Order Entry Mistakes Are Expensive—Here’s How to Stop Them
"Your total is $19.99."
But the shelf tag said $14.99.
Oops.
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In most states, this ends with an eye roll and maybe a manager override. In Michigan, it triggers the infamous “Scanner Law,” forcing you to cough up the difference plus ten times that amount.
That's right—retailers pay a fine directly to the annoyed customer standing at the register.
For a single $5 mistake, no big deal. But pricing errors spawned by sloppy order entry across hundreds of products or dozens of stores? Now we're talking real money.
Penalties stack up, refunds multiply, customer trust evaporates—all because some system couldn't properly sync a price change between Monday's inventory update and Tuesday's store opening.
These pricing disasters start with disconnected systems—digital siblings who refuse to talk to each other.
When basic order information—price, availability, location—isn't accurately maintained across systems, the whole operation implodes.
According to IBM Supply Chain Intelligence Center, it's the point where 40% of all order fulfillment errors originate.
So let’s fix your system.
What is Order Entry?
The order entry process consists of receiving an order, validating its details, and entering them into your processing system (whether online, in-store, or via B2B channels).
You capture and enter the details of customer orders into your order management system, inventory system, or enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.
Here’s why you need an automated order entry system:
| Factor | Manual order entry | Automated order entry |
|---|---|---|
| Error rate | 4%-8% average error rate | Under 1% average error rate |
| Processing speed | 5–10 minutes per order | Seconds to minutes per order |
| Scalability | Requires additional staff for volume increases | Handles volume spikes without additional staffing |
| Data validation | Inconsistent, depends on staff training | Consistent, rule-based validation of every order |
| Cost structure | Higher variable costs (more orders = more staff) | Higher fixed costs, lower variable costs |
| Integration | Manual data transfer between systems | Automatic data flow between interconnected systems |
Who is responsible for order entry?
Order entry isn't just one person's job—it's a relay race where different teams grab the baton depending on your business setup.
- Order entry specialists/clerks. They input orders, check details, and flag weird exceptions. Think of them as your order gatekeepers.
- Customer service reps. Phone order takers and problem solvers. They're explaining to Mrs. Johnson why her pink sweater arrived in blue, while simultaneously processing her exchange.
- Sales teams. Field warriors collecting orders and managing those tricky B2B relationships. They're the ones handling custom pricing that makes your system cry.
- Warehouse staff. Reality checkers. When the system says you have 12 items, but the shelf says "LOL, nope," they're making the adjustments.
- Ecommerce teams. Digital traffic controllers making sure website orders flow smoothly into your systems without spontaneously combusting at checkout.
How Order Entry Works: Step-by-Step
Let's follow Marni as she orders a limited-edition gaming headset from ElectroShop.
1. Customer places an order
Marni clicks “Buy Now” on ElectroShop.com at 8:42 PM Tuesday.
2. Order details are recorded
The system captures orders in detail. The Arctic Blue XG-9000 headset ($129.99), Express Shipping ($12.95), the "Happy Birthday" gift wrapping option ($4.99), and her PayPal payment.
Her order number: #ORD-58721.
This includes recording the chosen payment methods and which providers are used. The data is also recorded in the CRM to ensure accurate customer records.
3. Inventory check is performed
ElectroShop's system shows 11 Arctic Blue XG-9000s in the Atlanta warehouse. Within seconds, one is reserved for Marni, dropping available inventory to 10.
4. Order verification and fraud screening
The system checks Marni's shipping address against her billing information. All good.
Her order passes the automated fraud screening because she's a returning customer with consistent purchase patterns.
5. Order confirmation sent
At 8:43 PM, Marni receives an email: “Thanks for your order! Your XG-9000 will arrive by Thursday.”
6. Process order for fulfillment
At 9:30 AM Wednesday, Ramon at the Atlanta warehouse receives the pick list, including Marni's headset. His handheld scanner directs him to aisle B, Section 14, bin 3, where he finds and scans the Arctic Blue XG-9000.
The system confirms he's picked the correct item.
7. Order tracking updates provided
By 4:30 PM, Marni's headset is packaged with the gift wrapping she requested and loaded onto the shipping partner's truck.
She receives an automated text at 4:32 PM with tracking information showing Thursday delivery date. This information, along with the order status, is also updated in the OMS.
The update, along with all other order information, is now available to her—a vital part of the fulfillment process.
5 Common Order Entry Challenges (& How to Solve Them)
The perfect order entry system doesn't exist. But you can get pretty close. Here's how to tackle the most common challenges.
1. Slow, error-prone manual processes
Humans are awesome. Humans typing order details? Not so much.
A single order entry mistake will devour 66% of your product's price. For a $100 item, that's $66 straight into the toilet.
Do the math: 1,000 customer service reps cranking out 30 orders daily means 30,000 unique data points.
Say you're working from your kitchen table. Your cat is yowling. The neighbor's lawnmower sounds like a jet engine. And there you are, double-clicking the same screen area for the 347th time today, copying and pasting like your life depends on it, checking tiny boxes in databases until your eyes cross.
By the 1,001st repetition, your brain has checked out. That's when mistakes happen.
