The shift to network based order fulfillment operations

Order fulfillment has evolved from a linear supply chain problem into a network optimization challenge where organizations must dynamically route orders across warehouses, stores, and third-party partners while balancing competing constraints around cost, speed, and inventory availability. Organizations managing this complexity through spreadsheets or legacy systems face compounding costs from overselling, freight inefficiencies, and reactive exception handling, which erode margins and customer trust. Distributed order management (DOM) capabilities constitute the control layer that enables network-wide optimization, allowing modern order management platforms to synchronize inventory visibility across all fulfillment nodes and automate sourcing decisions based on proximity, capacity, and cost constraints. Organizations deploying these platforms transform retail locations into fulfillment assets and gain centralized visibility to proactively manage exceptions. As vendors consolidate capabilities through acquisition and embed AI into delivery promising and exception-management workflows, buyers should prioritize platforms that combine strong order lifecycle control and DOM with flexible integration patterns and embedded decision support, enabling organizations to test and scale new fulfillment models without sacrificing visibility into cost and service tradeoffs.