The Wholesale workflow in ShipHero is designed for B2B fulfillment — managing orders packed onto pallets or into boxes for retail or business customers. This article covers requirements, order types, statuses, and how to move through the wholesale fulfillment workflow.
Wholesale orders can also be created and managed via the ShipHero API. Visit the ShipHero Developer Portal for the Public API Schema, Webhook Documentation, and an End-to-End Wholesale Flow Example.
Table of Contents
- Wholesale Requirements and Limitations
- Wholesale Order Types
- Wholesale Order Statuses
- How to Flag an Order as a Wholesale Order
- Wholesale Fulfillment Workflow
Wholesale Requirements and Limitations
Review these before working with wholesale orders. Several are hard constraints that will block processing if not addressed.
- Build Kits only: Regular Kits are not supported in the wholesale flow. They must be converted to Build Kits before a wholesale order can be processed. See Overview: Kits in ShipHero for more information.
- Staging locations required: An empty staging location must be assigned to each wholesale order, and only one staging location can be assigned per order. Once the order is marked Complete, the staging location is emptied and available for a new order. See How to Assign a Staging Location to a Wholesale Order.
- No partial shipments: All items on a wholesale order must be fully allocated before the order appears in the Orders to Process list. The "Allow Partial" flag does not apply to wholesale orders.
- No split shipments: A wholesale order must be fulfilled entirely from a single warehouse. If inventory is split across locations, create two separate orders — one per warehouse.
- Retailers: Retailers can only be set on a wholesale order via the API, through an SPS/EDI connection, or manually in the shipping details on the Wholesale order page. See How to Generate GS1 Retailer Compliance Labels.
Wholesale Order Types
The wholesale flow supports two order types. The type determines the shipping container used and how labels are generated. You can change the order type before picking begins or after picking is completed, up to when the order reaches Packed status.
| Type | Container | Labels |
|---|---|---|
| Freight (default) | Pallets. Includes pallet-specific fields on the order details tab. | ShipHero does not quote or generate freight labels. Carrier always shows as Generic. |
| Courier | Boxes. Requires a Carrier and Shipping Method to be set. | Supported carriers: Generic, Cheapest, FedEx, UPS, DHL Ecommerce, USPS, Purolator, Canada Post, Shippo, Endicia, Veho, SendCloud. |
You cannot change the Order Type while the order is actively in the Picking stage. See How to Change a Wholesale Order Type for full details.
Wholesale Order Statuses
Wholesale orders move through the following statuses as they progress through fulfillment.
| Status | Definition |
|---|---|
| Default | The first status the order receives after creation. |
| Ready to Pick | All inventory is allocated and the order is ready to pick. |
| Picking | Picking is in progress. |
| Packing | Packing layout is being created. |
| Packed | All items have been packed. |
| Generating Labels | Labels are being generated. |
| Ready to Print | All labels have been generated and are ready to print. |
| Warehouse Complete | Labels have been generated and printed. Outbound scheduling begins here. |
| Fulfilled | Fulfillment is complete and inventory has left the warehouse. |
| Error Status | Definition |
|---|---|
| Hospital | A picker has flagged a location as having a problem during mobile picking. Picking continues at other locations until resolved. |
| Label Error | A problem occurred during label generation. The order remains in Label Error status until the issue is fixed and labels are regenerated. |
How to Flag an Order as a Wholesale Order
For an order to appear in the Wholesale workflow, it must be flagged as wholesale. There are two ways to do this:
- Automation Rules (recommended for high volume): Create an automation rule with the action Toggle wholesale order flag based on specific order properties.
- Manual toggle: On the order details page, check the Wholesale Order box and click Update details. Use this for one-off orders or when testing.
Wholesale Fulfillment Workflow
| Step | Article |
|---|---|
| 1. Create a picking plan | How to Create a Picking Plan for a Wholesale Order |
| 2. Pick the order | How to Pick a Wholesale Order |
| 3. Pack the order | How to Pack a Wholesale Order |
| 4. Generate labels | How to Generate Labels for Courier Wholesale Orders or How to Generate Labels for Freight Wholesale Orders |
| 5. Schedule outbound | Overview: Outbound Schedule and Order Completion for Wholesale |
| Need to make changes? | Overview: Making Changes to Wholesale Orders |
For a full reference of the Wholesale Orders page tabs, filters, and columns, see Overview: Wholesale Orders Page in ShipHero.