The Hidden Costs of Manual Order Processing
August 7, 2026
By: Tiffany Hindman
Summary: Is manual order processing costing your business? Manual data entry wastes time, creates errors, frustrates customers, and makes growth harder. Connected eCommerce and ERP systems can reduce manual work and improve efficiency.
Introduction
Most businesses don't wake up one morning and decide they want to process orders manually. It's usually something that evolves over time.
Maybe customers originally placed orders by phone. Then they started emailing spreadsheets. Before long, someone in customer service was spending hours every day copying information into the ERP. It worked... until it didn't.
As order volumes increase, manual processes become harder to manage. What once felt like a simple workflow starts creating bottlenecks, delays, and unnecessary stress for your team.
The good news? These challenges aren't just "part of doing business." Many of them can be eliminated by connecting your eCommerce platform with your ERP and reducing the amount of manual work required to process each order. Let's take a look at the hidden costs many businesses overlook.
Time Adds Up Faster Than You Think
Entering one order might only take a few minutes.
Now multiply that by 50 orders per day, 250 business days per year, and multiple employees. Suddenly, your team is spending hundreds, if not thousands, of hours every year performing tasks that could be automated.
Imagine what your employees could accomplish if they weren't spending their day acting as human copy-and-paste machines.
- 50 orders per day
- 250 business days per year
- Multiple employees
- Hundreds of lost hours annually
Manual Entry Leads to Costly Mistakes
Nobody enjoys admitting they made a typo.
Unfortunately, computers don't know that "100" was supposed to be "10." Even a small mistake can result in returns, replacement shipments, customer frustration, and additional work for your team.
The more manual touchpoints your process has, the more opportunities there are for something to go wrong.
- Incorrect quantities
- Wrong SKUs
- Incorrect customer pricing
- Shipping errors
- Duplicate orders
Your Customer Service Team Becomes the Order-Tracking Department
When customers can't get basic information from your website, your customer service team becomes the default search engine.
A well-connected eCommerce experience can put much of this information directly in the customer's hands. Account details, previous purchases, order status, pricing, and product availability can be available online without requiring an employee to track everything down manually.
Your customer service team should be solving problems, not playing detective every time someone wants to know where their order is.
- "Where is my order?"
- "Was my order submitted?"
- "How many do you have available?"
- "What price am I getting?"
- "Can I place the same order I made last time?"
Inventory Becomes Harder to Trust
There's nothing worse than selling a product that isn't actually available.
Accurate inventory information helps customers buy with confidence and helps your team make better business decisions.
- Overselling products
- Unexpected stockouts
- Delayed shipments
- Frustrated customers
Growth Becomes More Difficult
Manual processes might work when you're processing a handful of orders each day. But what happens when business doubles?
None of the usual options, hiring more people, asking your team to work faster, or hoping mistakes don't increase, are ideal. Automation allows your business to handle more orders without increasing the amount of manual work required behind the scenes.
- Hire more people?
- Ask your current team to work faster?
- Hope mistakes don't increase?
Employees Spend More Time on Data Than Customers
Your sales and customer service teams were hired because they know your products and customers.
They're probably not dreaming about spending their afternoons entering order numbers into multiple systems. Technology should help your team do more meaningful work, not create more busy work.
- Build customer relationships
- Solve problems
- Identify new sales opportunities
- Improve the customer experience
Errors Cost More Than You Think
The cost of an incorrect order isn't just the product.
One mistake might be manageable. Hundreds of preventable mistakes each year become expensive very quickly.
- Employee time
- Return shipping
- Replacement shipments
- Customer service calls
- Lost customer confidence
- Potential future business
How Connected Systems Reduce Manual Work
The goal isn't to eliminate people from the process. It's to eliminate repetitive tasks that technology can handle more efficiently. When your eCommerce platform and ERP work together, information can flow automatically between systems.
Instead of chasing paperwork and correcting mistakes, your team can focus on helping your business grow.
Is It Time to Modernize Your Order Process?
If your team still relies on spreadsheets, emails, phone calls, and manual data entry to process online orders, you're probably paying more than you realize.
While these costs often hide in lost productivity and missed opportunities rather than accounting reports, they can have a significant impact on your business over time. Modern eCommerce isn't just about selling online. It's about creating connected processes that improve efficiency across your entire organization.
At Strabo Partners, we help businesses simplify order processing by connecting BigCommerce and Shopify with Microsoft Dynamics 365. The result is fewer manual tasks, improved data accuracy, and an eCommerce solution designed to support long-term growth.
Because when your team spends less time entering orders, they have more time to build relationships, solve problems, and move your business forward.
Stop Paying the Hidden Cost of Manual Order Entry
Strabo Partners connects BigCommerce and Shopify with Microsoft Dynamics 365, eliminating repetitive data entry and giving your team accurate, real-time information across every order.