The Heartbeat of Retail

Retailers often focus on what happens before the “buy” button — the ads, the listings, the design.
But, as Mady Mitchell points out, the real challenge begins after that click.

“Once the buy button is tapped, you have to think about everything else — inventory, fulfillment, shipping, cost, and customer experience,” Mitchell explains.

That’s where order management systems (OMS) come in. They form the brain of retail operations, managing every order from confirmation to delivery — and even returns.

What Distributed Order Management Really Does

An OMS connects all your sales channels, ensuring inventory is accurate, fulfillment is optimized, and customers get what they want, when they want it.

Linnworks’ distributed OMS acts as a central command center that unifies:

• Inventory management: Tracks stock in real time across warehouses and marketplaces.

• Fulfillment strategy: Chooses whether to ship via 3PL, in-house, or FBA.

• Shipping logic: Automates decisions on carriers, routes, and costs.

• Customer experience: Provides visibility and updates from purchase to doorstep.

“The customer experience isn’t won when they buy,” says Mitchell.
“It’s won when the package shows up on time — and the system behind that runs flawlessly.”

Automating the Invisible Decisions

Every order involves countless micro-decisions — what to ship, from where, with which carrier.

Linnworks data shows that retailers make five key decisions per order, each taking about six seconds.
That adds up fast. Through automation, Linnworks eliminates these manual steps via rules-based logic — if-then workflows that handle inventory routing, carrier selection, and fulfillment automatically.

“AI can’t decide what’s best for your business. But you can set the rules — and let the system execute them instantly,” Mitchell notes.

A Well-Oiled Machine

In an ideal setup, all orders — from Amazon, Shopify, Walmart, or TikTok — appear in one dashboard.
The OMS makes the decisions automatically:

• Chooses the right warehouse (East vs. West)

• Selects the right carrier (speed vs. cost)

• Splits orders or flags exceptions

• Syncs all updates across channels in real time

With 16,000 live automation rules and 2.1 million daily decisions, Linnworks customers save hours each day and dramatically reduce human error.

“One retailer caught a $3,000 shipping error just by automating their rule set,” Mitchell shares.

Scaling Without Chaos

As retailers add new sales channels — from Amazon to TikTok to Temu — Linnworks ensures everything scales seamlessly.
Retailers using its platform report:

• Up to 47 million automated decisions during peak season

• 31% faster workflows through rule-based order routing

• Better visibility across 170+ connected marketplaces

Mitchell’s takeaway:

“Peak season doesn’t just mean holidays. It can be any moment your orders spike. The key is to have automation ready before that happens.”

Turning Data Into Insight

Beyond automation, Linnworks helps retailers unlock customer intelligence by aggregating order data across every platform.
This creates unified customer profiles for personalized marketing, SMS campaigns, and retention programs.

“All the data’s already there — now it works for you,” Mitchell says.

The Freedom of Automation

Ultimately, automation isn’t just about efficiency — it’s about freedom.

“Everyone wants time back in their day,” Mitchell reminds the audience.
“Automation means you can stop firefighting and start growing — or just go home and spend time with your family.”

From Startup to Scale

Whether a small business or a global retailer, Linnworks’ modular OMS grows with the brand.
With 4,500+ customers worldwide and 1 billion+ orders processed annually, the platform helps businesses of every size automate decisions, centralize data, and focus on what really matters — the customer.

Key Takeaways

• The OMS is the heartbeat of your operations — everything after the buy button.

• Automate repetitive decisions to save time and eliminate human error.

• Use data to unify customer profiles and marketing.

• Prepare automation before your next peak season hits.

• Distributed order management lets you scale without chaos.

“At the end of the day, it’s your business,” says Mitchell.
“You set the rules, and the system works for you — not the other way around.”