Managing Online Orders: Your Daily Workflow from Confirmation to Fulfillment

Hello Ficos Merchants! Your online store is live and the orders are coming in—congratulations! Now comes the most important part: efficiently managing those orders to keep your customers happy and your operations smooth.

This guide will walk you through the entire daily workflow for handling online orders within Ficos, from the moment a new order arrives to the point it’s ready for customer pickup or has been dispatched with a driver.

Why This Workflow is a Game-Changer #

Following this integrated process gives you four key advantages:

• Professionalism: Quickly confirm orders and keep customers informed with automated notifications, showing your business is organized and reliable.
• Accuracy: When you confirm an order, stock is automatically deducted from your unified inventory, preventing costly overselling mistakes.
• Efficiency: Manage everything from a single dashboard. Use bulk actions to confirm multiple orders or assign a driver to several deliveries at once, saving you valuable time.
• Clear Communication: Use the built-in chat to resolve questions with “Order Inquiry” customers before confirming, ensuring every order is perfect.

Your Tools: The Order Management Screens #

You will use two main screens for this workflow:

• • Manage Web Orders:
    • What it is: Your command center for all online orders. It features tabs like “Pending,” “Dispatch,” and “Delivering” to show you exactly what needs your attention.

• View Web Order:
  • What it is: The detail screen for a single order. Here you can review items, communicate with the customer, and take action (like confirming or cancelling).

Step 1: Start Your Day in the “Pending” Tab #

All new online orders first appear in the Pending tab on the “Manage Web Orders” screen. This is your daily to-do list.

A “Pending” order can be one of two types:

1. An “Order Inquiry” (from a Cash on Delivery checkout) that needs your review before payment.
2. A fully Paid Order (via Stripe) that is simply waiting for you to confirm you have the stock and can fulfill it.

Step 2: Handling an “Order Inquiry” (Cash on Delivery) #

If an order was placed using “Cash on Delivery,” it’s crucial to communicate with the customer before confirming.

1. Tap the pending order to open the View Web Order screen.
2. Select the Conversation tab.
3. Use the built-in chat to greet the customer and arrange your preferred payment method (e.g., mobile money, cash on delivery, bank transfer).
4. Only proceed to the next step once you are confident the order is legitimate and payment has been arranged.

Step 3: Confirming the Order #

This is the most important action. Confirming an order officially converts it from a web inquiry into a real sales order in Ficos and deducts the items from your inventory.

• From the View Web Order screen, find the action buttons at the bottom.
• Tap the Confirm Order button.

What happens next depends on the fulfillment type:

• • For Pickup Orders: The order will be confirmed instantly and will disappear from your “Pending” list. It is now ready for the customer to collect.

• For Delivery Orders: A panel will appear asking you to choose:
  • Confirm Only: This confirms the order and moves it to the “Dispatch” tab. Choose this if you want to assign a driver later.
  • Confirm & Assign Driver: This lets you immediately choose an available driver from a list, confirming and dispatching the order in one go.

Pro Tip: If you have multiple orders to confirm, use the Select Mode in the “Manage Web Orders” screen. Tap the checkbox icon in the header, select all the orders you’re ready to process, and then tap “Confirm Selected” to save time.

Step 4: Fulfilling the Order #

Once an order is confirmed, it’s time for fulfillment.

• • Pickup Orders: Prepare the items for the customer. The order is now considered “Awaiting Pickup.”

• Delivery Orders: If you didn’t assign a driver during confirmation, the order now appears in your Dispatch tab. This tab is your logistics hub for getting orders on the road. From here, you can select one or more orders and assign them to a driver. Once assigned, the order moves to the Delivering tab.

How to Cancel an Order #

If you cannot fulfill an order (e.g., due to a stock issue), you should cancel it promptly.

1. From the View Web Order screen for a pending order, tap the Cancel Order button.
2. You will be prompted to enter a reason for the cancellation.
3. Once submitted, the order is cancelled, and an email notification is sent to the customer explaining why.

Conclusion #

This daily workflow—moving orders from Pending to Confirmed to Fulfillment—is the key to running a successful online operation. By using the integrated tools in Ficos, you can manage the entire process efficiently, keep your data accurate, and provide a professional experience that will keep your customers coming back. For more helpful tips, visit the Ficos Documentation.