After completing the Picking Plan the warehouse team can begin to process the order. The picking process selected on the picking plan will determine how the warehouse team will complete their picking tasks. A wholesale order can be picked Manually from a Picking List or via the ShipHero Mobile application.
Things to consider:
- Inventory Assignment: Upon completion of the picking process, regardless of the picking flow, all picked inventory will be transferred to the staging location selected.
- All LPNs that will be used during mobile picking must be generated in advance from Inventory & Locations > LPNs. For more information, you can check the following article Managing License Plate Numbers in ShipHero.
Table of Contents
Item Picking Statuses Defined
This status makes it easier to visually track the progress of a picking job and quickly understand where it stands in the workflow.
| Item Picking Status | Description |
| Not Allocated | The picking location has not yet been defined. |
| Allocated | The picking location has been successfully set. |
| Picking | The picking of the product is currently underway. |
| Picked | All required items have been successfully picked from the designated location. |
Mobile Picking & Packing
Mobile Picking & Packing is the default method selected when configuring a Picking Plan. In this mobile picking flow, two actions are completed simultaneously: picking and packing inventory. A barcode scanner is required to validate the location being picked from and the inventory being picked.
After picking the inventory, you must choose how you want to package it: Are you building new boxes? Are you using boxes within boxes? Every item that is picked requires an LPN to track the movement of the inventory.
The type of wholesale order you are picking (Courier or Freight) will determine the types of LPNs and process to follow.
To start either mobile process, the user will navigate to the Order > Wholesale page in the ShipHero Mobile App. Here they are presented with a list of all orders available for picking (either by assignment or because there are locations without an assigned picker).
| Wholesale Mobile Navigation | |
Picking and Packing a Courier Order: Step-by-Step
1. To start the picking process, select the order from the list on the Wholesale page in the Mobile App. Here you will be presented with an order summary.
| Example Order Summary | |
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Order Info:
List of Locations:
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2. Scan or click a location to start. If you click the location from the order summary list you will be asked to scan the location to confirm after.
- If the location is correct, you will see confirmation on the screen; if the location is incorrect, you will receive an error message.
| Scan Location to Confirm | Confirmation of Correct location | Error Message for Wrong Location |
3a. After scanning the location, the Scan Item page will appear with the required quantities to pick from that location.
- If the item scanned is correct, you will see different options appear on the screen; if the item scanned is incorrect, you will receive an error message.
| Scan Item Page | Options Displayed when the correct product is scanned. | Error Message when the wrong item is scanned. |
3b. Continue to scan 1 by 1, or click the Picked number and manually select the amount you want to pick.
- When manually entering the number you want to pick, if you want to put all the inventory in the same box, you can choose Enter all required.
- If you need to split the picks for this product in multiple boxes and tap Pack pick units to put the picked units inside a box or directly scan a BOX LPN.
4. Assign the picked inventory to inner and outer boxes using LPNs. The first time you try to pack picked units, you will see an information screen appear with instructions on how to avoid screen touches. (See image below)
Inner Box Configuration:
An inner box is ideal when picking inventory into a box that will be shipped in a larger box.
NOTE: If an inner box is not required, (e.g., products are shipped in their own container or you are already picking to an outer box), you can choose one of the options below and then move on to configure the outer box configuration:
- Skip: When this option is selected, it will bring you directly to the Outer box configuration for the items picked. It will not prevent the Inner box option from coming back up as you continue the picking flow, as with the other options below.
- Not required for this SKU: When this option is selected, the Inner Box selection will not appear for this SKU again in the case of a partial pick.
- Not required for this Order: When this option is selected, the Inner Box selection will not appear for the entire order.
| LPN Information screen | Inner Box Screen |
- To use an inner box: Scan an LPN, stick it to the box, and then define the dimensions of the box to be used.
- To set the dimensions: scan the barcode of the box (if it has one), or select a package type from the list of available boxes by choosing Set dimensions manually. For boxes to show in the list they must be created in the Shipping > Boxes page.
- After choosing the box, choose if you want to use the same box type for the inner boxes of this order or not. If you choose Use same dimensions, the dimensions will not be requested again for new LPNs scanned for the inner boxes of this order.
| Box Dimensions Screen | Box List | Use same box dimensions? |
- After completing the inner box configuration, you will be directed to scan an Outer Box LPN and configure the dimensions accordingly.
Outer Box Configuration:
The outer box is the box that will be sent to the carrier and is required to finish the packing process. If you are shipping a product in its own packaging, you will still need to assign an outer box LPN to each carton.
- To use an Outer Box: Scan an LPN, stick it to the box, and then define the dimensions of the box to be used.
- If you are always going to use the same outer box dimensions, you can configure that in this step as well.
| Out Box Screen | Box Dimensions | Box List | Use same box dimensions? |
5. After finishing picking all the units from the location, you will return to the list of pending locations to pick.
- You can scroll up to see the summary of everything that has already been picked/packed (the inventory, the quantities, how they were packed (Inner Box or Outer Box), and the LPN of the boxes in which they were packed).
