Why Endless Aisle is Your Store’s Most Valuable Feature (Order in Store, Deliver to Door)
The most frustrating retail moment is when a customer is ready to buy but the item is out of stock in-store. Historically, that sale was lost. The Endless Aisle feature (or ‘Order in Store, Deliver to Door’) completely eliminates this problem. It allows store associates to access your entire inventory—from all Distribution Centres (DCs), 3PLs, or even dropshippers—and complete the transaction on the spot, shipping the item directly to the customer’s home.
Implementing Endless Aisle requires a seamless, real-time connection between your in-store sales device and your entire Distributed Order Management (DOM) system.
Step 1: Configure the Associate’s Sales App
The core tool for the Endless Aisle is the store associate’s mobile application or tablet. This app must function as a multi-purpose POS (Point of Sale) and inventory viewer.
- Real-Time Stock Lookup: The app must communicate directly with the Order Management System (OMS) to display the Available to Promise (ATP) stock figures from every location, not just the store.
- Location & Cost Prioritisation: The app must instantly show the associate the fulfilment options: which DC is cheapest, which is fastest, and which DC holds the product.
- Simple Transaction Flow: The checkout experience must be fast. It should allow the associate to select the final shipping destination (the customer’s home) and accept payment without having to switch to a different system.
Action: Ensure the app is integrated so deeply that the stock display is instantaneous, preventing the associate from promising an item that was just sold online elsewhere.
Step 2: Route the Order to the Best Fulfilment Centre
Once the transaction is complete, the order must instantly be routed out of the store system and into the optimal fulfilment location using sophisticated cascading logic.
- Bypass Store Inventory: The order is immediately routed to the central OMS, ensuring it never attempts to deduct stock from the physical store (as the stock is coming from a warehouse).
- Apply Global Routing Rules: The OMS applies your predefined Hub and Spoke rules (destination, stock, cost) to the new order. For example, if the item is low-cost, it may route it to the cheapest 3PL. If the customer paid for premium shipping, it routes to the fastest DC.
- Customer Data Capture: The associate must capture the customer’s full shipping address and email for tracking. This data must be instantly synced to the OMS to facilitate accurate carrier label generation.
This automated routing ensures that the Endless Aisle sale is processed with the same operational efficiency as a sale from your website.
Step 3: Automate Store Commission and Auditing
The final key to a successful Endless Aisle program is ensuring the store and the associate are correctly credited for the sale, even though the inventory deduction happens at the warehouse.
- Commission Tracking: The OMS must tag the order with the store ID and the associate ID. This critical data is then passed to the ERP or payroll system to ensure correct commission is paid, incentivising staff to use the feature.
- Inventory Reconciliation: The OMS sends a final message to the ERP indicating that the sales order originated from the store (for the sales ledger) but the stock was deducted from the DC’s inventory ledger.
- Customer Follow-up: The OMS initiates the automated shipping notifications (tracking number, delivery estimate) directly to the customer’s captured email address.
By ensuring the financial and logistical incentives are correctly aligned, the Endless Aisle feature becomes a core driver of sales growth.
Modulus365: Eliminating Lost Sales with Endless Aisle
Most Order Management Systems struggle to bridge the gap between in-store POS and warehouse fulfilment. They require messy custom integrations that slow down the sales process.
Modulus365 delivers a pre-integrated Endless Aisle solution:
- Our unified associate application instantly accesses and displays your entire distributed stock, using real-time ATP figures from all locations.
- We use your existing Hub and Spoke logic to automatically route the order to the most profitable and quickest fulfilment centre.
- Crucially, Modulus365 captures the necessary store and associate IDs, ensuring commission is correctly calculated and paid, turning every staff member into an effective cross-channel salesperson.
