At this year’s iMedia Retail Summit on the Gold Coast, leaders from T2 Tea, Freedom, and Amblique took the stage with Fluent Commerce to discuss real-world insights on their fulfillment strategies. They each shared how they’re using modern order management to boost fulfillment speed, cut costs, and deliver a better customer experience.
This recap covers all the highlights. You’ll learn why they invested in an Order Management System and the results they’ve seen so far.
Our panel speakers were Cameron Jackson, Head of Digital at T2 Tea, Paula Mitchell, Digital GM at Freedom, and Stephanie Byrne, CEO of Amblique.
Here are the key takeaways.
What drove their investment in an OMS
Before implementing Fluent Order Management, both Freedom and T2 faced significant limitations with their legacy systems.
“We were using our POS to manage fulfillment and could only ship from five stores out of 47,” said Paula Mitchell. “There was no endless aisle, no scalability, and no way to shift orders between stores. It was stifling our ability to grow.”
Cameron Jackson shared a similar experience:
“ERP is great—but it has limits,” he explained. “We needed the flexibility to scale ship-from-store, enable point-to-point delivery, and respond faster to change. We couldn’t do that with ERP alone.”
From decision to impact
Once Fluent Order Management was implemented, both retailers saw major improvements—and not just in operations, but in customer experience.
“The sourcing logic Fluent provides has been an absolute game changer for us,” said Paula. “It’s helped us control costs and drive efficiencies across everything from shipping fragile items to managing 47 pools of inventory in real time.”
“For us, Fluent has also been a game changer,” said Cameron. “It gives us the flexibility to shift fulfillment between stores and Distribution Centres, which was critical during events like Cyclone Alfred. We can adapt quickly and still hit our KPIs. Also being able to leverage Fluent’s connectors, and also their knowledge, allowed us to quickly implement a project within just 20 weeks.”
Real-world results: Faster fulfillment, lower costs
Freedom’s results speak for themselves:
- 15% reduction in courier costs
- In-store fulfillment time reduced from 2.5 days to just 2 hours
- Order rejection rate down from 19% to under 1%
- Interstate shipments reduced from 20% to 12%, with a goal of <7%
“We’ve seen easily a 15% reduction in our courier costs by being able to route the order to the right store at the right time. Fluent also lets us track every step of the fulfillment process and can tell us how long each step takes us,” said Paula. “Now we can hold stores accountable, create healthy competition, and the visibility it provides has fundamentally improved our operations.”
T2 Tea has seen similar benefits:
- An overall reduction in fulfillment turnaround time
- More cost-effective fulfillment by avoiding interstate shipping
- Greater resilience during disruptions
“There were a number of benefits we were aiming for when we put the OMS in place, but ultimately it was about the customer experience. So the key goal was to get the goods to our customers quicker,” said Cameron. Overarchingly, we were able to reduce fulfillment time and avoid interstate delivery, like sending a teapot from Melbourne to Perth, which has significantly reduced our delivery costs.”
The human factor: Aligning people and process
Both Cameron and Paula stressed the importance of stakeholder engagement when running an OMS project.
“It’s not just about implementing tech,” said Cameron. “It’s about operationalizing it—aligning with retail, supply chain, and store teams. Our store staff have fulfillment KPIs and are rewarded for great performance.”
At Freedom, the planning team has become more data-driven:
“At first, they were planning based on sales, not routing logic,” said Paula. “But when we gave them line-by-line data, they were shocked. Now they look at it monthly and adjust stock allocations accordingly.”
The next phase of optimisation in their fulfillment strategies
For Freedom, the roadmap includes:
- Scaling dropship operations, with over 100 vendors onboarded and more to come.
- Introducing express shipping options, allowing customers to choose faster delivery windows.
- Enhancing split shipment logic by evaluating profitability at the GM$ / GM% level.
- Displaying real-time stock availability in search results, giving customers clear expectations upfront to increase conversion.
- Introducing min/max inventory thresholds in routing logic. Preserving stock availability for walk-in customers.
- Aligning inventory allocation with actual fulfillment performance. Leveraging Fluent Commerce reporting and working with planning and merchandising teams.
- Continuing to reduce interstate fulfillment, bringing stock closer to the customer to lower shipping costs and increase speed.
“Fluent does all the heavy lifting in the background,” Paula said. “Now we want to make the front end even smarter—like routing from the right store, not just the closest one.”
T2 Tea is also focused on last-mile delivery innovation and building out regional store hubs:
- Expanding last-mile delivery capabilities, including express, same-day, and timed delivery options.
- Building regional fulfillment hubs (e.g., WA to WA) to reduce interstate shipping and improve delivery speed and cost.
- Improving “cost to serve” visibility, with more precise measurement of parcel-level fulfillment costs.
- Continuing to optimize sourcing logic. Ensuring orders are fulfilled from the most cost-effective and operationally efficient locations.
“We’re working with partners like Shippit to explore different delivery options. Fluent makes that possible through seamless integrations,” said Cameron.
Expert Insights: When is the right time to implement an OMS?
Stephanie Byrne is CEO of Amblique, a leading digital commerce consultancy that led the Fluent Order Management rollout for T2 Tea. Stephanie shared helpful advice on when she recommends retailers look into an OMS.
Stephanie outlined three common signs it’s time to modernize or order management strategy:
- Your product pages don’t show delivery options or stock availability
“We know straight away that showing inventory availability and delivery options on your PDP boosts conversion,” said Stephanie. “But if you don’t carry that visibility through to checkout, you’ll lose up to a quarter of your customers. An OMS can give you the real-time data you need to give shoppers the confidence to buy.” - You can’t support split shipments—or you’re doing it inefficiently
“If you don’t have the ability to split shipments across multiple locations, you’re essentially turning down orders. But it’s not just about being able to do it—it’s about doing it intelligently. An OMS helps you weigh the cost implications and avoid unnecessary splits unless they truly benefit the customer and your bottom line.” - You’re not leveraging stores as fulfillment hubs
“Using your store network to fulfill online orders is one of the most effective ways to reduce costs and move excess stock. But it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. You can start with a few stores, test what works, and scale from there. With the right OMS, you can apply smart logic to route orders to stores based on factors like inventory levels or store performance.”
“An OMS isn’t just about streamlining fulfillment—it’s about giving teams the tools they need to work smarter, not harder,” said Stephanie.
“60% of customers don’t return because of what happens after the buy button. To meet expectations, you need inventory visibility and smart sourcing logic. Fluent Order Management delivers both.”
Summary
An OMS might sit in the background—but it powers the entire customer promise. From faster fulfillment and lower costs. To better stock accuracy and smarter delivery. Fluent Order Management is now a strategic enabler for brands like Freedom and T2.
“Fluent Order Management has been a game changer for us,” Cameron reiterated.“We simply couldn’t do what we’re doing today without it.”
To learn more about how Freedom unlocked inventory and transformed their omnichannel experience with smarter data and faster fulfillment—download the case study today.
