A company that sells products thrives when a sales order comes in. This makes sense because the more orders, the higher the revenue. As a business, you always want to grow, and an increase in sales orders is essential for this. However, an increase in orders is not always a blessing. The warehouse and employees must be able to handle the flow.
WMS System
A WMS (Warehouse Management System) helps manage inventory efficiently. It also enables sales order processing. You should look for a system that automatically transfers sales orders from your webshop to the WMS. This way, you can manage all orders centrally.
Once the sales orders enter the system, it’s crucial to establish a structured workflow. Webship Online organizes this using statuses, ensuring that every employee knows exactly what stage the order is in. The main statuses are:
- Draft
- Waiting for payment
- Ready for picking
- Picking
- Ready for packing
- Ready for shipping
- Completed
- On hold
- Cancelled
Picking a Sales Order
When orders come in, picking the products is the next step. This phase is crucial but often overlooked when optimizing warehouse operations. Inventory management is more than just tracking stock and shipping orders. You need to consider storage location, picking routes, and more. Without an optimized system, inefficiencies arise, leading to increased labor costs.
Strategically place fast-selling products in the warehouse and link them to specific storage locations. A smart WMS like Webship Online will determine the most efficient picking route to avoid unnecessary movement in the warehouse. This speeds up picking and reduces walking distances, improving employee productivity.
A barcode scanner can further optimize warehouse operations!
Use Barcodes
A barcode is a series of lines that can be read by a scanner. It can contain only numbers or a combination of numbers, letters, and symbols. By linking a barcode to a product, it is always traceable.
Without barcodes, mistakes happen—wrong products, too many or too few items sent. Some customers don’t report these errors, causing inventory discrepancies. Barcodes ensure that the correct product is always picked and recorded, significantly reducing errors. Satisfied customers lead to positive reviews, repeat purchases, and increased brand awareness.
Packing Sales Orders
Once all products are picked, they must be packed properly. A dedicated packing area is essential, with easy access to materials and enough space to work. A packing table equipped with a scale and label printer is a must.
Packing isn’t just about placing products in a box. Many businesses don’t track the cost of packaging and shipping. A WMS like Webship Online allows you to scan packaging materials, automatically displaying their cost in the order. The system also calculates shipping costs once the label is printed. This allows you to monitor your profit margin and adjust packaging materials if needed.
Tip: Use branded packaging to enhance the customer experience!
Shipping Sales Orders
Once packed, the order must be shipped quickly. To do this, you need contracts with shipping carriers. Each carrier offers different shipping methods. If you want to offer multiple options to customers, you can integrate them into a WMS like Webship Online. When creating an order, you can select the preferred shipping method, which is automatically applied if the customer orders through your webshop.
Webship Online
Want to manage your warehouse and sales orders with a modern WMS? Webship Online is the solution! Contact us at hallo@webship.online for a free 30-day trial.
