Zoho published a detailed guide to help Indian retail and D2C brands decide between building an in-house warehouse management system (WMS) or adopting a cloud-based order management system (OMS). The guide, released this week, highlights the importance of diagnosing operational pain points and understanding the distinct roles of WMS and OMS in managing warehouse and order workflows, respectively, according to zoho.com.
The guide advises teams to first clarify what each system governs: WMS focuses on internal warehouse activities such as bin locations, putaway, pick paths, and cycle counts, while OMS manages the broader order journey including channel orders, allocation, carrier selection, GST invoicing, tracking, and returns. Zoho recommends involving both operations leads and engineering roadmap owners early in the decision process to ensure alignment. The guide also stresses diagnosing whether issues arise inside the warehouse or in external order processes by reviewing recent escalations.
This guidance comes as many growing Indian retailers and D2C brands face challenges managing orders from multiple sales channels, including owned storefronts and quick-commerce platforms. Zoho’s framework helps companies avoid common pitfalls like overselling across channels or manual invoice generation, which are often mistakenly attributed to warehouse inefficiencies. The distinction between WMS and OMS functions is critical for selecting the right technology to streamline operations and scale effectively.
Zoho’s guide lists ten key checks, with most teams reaching a decision by the fourth or fifth step. The company encourages brands to start by counting active sales channels and then systematically evaluate operational pain points. This structured approach aims to reduce costly missteps in technology investments for order and warehouse management.