Like pizza with mozzarella, like octopus with EVOO, like pork shoulder with turnip tops, picking and packing are two very different concepts that complement each other and they work best if they go hand in hand. Both are part of a key moment in the sales process of your eCommerce, which is to select the products for shipment, identify them, package them and personalize them. Any mistakes that occurs at this stage can result in serious consequences, such as discredit of your brand or large money losses.
The dividing line between these two moments/concepts is very small, so are often confused when planning work. It is as if one were the continuation of the other and they crossed in the middle sharing Points in common. We hope that these notes will help you clear up the mess.
what is picking
Actually, the word “picking” is an anglicism that means pickup or collection and refers to the process of preparation of an order, in which products are selected and collected from different places in a warehouse to organize them before packaging. This is a very sensitive moment because any carelessness can lead to important errorssuch as delivering the wrong product to the customer or sending a package to the wrong address.
This part of the work includes 3 instances:
- Preparation: data collection and delivery of classified orders, preparation of forklifts, carts, pallets and others.
- Harvest: Transfer to the places where the different products are found, search for them and load them to the area of operations.
- Check: check that everything is in order (packaging, boxing, sealing, weighing and labeling), transfer the products to the dispatch area and prepare the carrier’s packing list.
What is packing
The word “packing” is another anglicism, which refers to the entire packaging, packaging and packaging process of the products. At this point there are two issues to which special attention should be paid:
- The originality, quality and personalization of a package.
- product care at the time of packing it so that it arrives intact to the client.
Both actions give status to your brand and will make a customer choose you again.
The container is the container of the productwhich can be designed and customized adding added value: bottles, jars, sachets, doypack, etc., of different materials and sizes.
The packaging or packaging is the container of the container and where protection elements can be added according to the type of product that must be moved, especially if it is gastronomic or fragile products. Its main objective is to display, identify and facilitate the sale and/or use of the product. giving it a good visual image and distinguishing it from the competition’s products.
Finally, packaging is a third container that helps store and transport multiple units of the same product.
How to optimize them
Both the picking and packing of an eCommerce can be done manually, however, more and more companies choose to automate them to avoid errors, speed up time and reduce costs.
But how can this task be automated? There are many options. For example, is an online tool that has multiple automations so you can choose the ones that best suit your eCommerce.
In this platform they have designed a logical and structured workflow divided into 4 stages that allows process shipments more efficiently and reduce errors to zero. One of its 4 stages includes the pick list, a functionality with which you can pick up the products from your warehouse in an agile and orderly way, guiding you from your tablet or mobile with all the information you need to find the items (photo, SKU, location within the warehouse…).
The system will create the list automatically without having to pass the data one by one to an excel table, which will save you a lot of valuable time and avoid errors that could be very expensive.
Another stage of your workflow is the Shipping Queuethat allows you see the products of each order and choose one or multiple packages with different measures, the carrier and collection warehouse that suits you best depending on the situation. Of course, this process can be automated so that it is done automatically depending on the order.
For stores with higher sales volume, there is also the Scan & Pack functionality, which enables quickly scan products and print labels at the end of the process.
As you can see, picking and packing are not only one letter apart, but they happen in two different and necessary stages for the fulfillment of your eCommerce. We hope that the article has clarified these concepts for you and that you begin to reap the benefits of automation.
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