales order entry system might streamline manual tasks, but an integrated system eliminates the tasks entirely.

Types of Order Entry Systems

There are endless options when it comes to how you want to automate your order entry. Some programs offer a simple portal that will run you $25/month and provide a simple, easy-to-use app for customers to purchase from you. Others provide order management solutions that go beyond order entry and portals, considering the end-to-end order lifecycle. 

Traditional Order Entry Systems 

Traditional order entry apps offer a digital storefront where both customers and sales reps can log in to browse live product availability and place orders. Depending on the solution, you can find apps for as low as $25 per month with prices scaling based on the number of orders managed on the platform. For a small-scale or early-stage operation, these solutions are a great way to get started. 

Good for:

• Businesses that are just getting started with digital ordering

Limitations:

• Doesn’t integrate with other systems

• Can’t support complex pricing or workflows

Automated Order Entry Systems 

As you grow your business, or if you already have, you realize just how many portals and systems exist just to be able to make B2B orders move. For most operations teams, the idea of an order entry system is met with resistance. At the end of the day, it is yet another portal for them to log into. Order automation software provides an alternative, where the portal jumping stops being a hindrance to growth.

With a traditional B2B portal, for each order, your team would still have to log into your inventory or ERP software to ensure there’s enough inventory, confirm back in the portal, and then record the transaction back in the ERP. 

And that’s only one transaction. 

If you have retail partners with EDI portals, customers sending email attachments, and you’re selling on Amazon all at the same time, adding an order entry portal is only going to add to the mix. It’s all too familiar, and your team becomes consumed by copy + pasting order data between systems. It’s ultimately error-prone, slow, and an impediment to growth. 

An automated order entry alternative looks at your entire order process and moves it from end to end. It integrates your ERP and sales channels, all while providing a customer portal with live inventory updated across systems. 

While a traditional solution will provide a digital solution for SMB, growing businesses are opting for a fully-integrated, automated order entry system. 

Best for:

• Mid-size to enterprise suppliers

• Multichannel sales

They ensure that orders:

• Are up to date

• Reference customer specific pricing

• Sync with your ERP

Key Features to Look For

Real-Time Inventory Management

Automated order entry systems are fully ERP-integrated, meaning they provide real-time inventory data, and customers can only order what’s available. You avoid stockouts, your procurement team can work proactively, and your customers have a better buying experience. 

Integration with Existing Systems

B2B doesn’t happen in a silo but without an integrated ordering system, your orders do. Tools like a B2B Order Management System sync all your channels and portals with back-end ERP systems and connect to fulfillment, so the entire order lifecycle is fully managed. 

When evaluating integrations, consider which are currently available and whether the company offers to build new ones. While you may have some of your independent retailers using the customer ordering portal, you’ll also want to automate with your larger retail partners that require EDI. Our tip is to consider whether the available integrations are direct-to-consumer (DTC) focused or if they’re designed for your B2B needs. 

Pricing Structures for B2B 

Your B2B sales are not a one-size-fits-all, and neither should your order entry system. The less complex, ‘traditional’ solutions allow you to digitize your catalog, but they don’t offer complex pricing tiers. 

With a customer ordering portal designed for the way B2B transacts, you have dozens of ways to add pricing rules based on individual customers or customer groups. 

Challenges in Adopting Order Entry Systems

Not all solutions are made equal, and neither are order entry programs. 

Resistance to Change

It’s all too common for B2B suppliers to still say, “My customers don’t want that, or won’t use it”, but the true resistance to change lies with you and your team. Customers want a digital experience. They want real-time information.

The true value in convincing your team to adopt an integrated order management system is the reduced portal jumping. While an entry-level order entry portal adds to this pain, a fully integrated solution means they can work and scale smarter. 

Buyers Don’t Always Adopt the New Portal 

Just because most of your buyers want a digital portal doesn’t mean you can change 100% of how your customers operate. 

Some are still going to email you even if you have a portal for order entry.

You can either continue to manually manage email attachments or find an email order entry automation tool designed for B2B orders.

DTC, eCommerce Portals Branded for B2B 

B2B eCommerce, like most of your operations, isn’t as simple as direct-to-consumer (DTC) interactions. One of the challenges of selecting an order entry platform is the amount of DTC solutions rebranded for B2B that are unable to handle the true complexity of your business. They don’t come with the pricing structure, automation or order handling needed to make orders work in B2B. 

An eCommerce website is not a way to solve B2B order entry. 

What businesses need is B2B eCommerce software that offers a B2B ordering app while integrating with eCommerce storefronts. 

OrderEase is the B2B Order Management System that top manufacturers use as the system of action across their order ecosystem. It offers an order entry solution while offering fully managed integrations that your team doesn’t have to set up. 

For buyers who still won’t adopt digital solutions and portals, OrderEase offers email order automation and sales rep tools so you can offer customized buying experiences for every business partner. 

Case Studies: Successful Implementations

TDI Brands, a wholesale garden business, used to get orders from customers and sales reps and had to manually input them between systems. Eventually, their team was working overtime just to keep up with orders. They considered hiring another full employee, but finding someone who was dedicated and could learn all the ins and outs was nearly impossible. 

With an automated order entry system, fully integrated to their ERP, they were able to offload the entire cycle and save 900+ hours per week. 

Read more about their success here. 

Elevating Business Operations with Automated Order Entry 

For growing suppliers, an order entry system is the key to digitizing how orders are placed by B2B buyers. Whether you’re starting with a simple order portal or adopting a B2B Order Management System, it’s the catalyst for change in your organization. The right system not only transforms how orders are entered but also sets you up for reduced costs and long-term growth.