👉🏼 Real-life example:
In Virginia, a single misaligned spreadsheet column turned into a bureaucratic nightmare. More than 500,000 absentee voter applications went out with incorrect information.
All because a spreadsheet column didn't match up quite right. Voters were linked to the wrong local registrar's offices, creating a cascading mess of misinformation.
The price tag was double printing costs and double mailing expenses.
As T.S. Eliot says, not with a bang, but with a whimper (of human exhaustion). You click the wrong dropdown or select “Ship” instead of “Hold” because you're thinking about lunch, not logistics.
The most advanced order entry system in the world can't overcome the fundamental truth: humans get tired, humans get distracted, and humans make mistakes.
SOLUTION
- Automate, automate, automate. Replace manual entry with OCR (Optical Character Recognition), EDI (Electronic Data Interchange), and AI-driven automation. OCR quickly converts scanned documents into digital text, removing the tedious retyping process. EDI seamlessly connects your business systems with suppliers, instantly transferring data without manual input. AI automation intelligently captures and inputs order data, drastically speeding up the process while significantly improving accuracy.
- Standardize order entry workflows for consistency. Introduce clear, step-by-step processes, pre-set templates, and uniform data entry methods. Automated validation rules and auto-fill fields catch errors immediately, ensuring every order entered follows the exact same standards. Consistent processes mean fewer mistakes and higher customer trust.
2. Lack of real-time inventory sync
An online platform might show 50 widgets in stock, while the warehouse management system reports only 12, and the accounting software remains completely out of sync.
This digital dissonance creates a perfect storm of operational challenges.
SOLUTION
- Integrate order entry with inventory and fulfillment systems. Real-time integration across ecommerce platforms, warehouses, and order management systems keeps your inventory levels in perfect sync. This integration prevents overselling, improves accuracy, and dramatically improves customer satisfaction.
If you’re ready to make the switch from an 8% error rate to a ~1% error rate, here are our top 10 recommendations for order entry software:
- Consider advanced technologies. Advanced tracking technologies like RFID and IoT integration take inventory management to the next level. These systems enable real-time product tracking, precise location monitoring, and automated inventory counting.
3. Scalability problems
Growth sounds fantastic until your systems start breaking down. Manual processes that work smoothly for 100 orders can completely fail at 1,000.
Businesses find themselves trapped in a cycle of constant staff hiring, struggling to maintain consistent customer experiences as they expand.
SOLUTION
- Use AI and predictive analytics to optimize order management. AI-powered predictive analytics can forecast demand, prioritize order processing, and flag potential fulfillment issues before they occur. Automation handles sudden surges without needing additional staff, ensuring smooth scaling and cost-effective management of high-volume orders.
4. Poor customer data management
One customer might exist five different times in your system, each with slightly different information, each a potential source of confusion and missed opportunity.
This is what happens when customer information is scattered across multiple systems, duplicate records breeding like rabbits, and critical details lost in a digital black hole.
SOLUTION
- Streamline customer data collection for faster processing. Adopt auto-fill capabilities, saved customer profiles, and optimized order forms. These improvements streamline the checkout process, eliminate friction points, and enhance the overall customer experience—encouraging repeat purchases and long-term loyalty.
5. Disconnected sales channels
Every business wants to be everywhere—online, in-store, mobile, phone. But most end up everywhere and nowhere at the same time.
Picture the typical, modern customer journey. A potential buyer browses on a mobile app, switches to a desktop website, considers an in-store purchase, and might even call customer service.
Each of these touchpoints should feel like part of a seamless experience. Instead, it's more like wading through a maze designed by a drunk architect.
SOLUTION
- Enable multichannel order entry for a seamless experience. Unify online, in-store, and phone orders into one central system. Empower customers with self-service order modification options, maintaining consistency across all purchasing channels. Integrated, unified systems improve customer experience and operational efficiency simultaneously.
The Bottom Line
Imagine processing 30,000 unique data points daily with 1,000 customer service reps. Each point is a potential landmine—each keystroke a possible disaster.
The tools exist to fix this:
- Automation that catches errors before they explode.
- Systems that actually talk to each other.
- Workflows smart enough to prevent human mistakes.
Technology has made error-proof order entry possible.
The question isn't whether you can afford to upgrade—it's whether you can afford not to.
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Order Entry FAQs
Here are a few more questions people are asking about order entry:
What is sold in order entry?
Order entry handles all the records related to customer sales, such as price quotes, confirmed orders, and invoices. Some of these records, like sales invoices and credit memos, automatically create corresponding entries in your accounting system’s Accounts Receivable.
Why is order entry important?
When a business captures orders correctly, it can guarantee that the customer’s name and all other data are processed correctly:
Provides a record of customer orders, which is vital for inventory management and fulfillment.
Helps track sales data, which is essential for business analysis and forecasting.
Facilitates smooth communication between sales, warehouse, and accounting departments.
Directly impacts customer satisfaction by minimizing errors and delays.
What’s the difference between order entry and data entry?
Data entry is a general task, while order entry is focused on processing customer sales transactions. All order entry is data entry, but not all data entry is order entry.
