Store Fulfillment Setup Guide

You can choose to implement Radial Store Fulfillment only or a full Radial Order Management solution that includes Store Fulfillment. This setup guide covers both types of implementations.

Overview

Radial Store Fulfillment includes flexible fulfillment options like Ship-from Store, In-Store Pickup, Ship-to Store, and Associate Delivery. These fulfillment options enable you to take advantage of two of your most strategic assets: your stores and your staff. With these assets, you can capture more sales, drive efficiencies, and deliver the shopping experience your customers demand.

Ship-from Store

The Ship-from Store fulfillment option enables you to use your stores as regional distribution centers. The robust Inventory Management and Order Sourcing solution selects the best suited fulfillment locations for fulfilling specific orders. Customers select merchandise based on available-to-promise inventory that includes inventory that meets your Ship-from Store criteria. The OMS routes the eligible portions of the order to the appropriate store. Store associates are notified about new orders and use the ROM Store Fulfillment User Interface to generate pick tickets, shipping labels, and packing slips for the pending orders. Once the orders are picked and the items confirmed against each order, the order is packed and shipped. When an order is shipped, a customer’s method of payment is charged, and inventory supply and demand are deducted from the fulfillment node.

In-Store Pickup

The In-Store Pickup solution provides you with a fast, easy, and reliable option to “commit” the retail store sale while the customer is online. Customers select merchandise based upon a webstore display that uses available-to-promise in-store inventory to show which local store has the product available. The OMS releases In-Store Pickup orders to the appropriate stores for fulfillment. Store associates are notified about new orders and use the ROM Store Fulfillment User Interface to pick and confirm orders as Ready for Pickup. Once the order is confirmed as Ready for Pickup, ROM raises the event that can trigger a communication to the customer. As customers retrieve their orders, the store associates confirm the order pickup through the ROM Store Fulfillment User Interface. Depending on the retailer preference, a customer’s method of payment is charged. Inventory supply and demand are deducted from the fulfillment node either when the order is confirmed as Ready for Pickup or when the customer picks up the order at the store.

Ship-to Store

The Ship-to Store fulfillment option leverages inventory in direct-to-consumer warehouses, retail stores, or dropship fulfillment locations to offer the customer In-Store Pickup when the desired store is out-of-stock. Customers select merchandise and request an In-Store Pickup location that is enabled by the webstore. The Radial Inventory Management and Order Sourcing solution selects the best-suited fulfillment locations for fulfilling orders, then the OMS releases the orders to the appropriate nodes for fulfillment. When Ship-to Store orders are sent to store nodes for fulfillment, store associates are notified about new orders and use the ROM Store Fulfillment User Interface to pick, pack, and ship the orders.

Once the order is shipped to the appropriate store location, the customer’s method of payment is charged and the OMS exposes the order to that store. Upon package arrival at the store, a store associate verifies the contents of the package against the order and updates the package as received. Once all packages for the order are received, a store associate confirms that all packages are received via the ROM Store Fulfillment User Interface. This confirmation updates the order as “Ready for Pickup” and notifies the customer.

Associate Delivery

The Associate Delivery fulfillment solution enables you to offer same-day delivery to your customers and save shipping costs by providing you with the option to use store personnel rather than shipping carriers to deliver merchandise. When the Associate Delivery option is enabled by a retailer, the webstore uses the Radial Inventory Management and Order Sourcing solution to determine if items in the shopping cart are eligible for Associate Delivery. Once a webstore customer selects merchandise and provides a ship-to address, the webstore sends the Eligibility Request to ROM. If items in the ship group (that is, items shipping to the same address) are eligible for Associate Delivery, the customer can choose the Associate Delivery Shipping option. The Radial Inventory Management and Order Sourcing solution selects the best-suited fulfillment location for fulfilling the Associate Delivery order and the OMS releases the order to the appropriate node for fulfillment. Store associates are notified about new Associate Delivery orders and use the ROM Store Fulfillment User Interface to pick, pack, print delivery slips, ship orders, and confirm delivery. When an order is shipped, a customer’s method of payment is charged, and inventory supply and demand are deducted from the fulfillment node.

 

Integration Steps

Before you begin either type of integration, you must complete some preparatory steps. In addition, Radial personnel must complete several setup steps.

In the early stages of integration planning, Radial personnel meet with you to discuss your seller-specific needs and the Radial capabilities and services you plan to use. These decisions shape your integration roadmap and determine which APIs and data feeds you must implement.

Before you can begin your integration testing with Radial's APIs and feeds, Radial personnel must perform basic setup for your store and provide you with the following information:

  • Key identifiers for your seller's data, including Client ID, Catalog ID, Seller ID, and Default Hierarchy. You use these identifiers when you transmit data to ROM through feeds and APIs.
  • The location and password for your SFTP mailbox. You use the mailbox to deliver files for Radial feeds.
  • Seller ID and API keys for your test environment. You need these values to send test API request messages.

Standalone Implementation

If you choose to implement Radial Store Fulfillment as a standalone solution, see the following pages for integration details.

Store Fulfillment with ROM

If you choose to implement Radial Order Management and Store Fulfillment, see the following pages.