There are times in which you would sell products to retailers as a Wholesale order. In most cases, this would be a bulk purchase, which is different from selling the product individually through an online market. ShipHero has developed a Wholesale workflow that will be outlined in this article. Please be advised, this functionality is only available if you are currently using Dynamic slotting.
How to Set an Order as Wholesale
Generating Freight & Courier Labels
How to Set an Order as a Wholesale Order
- Users can add a flag to mark non-SPS orders as wholesale/B2B so they can be shipped using the wholesale workflow.
- Users can add an automation rule action to toggle the wholesale order flag based on Specific order properties:
Picking a Wholesale Order
- Wholesale orders can be picked from non-pickable bins, which prevents them from depleting the pickable bins (wholesale orders are generally very large)
- When selecting the pickable bins, we can sort locations by lots (FIFO/FEFO), bins with the most stock, or bins with the least stock - the choice is remembered for the duration of the session.
- If one location does not have enough inventory, multiple locations can be selected for an item so that you can pick enough for the entire order.
- Once the locations are selected, the inventory for this order will be allocated to those locations.
Once the locations are selected, you can print a pick sheet for these SKUs.
NOTE: If an order has more than 25 line items, please perform paper picking, as the Wholesale QR code picking feature is limited to the number of line items that it can load.
NOTE: Product cases and their eaches cannot be in the same location, so you must transfer them to different locations. Example
Auto-Allocate Pick Locations
You can also auto-allocate picking locations for wholesale orders.
To auto-allocate pick locations select an order from your Wholesale Orders dashboard.
On the order detail page, click the button that says Auto-Assign Locations.
A separate screen will pop-up for you to make your selections. You'll need to designate:
- Location Type: Pickable or Non-pickable
- Stock Level: Least Stock or Most Stock
- Lots: FIFO, LIFO, FEFO, LEFO
Once you're selections are made, click Apply at the bottom of the screen.
You will be returned to the order detail page, where the auto-allocated locations will be visible for each item.
Generating Freight & Courier Labels
After Packing all items in the packing configuration, the user will see the options to Print packing & labels.
NOTE: We support mapped carriers/methods - we do not currently support rate shopping for (cheapest). All boxes will need to go out with the same carrier and method. If necessary, the shipping information can be changed from the order details page on app.shiphero.com.
Labels that are generated successfully will show the label tag in bold, while an error will show a label tag in red:
NOTE: Non-build kits are not supported. Instead, we suggest using a build kit or a pre-assembled kit.
Switching Between Freight & Courier Shipping Methods
You can choose to ship your wholesale orders via Freight or Courier. Here are the main differences between the two.
Freight: Generally used for large wholesale orders packed on pallets
Selecting Freight in ShipHero will do the following:
- Generate pallet labels
- Generate manifest and packing slips
Courier: Generally used for smaller wholesale orders packed in a few boxes. Courier wholesale orders do not require pallet labels or a manifest.
You can change the wholesale shipping method from courier to freight or vice versa from the Order Details Page.
A confirmation note will pop up, asking you to confirm your selection.
Once you have clicked the Change button in the bottom righthand corner of the pop-up window, you will get a green confirmation bar across the top of the screen that the shipping method has changed.
NOTE: You can change your shipping method from courier to wholesale or vice versa through the picking stage, but once the order is packed, DO NOT change the shipping method. Switching will require you to repack all items.
Packing a Wholesale Order
- The packing configuration supports freight or courier shipping for wholesale/B2B orders. Freight orders have pallets, while courier orders are just boxes.
- Items can be scanned to pack in the packing configuration to ensure everything is packed correctly.
- Weight is auto-detected if the product has a weight saving in ShipHero.
- Scales are also supported, but you must click into the weight box before weighing the box (so the system knows which box is being weighed)
- Timeline to track progress
Adding Value to Your Workflow
- Once an order is marked as wholesale, it will follow the wholesale-specific flow.
- Wholesale orders are not sent to Multi-item Batches, preventing the backup of your picking queues.
- Wholesale orders can also be excluded from mobile replenishment, as wholesale orders can pick from non-pickable bins.