Onera’s solution to comprehensive, optimized fulfillment.
Dynamic Fulfillment automates and optimizes fulfillment in real-time—simultaneously evaluating across multiple objectives and all permutations to select the ideal fulfillment location.
Traditional order sourcing occurs among a handful of centralized fulfillment centers and uses simple, rules-based logic. With store fulfillment, hundreds of locations and hundreds of objectives must be considered. Applying simple logic to a complex network becomes inefficient, unwieldy, and expensive.
When applied to store fulfillment, it fails to consider all objectives and permutations, and only considers one location at a time. Suboptimal sourcing decisions result in high cost to serve—and a disappointed customer.
Multiple objectives must be simultaneously considered—including cost to ship, labor, and in-store demand. The increased size of the network requires logic that evaluates every possible option at the time an order is placed.
Applies machine learning to estimate the total cost to fulfill each order based on shipping cost, location cost, and expected revenue—for every possible fulfillment option, simultaneously.
Merchant-driven configurations that ensure fulfillment outcomes meet broader business goals, including network settings and cost estimation inputs.
Visibility into and reporting on fulfillment outcomes and KPIs, allowing you to assess and understand fulfillment trends and the impact of optimized sourcing logic.
| The Status Quo | Dynamic Fulfillment | |
|---|---|---|
| Approach | Rules-based. Uses simplistic, "yes / no" heuristics to select a fulfillment location. | Comprehensive. Predicts the fulfillment outcome that minimizes total cost to serve while meeting both business and customer objectives. |
| Objectives | Simple. Solves for a single objective at a time ("reduce shipping cost")—failing to consider store unpredictability and real-world complexities that impact ideal fulfillment outcomes. | Extensive. Estimates cost to serve and operational behavior (including cost to ship, cost of a location, and likelihood an item will sell in a store) to predict the actual, total cost to fulfill an order. |
| Scale & Speed | Limited. Built for networks that primarily use a handful of centralized fulfillment centers to ship to the customer. | Exponential. Evaluates every permutation—across hundreds or thousands of possible locations—and provides an optimal recommendation at web-speed. |
Our customers engage with our brand at multiple touch points—in both physical and digital spaces—and to continue providing the experiences they expect requires new ways of thinking as well as new tools. Onera provides Zumiez with the data and insights we need to exceed our customers' expectations.Paul Kisicki
