Optimize Order Fulfillment with Wave Picking

Many e-commerce businesses, often due to a lack of IT solutions, prepare orders one by one. This means they print all the orders to be shipped and then process them individually, taking the first sheet, collecting the products from the warehouse, returning to the shipping bench to pack them, and then printing the shipping label. Except for orders with a large number of lines (> 10), this method is often inefficient, resulting in numerous back and forth in the warehouse and therefore wasted time.

Discover how to Optimize Order Fulfillment with Wave Picking

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Summary

What is Waving Picking?
Why Prepare Orders in Waves?
How Can Boostmyshop myFulfillment Help You?

What is Waving Picking?

A wave groups together a set of orders (usually between 5 and 50) that have one or more common criteria (number of items, carriers, product types, etc.). Generally, all the products from the orders in a wave will undergo a common picking process, meaning the operator will pick all the necessary products for the wave’s orders at once and return to the shipping bench. Waves can have different picking methods depending on their type:

Bulk picking, where the operator places the collected products in the picking cart without separating them by order.
Cluster picking / picking per bin , using a specialized picking cart.

Waves can also have different packing methods:

Mass printing of all shipping labels because the wave contains only single-item orders with identical products.
Printing the shipping label after prior validation (by scanning the barcode) of the products.

Why Prepare Orders in Waves?

Minimize movements in the warehouse.
Speed up the picking and packing phases.
Manage order prioritization.
Optimize the assignment of orders to the most relevant operators.

Various criteria to consider when segmenting your waves and grouping your orders:

Number of products in the order: typically distinguishing between orders with a single product, orders with a moderate number of lines (between 2 and 10), and orders with a large number of lines (often B2B orders).
Carrier associated with the order: depending on the carrier’s collection time, you will prioritize the preparation of orders with the earliest collection time.
Product typology (logistics class): orders with products requiring logistical handling (such as forklift operation) will be assigned to an operator with the required qualification.
Order source: many e-commerce businesses prioritize orders from marketplaces that impose penalties for delays (e.g., Amazon) over seller-oriented marketplaces (e.g., Cdiscount).
Additional services associated with orders, such as gift messages, personalization, or gift wrapping.
Customer associated with the order: you may want to prioritize B2B orders before processing B2C orders.
Order preparation complexity: you may prefer to assign certain specific orders (e.g., when products are highly technical or hazardous) to an operator familiar with your products to avoid errors.

Closely tied to your business, grouping orders into waves is a recognized best practice in optimizing your logistics. Take the time to consider the most relevant criteria for grouping your orders.

How Can Boostmyshop myFulfillment Help You?

Boostmyshop myFulfillment is the WMS (Warehouse Management System) and OMS (Order Management System) solution developed by e-merchants for e-merchants.

myFulfillment offers two order preparation methods:
- The traditional method where you simply assign orders to an operator.
- The wave method, allowing you to group orders by applying desired filters (weight, number of products, product typology, carrier, order source).
myFulfillment offers an assistant that groups orders by typology and generates waves in just a few clicks.
myFulfillment supports various picking methods, whether bulk or cluster picking.
Using myAgency, we can also offer to automate wave generation based on criteria specific to your business. Feel free to contact us!

To discuss with one of our experts, don’t hesitate to schedule an appointment below.

Simplify your Shopify Inventory Management with Boostmyshop myFulfillment

Work faster and more efficiently. Boostmyshop myFulfillment increases your productivity and reduces your workload on each of your logistics tasks, from procurement to product shipment.

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Optimize Order Fulfillment with Wave Picking

Discover how to Optimize Order Fulfillment with Wave Picking

Summary

What is Waving Picking?

Why Prepare Orders in Waves?

Various criteria to consider when segmenting your waves and grouping your orders:

How Can Boostmyshop myFulfillment Help You?

Simplify your Shopify Inventory Management with Boostmyshop myFulfillment

Fill Contact Information

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