I’m not Amazon. How can this strategy work for me? There are several ways to incorporate omni-channel principles into your business without experiencing a substantial capital expense. Below are several options:

• Gradual growth driven investment: Steadily incorporate omni-channel principles over a period of time based on revenue.

• Area reconfiguration: Use existing equipment to process orders more efficiently for e-commerce expansion.

• Utilization of your current facility: Use current inventory for in-store and e-commerce needs.

• Scalable conventional: Add on to current facility to accommodate multi-channel requirements.

Do I need a warehouse control system? There are many benefits of incorporating a warehouse control system (WCS) into your facility. A WCS synchronizes labor and equipment to increase productivity, which enables the quick decisions necessary to meet tight deadlines. It allows you to make adjustments to labor and wave management on the go, while building flexibility into your system to accommodate both store and e-commerce demands. Other benefits of a WCS include the ability to assign a UPC code to any of multiple orders, wave buffers to de-couple picking from packing and shipping, and the ability to deal with emergency or cut-off orders.