Pick and Pack is a service that’s offered by most fulfillment centers. It is a common part of the fulfillment process. When an order is placed, that item or those items are picked up and then packed for delivery, hence “pick and pack.”
Pick and Pack is a type of order fulfillment that’s most often used by ecommerce retailers that receive orders that are shipped internationally.
Instead of preparing and shipping whole cases and pallets of goods, ecommerce retailers rely on workers who pull (pick) individual items from warehouses and then place them in boxes or envelopes (pack) addressed to customers for shipment. This specific process gives pick and pack staff easy access to items, which can save time, effort and money. This type of fulfillment can also limit freight charges and other costs, which is always ideal for companies (saving costs).
It sounds easy and so simple, right? Beware though, there’s a lot of coordination and organization that goes into this pillar of fulfillment.
What Is Pick And Pack?
Your basic pick and pack process is the same and can be simplified to focus on 4 primary steps. That’s true if you use a 3PL like us for pick and pack services or run fulfillment yourself. Now, let’s take a quick look at those steps;
- Order receiving. Your eCommerce sales channels should integrate with your warehouse systems. When one of your customers places an order, the software at your fulfillment warehouse generates a packing slip. Slips can be physical printouts or digital order information.
- Order picking. A warehouse worker takes the packing slip and picks the items for the order from the warehouse shelves. This action is the core of the pick and pack service. Your inventory storage strategy and your pick and pack methods are key here. They will determine the efficiency of this step of the process. Different methods will work best for different businesses, depending on sales volume.
- Order packing. The order goes to a packing station, where your team packs it securely, seals it, and labels it for shipping.
- Order shipping. Your team should then sort orders by carrier on the loading dock. They are ready for pickup by your carrier or carriers at the end of the day.
Shipping your orders may seem simple. However, there is a complex science behind the efficient pick and pack methods. Knowledge of these methods and strategies can help you run your business better. This is true whether you are a mom-and-pop ecommerce shop or a million-dollar online store.
Example Of Pick And Pack
In this scenario, let’s say that there’s a manufacturer of kitchen ovens that wants to set up a fulfillment program for their promotional products. The manufacturer wants a simple process put in that allows anyone to purchase these products.
The 3PL fulfillment company begins working with the manufacturer to get a Shopify ecommerce store up and launched. The Shopify store allows the manufacture to sell promotional shifts, hats, pants and small branded merchandise. The products will come in various colors and sizes.
Before the official launch, the manufacturer will send the fulfillment center products for product storage in a warehouse. If you can use a local fulfillment center or one like Thill that has operations across the United States, this can save you a lot of money.
In this example, since the manufacturer has multiple products, sizes and colors, a pick and pack program would be ideal in this situation. As orders come in through the manufacturer’s ecommerce store, the warehouse team will go to pick the items ordered and it will be sent to be packed, sealed and shipped.
Picking And Packing Methods
Every company is going to have an unique pick and pack strategy based on their specific needs. The pick and pack methods you ultimately implement is going to depend on the size of your business and products. It’s common for businesses to adapt and change the way they pick, pack, and ship. Due to this, you should become familiar with all of the commonly used ecommerce pick and pack methods used for fulfillment.
(1) Zone picking
For those that have large fulfillment warehouses, zone picking is a good pick and pack method to use. With this techniques, pickers stay in a warehouse zone and they pick products located in their set zone for each order. Once finished, the picker will then pass off that order to a picker in the next zone. Once that order goes through all the required zones where items on the packing slip are stored, it will then go the packing station.
It sounds simple and easy, but there’s a lot of coordination by fulfillment warehouse teams to make zone picking efficient. For this picking and packing strategy, you will need warehouse management software to help manage zone picking.
(2) Batch picking
Another popular picking and packing technique is batch picking. This type of picking works great for those of you that have enough orders to organize products into batches. It’s important to note that each batch of orders would be items that are in the same warehouse area. One of the primary goals of batch picking is to give pickers the most efficient path through the warehouse. If you need one SKU for several orders, it makes sense to pick those orders together. That will save time walking back and forth. Your orders will go out faster.
You can employ batch picking even if your business is small. Consider picking all your orders at one time each day. This method will be more efficient than picking and packing each order as you receive it. When you pick your orders all at once, you can batch them. Pick and pack software can help you batch orders for efficient picking.
(3) Piece picking
If you have a smaller business that only receives a few orders a day, you likely already use the piece picking method. This pick and pack strategy is where you take the packing slip for a single order and retrieve those Items. The picker would then go around the warehouse and pick all the items they will need for the order. Once they have everything they need, they take the order to the packing station for packing.
(4) Wave picking
Wave picking would be considered to be a combo of using both batch and zone picking at the same time. In such cases, workers would pick items within a specific zone for a batch of orders versus just a single order. Once that is completed, they would then pass the batch to the next zone for picking to resume.
The Benefits Of Pick And Pack
3PL fulfillment centers that offer pick and pack services can help your company offer a wide variety of products from online stores to your customers. When your customers have a large selection of products to choose from, that customer is more likely to buy from you. Don’t get discouraged though, even if you only have a few products to sell, a pick and pack service can still be a huge benefit to your business. As the fulfillment center receives orders, the pick and pack team will gather all the items needed items to complete the order, package them and label them for shipping.
When you follow the right process and procedures, pick and pack is a fulfillment method that can seriously boost your customer satisfaction. If your customers are happy and enjoyed their experience, they’re likely to become repeat customers. You do need the right team of pickers and packers to fulfill your orders accurately so they can be shipped out on time.
Pickers and packers have to be careful with products also, damage items can be a big problem, that is another factor that can play a role in your overall customer satisfaction. Nobody wants to receive a product that is damaged, that is one of the worst experiences your customers can have. It takes a full team effort and there is indeed “skills” involved.
One of the core reasons companies use pick and pack fulfillment is because it can save you money and it can be cost-effective. Pick and pack processes can be engineered to fit orders of all sizes and with the majority of cases, minimum order charges wouldn’t apply. Pick and pack can also eliminate collecting items from different storage facilities and sending them elsewhere for packaging and labeling. The streamlined nature of pick and pack makes it more efficient overall, which keeps costs low.
Pick and pack is a normal process in ecommerce fulfillment. Pick and pack employees are key to fulfilling orders and meeting customer expectations, and organizations need to continually work to streamline operations to make sure their pick and pack work is done as efficiently, accurately, and cost-effectively as possible.
Pick And Pack Services
If you want to learn more about how pick and pack services can help your company, give our fulfillment experts a call. We’d love to explore the fulfillment and order management options you have. You can reach us during regular operating hours at 1-920-967-9201 or you can use our easy contact form by clicking here.
