order fulfilment is in the most general sense the complete process from point of sales inquiry to delivery of a product to the customer somtimes order fulfillment is used to describe the more narrow act of distribution or the logistics fubction however in the broader sense it refers to the way firms respond to customer orders.
engineer to order
build to order
assemble to order
make to stock
digital copy
product inquiry
sales quote
order configuration
order booking
order acknowledgment
invoicing(billing)
order sourcing/planning
order changes
order processing
shipment
delivery
settelment
returns
the order fulfillment strtegy has also strong implivation on how firms customize thir products and deal with product variety strategies that can be used mitigate the impact of product variety in clude modularity option bundling ,late confifuration and build to order strategies all of wich are generally referred as mass customization strategies the order fulfillment strategy also determines the de coupling in the supply chain which describes the point in the system where the push (or forecast driven0 and pull 9or demand driven see demand chaun management) elements of the supply chain meet yhe decoupling point always is an inventory buffer that is needed to cater for the discrepancy between the sales forecast and the actual demand .