Most businesses that come to us have already tried the off-the-shelf route. They’re running Linnworks or something similar, they’ve spent months configuring it, and they still have a spreadsheet running alongside it to handle the bits the tool won’t do. The software didn’t fix the problem — it moved it.
Generic order management is designed for a generic operation. If yours isn’t that — a mix of wholesale and ecommerce, custom approval logic, non-standard fulfilment rules, a legacy ERP that nothing talks to — the tool makes you work around it rather than the other way round.
We build order management systems from scratch for UK businesses, designed around how you actually operate. One build fee, no per-user charges, and the code is yours outright once we’re done.
Where off-the-shelf order management falls short
The common problems aren’t hard to predict once you’ve seen a few of these deployments:
- Sync delays and inventory discrepancies. Most SaaS platforms use batch processing — orders from Amazon might take 15–60 minutes to appear, during which you can oversell. Real-time webhooks are rare, and when sync breaks, it breaks quietly.
- Per-order and per-user fees that compound. Linnworks is priced by order volume; at 500 orders a day, you’re looking at meaningful monthly costs that only go one direction as you grow. NetSuite adds per-seat licensing on top of its base licence.
- Rigid workflows that don’t bend. You can’t implement “manager approval for orders over £500, finance sign-off over £2,000” without vendor professional services. Carrier routing rules (“DHL for London, Royal Mail for Scotland”) aren’t supported without workarounds.
- Your data lives on someone else’s server. Many SaaS platforms are US-hosted. That’s a GDPR concern if you’re processing UK customer data, and it means migrating off costs you £20,000–£50,000 in consultant fees if you ever want to leave.
- Vendor updates that break your integrations. A Shopify API change or a platform update goes out and suddenly your fulfilment sync is broken. You wait for a support ticket that takes three to five days to get a response.
The result is late fulfilment, inventory counts you don’t trust, a customer service queue full of “where’s my order” queries, and staff who’ve quietly given up on the system and gone back to spreadsheets.
What we build instead
Built around your actual workflows
We run workshops before anyone writes code. We map how orders flow through your business now — the steps that work, the bits that hurt, the exceptions nobody talks about — and build the system to match that. B2B consignment orders, multi-warehouse allocation, regional pricing, approval chains: whatever your reality is, the software fits it.
One payment, not a subscription
You pay for the build. After that, ongoing support and maintenance is a flat annual fee, not a per-user or per-order charge that scales with your growth. Most clients are past breakeven inside two years.
Proper integrations, not Zapier workarounds
We wire directly into your existing tools using secure APIs — Shopify, WooCommerce, Amazon, eBay for order capture; Xero, QuickBooks, Sage for accounting; Royal Mail, DHL, DPD, and Parcelforce for shipping. Legacy ERPs and warehouse systems are more involved but not unusual. Direct integrations mean real-time sync, clear error handling, and no third-party middleware to babysit.
UK compliance from day one
GDPR, Making Tax Digital, and HMRC’s six-year record-keeping requirement are all handled from the start. We can host on AWS or Azure UK regions if you need UK data residency. Audit trails log every change — who modified an order, what changed, when — in an immutable format you can actually use for compliance.
Modular and extensible
The architecture is built in phases. You go live with the core operation working well, then we add multi-channel consolidation, advanced routing, 3PL integration, or analytics in subsequent phases. Adding a new sales channel or warehouse later is a new piece, not a rebuild.
Support from people you can talk to
Our London team handles questions and changes post-launch. One-hour response for critical issues, 24-hour for standard. No offshore call centre, no time zone problems.
Features we typically build
Every system is configured to your operation, but most builds include some version of these:
- A unified order dashboard pulling from every channel, with status tracking through pending, allocated, picked, packed, and shipped
- Real-time inventory across all channels and locations, with low-stock alerts and reorder point triggers
- A rules engine that routes orders by warehouse, carrier, region, or channel — and handles approval workflows without hard-coded logic
- Shipping integration with carrier APIs for label generation, rate selection, and tracking updates pushed back to customers
- Customer records with full order history, B2B payment terms where relevant, and a log of all communications
- Returns and refund processing — RMA generation, inspection tracking, restocking, and automatic accounting entries
- Reporting you can configure: fulfilment velocity, carrier cost analysis, inventory turnover, channel performance
- Role-based access so warehouse pickers, customer service, finance, and managers each see what they need
- EDI handling for wholesale and B2B channels where suppliers or retail partners require it
- Mobile access for approvals and status checks away from a desk
How the project runs
1. Discovery and planning (2–3 weeks). Workshops with your team to document current workflows, integration requirements, and what’s causing the most pain. We come out with a clear scope, technical architecture, and a phased delivery plan.
2. MVP development (6–10 weeks). Core order capture, inventory sync, and fulfilment workflow are built first. You get a working demo every two weeks so you can react and we can adjust before we’re too far into it.
