Customer Story ARK Bookstore

ARK & Omnium

How ARK modernized its order management system and decoupled legacy systems to handle 50,000 daily orders

ARK is Norway’s largest bookstore chain, with more than 150 physical stores nationwide and a rapidly growing online store. With the ambition to be the most innovative bookstore chain in the market, ARK aims to make books accessible through seamless shopping experiences across digital and physical channels.

As online volumes increased and omnichannel expectations grew, ARK needed a technology foundation capable of handling up to 50,000 daily orders - without compromising stability, inventory accuracy, or in-store efficiency.

Omnium now acts as the operational hub for order flow across all channels, enabling scalable growth without replacing core ERP systems.

Where They Started

Before implementing Omnium, ARK’s order processing relied on legacy ERP and POS systems that were heavily customized, tightly coupled, and more than ten years old. As volumes increased, limitations became increasingly visible:

Order processing slowed down during peak periods
The online store depended directly on ERP availability
Inventory updates were delayed, reducing stock accuracy
The architecture was complex, rigid, and costly to maintain

Replacing the ERP system was considered. However, ERP and webshop were deeply intertwined - replacing one would effectively require replacing both, significantly increasing scope, cost, and risk.

Instead of initiating a full-scale system replacement, ARK chose a phased modernization strategy. They rebuilt the webshop and introduced an open, API-based order management layer at the center of their architecture - decoupling systems and enabling step-by-step transformation.

The Challenge

ARK’s modernization initiative was driven by the need to simplify a complex IT landscape while improving both customer experience and internal efficiency.

Over time, tightly coupled legacy integrations had created high maintenance costs and slow development cycles. Orders from different sales channels were not fully synchronized, limiting omnichannel functionality and making it difficult to scale reliably during peak traffic periods.

Beyond technology, the transformation also required organizational change. While store employees adapted quickly to new tools and workflows, long-established head-office processes required alignment and restructuring to support the new operational model.

Why Omnium

ARK needed a dedicated Order Management System that could:

Act as a central operational hub between webshop, ERP, POS, and stores
Decouple the online store from ERP dependencies
Handle high order volumes with low latency
Improve inventory accuracy through real-time order reservation
Simplify workflows for store employees and customer service
Support a modern, composable architecture

Omnium was selected for its proven OMS capabilities, API-first foundation, and ability to manage complex, high-volume order flows across channels.

The Solution

ARK rebuilt its commerce platform using a composable, best-of-breed architecture based on microservices, APIs, and cloud-native SaaS solutions. The previous tightly coupled setup was replaced with a flexible system landscape where components could evolve independently.

Omnium Order Management System sits at the core of this architecture. Omnium was integrated with ARK’s commerce platform and in-store systems, creating a decoupled operational layer between customer-facing channels and ERP.

Acting as the centralized control layer for order flow, Omnium processes and reserves incoming online orders before routing them to ERP and stores. This significantly reduces load on backend systems and stabilizes operations during peak traffic events.

Inventory availability is surfaced to the webshop through Omnium, ensuring more accurate stock visibility and reducing the risk of overselling.

During high-demand periods such as Black Friday, ARK can now process up to 50,000 orders in a single day without major operational disruption.

The introduction of Omnium also enabled a scalable Click & Collect setup across ARK’s 150+ stores. Online orders can now be reserved in real time and routed directly to stores for pickup, turning physical locations into active fulfillment hubs. Store employees manage pickup orders directly through Omnium, ensuring a smooth and consistent handover experience for customers.

This has significantly increased the role of stores in ARK’s digital growth. Click & Collect now represents approximately 60% of online orders, creating a seamless bridge between online and in-store customer journeys.

After limited training sessions, store employees were able to efficiently manage new workflows, integrating physical stores naturally into ARK’s omnichannel setup.