Pick And Pack
One of the most important (if not the most important) features of an eCommerce store are delivering products quickly. Customer satisfaction is heavily impacted by how well-timed delivery is. Whenever a customer places an order, many things take place behind the checkout screen, ensuring a smooth business operation overall.
Today, we’ll go over one such process — Pick and Pack, and go over a few of its interesting aspects that may even be helpful if you’re an eCommerce store yourself.
How does pick and pack work?
Let’s get the million dollar question out first- what exactly happens during pick and pack?
There are a couple of ways to perform pick and pack. However, to save time (and possibly some confusion), we’ll go over the traditional pick and pack working and its stages.
1. Receiving the order
Here, the sales channels of an eCommerce store work with a warehouse system. The whole process begins as soon as a customer checks out to buy an item. Further, an order fulfilment program will create a packing slip that can be digital or physical.
2. Picking the order
A normal worker at the eCommerce store’s warehouse will see the slip and proceed to grab the product needed from the shelves.
3. Packing the order
The product is sent to a packing station (within the same warehouse), packed with care, sealed, and finally given a label for shipping.
4. Shipping the order
Once the product is good to go, a team of members will arrange and organize all orders on the loading dock itself. The orders are then ready to be taken in by a carrier (towards the end of the day) and be shipped safely.
Challenges faced by the pick and pack process
- Incorrect Info on Inventory:
A basic yet common struggle in the pick and pack process is wrong intel on the warehouse’s inventory. Take, for example, a scenario where a warehouse whose inventory numbers are not updated or incorrect, which can potentially confuse the order fulfilment stage.
This is one of the reasons why bulk orders face delays in shipping since a business might state it has more stock than it does.
2. Inefficient TAT
TAT refers to ‘Turn Around Time’. It covers the sum of time needed to pick, combine, and pack all orders made. The turnaround time can be affected negatively if warehouses are mismanaged, inept packing methods, etc.
An increase in TAT can shift the overall pick and pack process time and make it more bulky. If the orders are not packed within time, they are delayed in delivery and lead to low customer satisfaction.
Best practices for pick and pack in warehouses
If you’re running an online store, too, try considering these three tips that can help you enhance the pick and pack process at your warehouse.
- Add the infill instructions for all products to quickly help the packer grab the necessary packing materials.
- Ensure to have products re-scanned before they are sent off to guarantee you are packing the same product as the packing slip asks for.
- Increase efficiency through using a software program for your pick and process. A good feature of this software is to accurately tell packers the size of the box required compared to them guessing it.
Conclusion
All in all, that was a glimpse into what pick and pack are, with its work structure. While some hurdles in pick and pack exist, most can be avoided with good warehouse management software. If you have an eCommerce store and face regular customers, paying attention to the pick and pack process is crucial. You can’t get things right if you get off on the wrong foot after all.