3. Integration development (2–4 weeks, often overlapping with above). Connections to your priority systems — Shopify, accounting, shipping carriers — are built and tested with real data. More complex integrations like legacy ERPs or 3PL providers are scoped separately.
4. Testing and go-live (2–3 weeks). User acceptance testing with your actual workflows, data migration from the old system, and a soft launch period where we run things in parallel before switching fully over.
5. Training and ongoing support. Role-specific training before and after go-live, then dedicated support. Most clients opt for a support retainer for ongoing changes and enhancements.
A focused build lands in the 10–14 week range. Multi-channel builds with more integrations run 16–24 weeks. We don’t rush the data migration — poor data going in is the most common cause of problems post-launch.
What it costs
A custom build costs more upfront than a monthly subscription. The comparison that matters is total cost over three to five years.
At 500+ orders a day, SaaS OMS fees commonly run to £15,000–£36,000 a year, not counting implementation costs, integration overages, or the professional services fees you pay every time you need a workflow change. A custom build at this scale typically sits in the £30,000–£60,000 range for an MVP, with flat annual maintenance. By year three, the numbers usually favour the custom build — and after that, it’s yours.
What you pay depends on complexity: a single-warehouse operation with one sales channel is a different project from a multi-warehouse distributor with EDI integrations. We’ll give you a proper estimate after a discovery conversation once we understand your requirements. There are no hidden costs and no scope surprises — we work from a fixed-price spec.
Who we build these for
We’ve worked with UK businesses across a range of sectors where standard OMS tools don’t cut it:
- Multichannel ecommerce retailers running Shopify alongside Amazon and eBay, where overselling and inventory drift are a daily problem
- Wholesale and B2B distributors managing tiered pricing, customer-specific terms, high-value order approvals, and EDI connections to retail partners
- Manufacturers tying customer orders to production scheduling and raw material tracking, with QC checkpoints built into the fulfilment flow
- 3PL and fulfilment providers managing inventory and order routing across multiple merchant clients from a single platform
- Food and drink businesses tracking batch numbers, freshness windows, and the audit trails that regulators expect
- Healthcare suppliers managing regulated products with expiry date alerts, lot tracking, and chain-of-custody records
- Fashion and apparel operators dealing with size and colour variants, seasonal ranges, and drop-ship coordination
- Subscription businesses automating recurring fulfilment, billing integration, and churn-related workflows
The specifics vary by sector, but the underlying argument is the same: if your operation has enough complexity that the SaaS tool forces you to compromise, a custom build pays for itself.
Common Questions About Custom Order Management Systems
How does a custom build compare in cost to a SaaS subscription?
For businesses processing fewer than 100 orders a day, off-the-shelf tools like Zoho Inventory or Shopify's native OMS are often good enough. Beyond that, the maths shifts. Linnworks starts at around $449/month and scales with volume. Brightpearl and NetSuite are opaque on pricing, but mid-market deployments commonly run to £20,000–£60,000 a year once implementation and add-ons are included. A custom build has a higher upfront cost (typically £30,000–£60,000 for a solid MVP), but flat ongoing maintenance and no per-user or per-order fees. Most clients reach breakeven inside two years and come out meaningfully ahead after five.
What's the typical development timeline?
A focused MVP covering order capture, inventory sync, and fulfilment workflow takes around 10–14 weeks. Multi-channel builds with approvals and more integrations sit in the 16–24 week range. We phase the work so your core operation is live before we tackle more advanced features. We give you a realistic estimate after the discovery workshops.
How do you handle updates and changes after launch?
You own the codebase, so changes happen on your schedule. Post-launch, we offer support packages for ongoing enhancements and can usually allocate resource within five working days for urgent modifications. Unlike SaaS vendors, we're not rolling out updates that break your integrations without warning.
Can you integrate with our existing systems?
Yes — integration is usually a central part of the project. Common connections include Shopify, WooCommerce, Amazon, and eBay for order capture; Xero, QuickBooks, and Sage for accounting; Royal Mail, DHL, DPD, and Parcelforce for shipping labels and tracking; and ERPs or legacy systems via custom API work. Shopify webhooks are straightforward; Amazon's marketplace API is more involved; legacy ERP integrations require the most time, but we've done them before.
What about GDPR and UK compliance?
All builds incorporate UK GDPR from the start, with options for UK data residency (AWS or Azure UK regions), role-based access controls, and immutable audit trails that meet HMRC's six-year record-keeping requirement. If your business needs MTD-compliant VAT reporting or sector-specific compliance (food traceability, healthcare lot tracking), we build that in too.
Do you provide training for our team?
Yes — training is included for all user roles. Warehouse staff, customer service, operations managers, and finance each get sessions tailored to their part of the system. We also provide written documentation and short video walkthroughs. Training typically runs across a few sessions in the weeks before and after go-live.