How Many People Does It Take to Place One eCommerce Order?
September 30, 2026
By: Tiffany Hindman
Summary: How many people does it take to place one eCommerce order? Often more than you'd expect. Sales, customer service, inventory, warehouse, accounting, and shipping can all touch a single order when eCommerce and ERP systems aren't connected, with employees manually re-entering the same information at each handoff.
A customer places an order online in a few clicks.
From the customer's perspective, the process looks simple. They find a product, add it to their cart, enter their information, and complete checkout.
But what happens after the order is submitted?
For many manufacturers and distributors, a single eCommerce order can trigger work across several departments. Someone may need to review the order, another person may check inventory, someone else may enter information into the ERP, and another employee may handle fulfillment or shipping.
The customer sees one transaction. The business may see a chain of manual processes.
This raises an important question: how many people does it actually take to process one eCommerce order?
The Order May Start Online, But It Does Not Stay There
An eCommerce order does not exist in isolation.
Once a customer checks out, the information may need to move into the ERP, inventory system, warehouse, accounting processes, and other business systems.
If those systems are connected properly, much of this information can move through the business without employees having to enter it repeatedly. If they are not, employees may become the connection between systems.
- Customer details
- Products and quantities
- Pricing
- Discounts
- Shipping information
- Payment information
- Inventory availability
- Tax information
- Order notes
- Product configuration details
What Happens When the Process Is Manual?
Consider a simple example.
A customer places an order through the company's eCommerce website. The order comes in, but an employee needs to review it before entering the information into the ERP. The employee checks the customer account and confirms pricing.
Someone then checks whether the products are available. If inventory information is not readily available, another employee may need to verify it. The order is entered into the ERP. The warehouse receives the information and begins fulfillment. Accounting may then need to verify payment or billing information. Shipping receives the order details and prepares the shipment.
None of these individual steps are necessarily unusual. The problem is what happens when employees have to manually move information from one system or process to another.
The more manual steps an order requires, the more opportunities there are for delays, duplicate work, and data entry errors.
One Order Can Create Work Across Multiple Departments
The number of people involved depends on the business, but eCommerce orders can touch many parts of an organization.
The goal is not necessarily to eliminate every department from the process. The goal is to make sure employees are spending their time on work that actually requires human involvement.
Sales
May need to review customer accounts, pricing, special terms, or unusual orders. For businesses with customer specific pricing, this can become especially important.
Customer Service
May become involved when an order contains missing information, unusual requests, or products that require clarification.
eCommerce
May need to investigate problems with orders, product information, pricing, or checkout.
Inventory and Operations
May need to confirm that the products or components required for an order are available.
Warehouse
Needs accurate information about what needs to be picked, packed, and shipped.
Accounting
Financial information may need to be reviewed or entered into the appropriate systems.
Shipping
Needs the correct address, products, quantities, and other information required to fulfill the order.
Manual Data Entry Creates More Than Extra Work
Manual data entry is often treated as a productivity problem. It can also become a data quality problem.
Imagine an order containing ten products. An employee has to manually transfer the information from the eCommerce platform into the ERP.
The problem may not be discovered until someone further along in the process notices it. That can create even more work because employees now have to investigate the original mistake and correct the information.
- The wrong product
- The wrong quantity
- Incorrect pricing
- Incorrect customer information
- Incorrect shipping information
- Delayed fulfillment
The More Orders You Process, the More Important This Becomes
Manual processes may seem manageable when order volume is low. If a business receives a few orders each day, an employee may be able to handle the additional work without much difficulty.
But what happens when order volume increases? The business may need more employees simply to keep up with data entry and order processing.
That means growth can create a staffing problem instead of creating the operational efficiency the business expected. This is one reason automation becomes increasingly valuable as an eCommerce operation grows.
The goal is not simply to process more orders. It is to process more orders without requiring a proportional increase in manual work.
Your ERP Should Be Part of the eCommerce Process
For manufacturers and distributors, the ERP contains information that is important to the eCommerce experience.
When the eCommerce platform and ERP operate separately, employees may have to move this information between systems. When the systems are properly connected, information can be exchanged as part of the order process.
For organizations using Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Supply Chain Management, the ERP can play an important role in managing the information and business processes behind eCommerce orders.
The objective is not simply to connect two systems. It is to create an order process that reflects how the business actually operates.
- Product information
- Pricing
- Customer accounts
- Inventory
- Order information
- Shipping details
- Business rules
- Financial information
What Should Happen Automatically?
Not every step in an order process should necessarily be automated. Some decisions require human judgment.
But businesses should examine each step and ask whether an employee actually needs to perform it. These questions can reveal where manual work is actually coming from.
Automation Does Not Mean Removing People From the Process
There is an important distinction between automation and removing human involvement.
A good eCommerce process should not eliminate people simply for the sake of eliminating steps. Instead, it should reduce repetitive work so employees can focus on exceptions, customer relationships, problem solving, and decisions that require experience.
For example, an order that meets all of the expected criteria may be able to move through the process with minimal intervention. An order with unusual pricing, an unavailable component, or missing information may require an employee to review it.
That creates a more useful role for automation. Instead of having employees review every order, the system can help identify the orders that actually need attention.
The Best Place to Start Is the Order Itself
Businesses often start eCommerce improvement projects by looking at the website. The website is important, but it is only one part of the process.
A better starting point can be the order itself. Follow an order from the moment the customer clicks "Place Order." Once the entire process is mapped, it becomes much easier to identify unnecessary work.
Look for the Handoffs
One of the most useful things a business can identify is where information changes hands.
Every handoff creates another opportunity for information to be delayed, changed, entered incorrectly, or overlooked.
For example, eCommerce → Employee → ERP may create more work than eCommerce → ERP.
Likewise, ERP → Employee → Warehouse may create more opportunities for error than a process where the warehouse receives the appropriate information directly through the systems already being used.
The goal is not to remove every handoff. The goal is to understand which handoffs add value and which ones exist only because systems are not exchanging information effectively.
A Better eCommerce Order Process Starts Behind the Website
Customers do not care how many systems are involved in processing their order. They care that the product they purchased is available, the price is correct, the order is accurate, and the shipment arrives as expected.
That customer experience depends on what happens behind the scenes. If employees are constantly copying information between systems, checking information manually, and correcting preventable errors, the eCommerce experience can become much more expensive to operate than it appears.
The solution is not always more employees. Sometimes the better question is: why does this order require so many people in the first place?
At Strabo Partners, we help manufacturers and other product based businesses connect their eCommerce and ERP processes so information can move through the business with less manual work.
By looking at the entire order process rather than just the website, businesses can identify opportunities to simplify operations, reduce repetitive tasks, and create a more scalable eCommerce operation.
Simplify. Automate. Grow.
How Many People Does Your Order Process Really Need?
Strabo Partners connects eCommerce and ERP systems like Microsoft Dynamics 365, so orders move through your business with fewer handoffs and less manual work.