- While picking, the Wholesale manager can check the progress of the picking directly in the desktop app:
| Mobile order summary example: (Partially picked) | Progress in dashboard example: Partially picked order remains in Picking Status. |
6. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until all locations and items are processed.
7. After picking all required items, the picking summary will show no remaining items. If needed, the picker can edit the weight and height of the built pallets directly from the Picking Summary, enabling last-minute adjustments without redoing the flow, and reducing friction before shipping and documentation generation.
| Mobile order summary example: (Fully picked) | Mobile order summary example: (Fully picked) | Mobile order summary example: (Fully picked) |
Once all is complete, the wholesale order will move into the Packing status in the Wholesale page. Here the manager can review all the picked/packed inventory and make any necessary modifications.
| Progress in dashboard example: Fully picked order moves to the Packing Status. |
Picking and Packing a Freight Order: Step-by-Step
The key difference between freight and courier is that in the Freight flow, Inner and Outer boxes become optional, and the final level of packing must be a Pallet LPN. All other picking and packing steps, as outlined in the Courier flow, remain the same.
Pallet Configuration:
- Scan your pallet LPN. You can then set the Pallet Type (e.g., Standard, Euro, Australian). These will need to be created in the Shipping > Boxes for them to show in the boxes list.
| Scan Pallet LPN Screen | Set Pallet Dimensions |
- Picking Cases or UOM in the freight flow: You can pick multiple cases and pack them directly onto the pallet in the Freight flow. After scanning a Case UOM (Master Case / Inner Case), the system will prompt you, asking how you want to pack the cases:
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Option 1: Pack Cases in Boxes: This option requires the picker to scan a Box LPN and then the Pallet LPN. |
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Option 2: Pack Cases directly on Pallet: This option skips the Box LPN step and moves directly to the Pallet LPN scan. |
Mobile Picking
When you choose the Picking flow, any inventory you pick is transferred to the selected staging location once it's picked. This is ideal when you want to consolidate at a packing station later.
1. To start the picking process, select the order from the list on the Wholesale page in the Mobile App. Here you will be presented with an order summary.
| Example Order Summary | |
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Order Info:
List of Locations:
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2. Scan or click a location to start. If you click the location from the order summary list you will be asked to scan the location to confirm after.
- If the location is correct, you will see confirmation on the screen; if the location is incorrect, you will receive an error message.
| Scan Location to Confirm | Confirmation of Correct location | Error Message for Wrong Location |
3a. After scanning the location, the Scan Item page will appear with the required quantities to pick from that location.
- If the item scanned is correct, you will see different options appear on the screen; if the item scanned is incorrect, you will receive an error message.
| Scan Item Page | Options Displayed when the correct product is scanned. | Error Message when the wrong item is scanned. |
3b. Continue to scan 1 by 1, or click the Picked number and manually select the amount you want to pick. If you want to pick all quantities and move them to the staging location, you can choose Enter all required
When all required units of a SKU are picked, the line auto‑transfers to the selected Staging location and is marked as picked. In the mobile app you will receive a confirmation page Items moved to staging.
3c. Partial Picks: Scan only the number of items that fit in your tote/cart. If you need to move those picked items to staging before finishing the order, use Move picked to staging. This transfers the currently picked quantity to the assigned staging location and returns you to the item list.
You can open the Picking summary to review what's been picked so far (per line, quantities, and UOM).
4. When you finish, you’ll see a confirmation screen that your picking was completed successfully, and the order will move to the Packing status in the Wholesale page. The inventory picked will be available at the selected staging location for packing.
| Picking Summary Example | Picking Complete Confirmation |
Manual Picking
In manual picking, after assigning the selected locations to pick inventory, you can mark the order as Ready to Pick and you can print a list indicating where and how to perform the picking and you can manually transfer the inventory to the staging location. Each part of the process is manually completed in the dashboard vs some of the automated steps available with the mobile picking flows.
Things to consider:
- No Assigned Pickers: You cannot assign locations to specific picking with the Manual picking flow.
- No Confirmation Scans: There are no confirmation scans to confirm the correct products and quantities are picked.
- Editing Location Assignments: Before making the inventory transfer, indicating that the picking is complete, you can edit the assigned locations. Editing and re-assigning new locations will require reprinting the picking list.
Manual Picking Step-by-Step
1. After assigning the locations in the picking plan, click the Set as Ready to Pick button. This opens the packing layout section.
2. Print the LPN for the Staging location and Picking list. For proper inventory tracking (especially when there are different lots involved in the products to be picked), it is recommended to use LPNs in the staging location for manual picking to identify the inventory.
3. The picking list will show the locations where to go to pick, the quantity, the UOM, and in which staging LPN to deposit the inventory.
| Example Picking List |
4. Once picking is done, you can perform the action of transferring all the inventory from the assigned locations to the staging location (this way the inventory will be correctly reflected).
| Transfer all units to Staging | Transfer all units? Confirmation page |