What do you want to ship?
Where do you want to ship?
Packaging
Business Solutions
But what is picking? The term refers to a process through which purchased items are taken from a specific storage location and then sent to the packing area and prepared for shipment to the end customer. In theory, this activity may seem simple, but in practice it represents one of the most delicate aspects within the logistics and distribution system of an e-commerce business.
According to a recent article published by Forbes, picking operations account for more than 50% of a warehouse’s total costs: an error at this stage of the order fulfillment process can have significant consequences.
For example, research conducted by Invesp reveals that 23% of customers who return an item do so because they received a product different from the one they purchased. Therefore, delivering the wrong product can be costly, as it not only undermines consumer trust but also impacts productivity levels and overall performance quality. Let us therefore examine the aspects to consider in order to build effective picking procedures.
In the era of e-commerce, characterized by fast, secure, traceable, and customizable delivery times, organizing and managing the various processing stages that take place in the warehouse as efficiently as possible is essential. Let’s examine how picking works and its key steps:
When a product is purchased on the company’s e-commerce website, the management and shipment preparation phase begins — a stage that must provide the operator with accurate information about the type, quantity, and location of the items to be selected.
The picker, or the person responsible for carrying out this task, follows the established route and selects the items from the shelves. At this stage, it is important to minimize movement and avoid selection errors.
Once all items have been collected, the order is verified for accuracy and proceeds to the packaging stage, in line with the requirements of the goods and the customer’s requests. This step is crucial to ensuring the accuracy of your order.
Picking is structured as a linear process. However, in reality, it hides numerous pitfalls that can cause errors capable of negatively affecting the customer experience and compromising the company’s productivity. These are the most common:
This is a situation that may occur for various reasons, such as the incorrect arrangement of goods during storage, unclear or incorrect labeling, or simply employee distraction. Especially for small businesses, errors are often due to the inability to adequately manage the resources needed to better organize the warehouse, resulting in an increased risk rate.
This situation occurs when the number of items selected does not match the quantity requested in the order, leading to incomplete shipments or excess products. In addition to impacting shipping costs to supplement or recover the excess, this error risks affecting inventory control.
A logical and organized arrangement of goods without considering their movement and the routes required for pickers to reach them can significantly increase processing times and, consequently, operating costs. The efficiency of product picking routes is crucial to minimizing order waiting times and maximizing productivity.
Warehouse picking operations require procedures and software capable of keeping inventory under control. Errors in data entry, such as incorrect item numbers or locations, can cause significant inefficiencies and result in discrepancies between physical inventory and the inventory recorded in the system, leading to delays or the inability to complete orders.
Optimizing picking is a primary goal for companies that sell their products online: it allows them to improve operational efficiency, reduce costs, increase customer satisfaction, and strengthen their competitiveness in the market. Let’s explore useful tools and strategies.
A logical and functional arrangement of goods during storage is the first step toward efficient picking, ensuring, for example, that the most requested items are more easily accessible. This can significantly help reduce retrieval times.
The integration of advanced technologies and specialized software capable of synchronizing operations between e-commerce platforms and internal systems in real time is essential to effectively track and manage each order, from item selection to shipping. Through automation and precise control of picking activities, these solutions play a crucial role in guiding staff toward accurate item selection, significantly increasing the company’s operational efficiency.
An optimized layout can significantly reduce travel times for pickers, improving the speed of the picking process. Building or renting suitable facilities represents a significant commitment for SMEs, consuming valuable time and resources. A faster and more efficient solution may be to rely on partners specialized in third-party warehouse management who can identify a business’s needs and provide the most appropriate solutions.
Ensuring that employees are well trained in current procedures and the use of available technologies can significantly increase efficiency. Naturally, this involves high costs for e-commerce businesses and small companies; however, these costs can be reduced by relying on partners capable of providing specialized personnel, updated in the use of software and technologies, and able to operate in the most effective way.
MBE Fulfillment is the integrated system that allows companies to entrust order management and all internal warehouse logistics processes to a team of expert professionals, enabling businesses to focus their time and resources on their core activities. From order processing to product storage, from picking to packaging and shipping, Mail Boxes Etc., with a network of more than 1,700 centers worldwide, supports companies that want to optimize their operations and guarantee high-quality services to their customers.
websolute