How to choose a WMS for your warehouse
How a WMS differs from an accounting system, which features you really need and what to ask the vendor before buying.
What a WMS is
A WMS (Warehouse Management System) manages warehouse operations. An accounting system answers the question “how much stock do we have”, while a WMS answers “where exactly is it, and who will pick it, when and how”. The system keeps bin addresses, builds picking routes and requires every action to be confirmed by a scan.
When it is time to implement a WMS
- Staff waste time searching for goods.
- Mix-ups and order errors are growing.
- New employees take a long time to learn “where things are”.
- Stock on marketplaces doesn’t match reality.
- You don’t know how many orders per hour each employee picks.
Which features you need
- Bin-location storage tying each product to a bin.
- Barcode receiving with discrepancy recording.
- Route-based picking with scanner control.
- Marketplace integrations — in Kazakhstan, first of all Kaspi, Wildberries and Ozon.
- A single stock for all sales channels.
- Returns and stocktaking without stopping the warehouse.
- Reports on picking speed and staff workload.
- A client portal if you are a fulfillment operator.
Questions for the vendor
- Are there ready-made integrations with Kaspi, Wildberries and Ozon, or will they have to be developed?
- What hardware does the system run on: data collection terminals, smartphones, regular scanners?
- How long does implementation take and what does its cost include?
- How do support and updates work?
- Can I see the system running in a real warehouse?
lo.gistics
lo.gistics is the WMS that Gistics fulfillment runs on. It already has Kaspi, Wildberries and Ozon integrations, bin-location storage, scanner picking and a client portal. Request a demo — we will show the system using your processes as an example.