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Pick and Pack Warehousing: Definitions and Benefits

A warehouse worker taping up a box while her coworker lifts one off an assembly line behind her
Last Modified: November 1, 2024
Pick and pack warehouses can offer storage for your goods and many other benefits for your business. We’ll walk you through what you need to know.
Jacob Lee
January 22, 2020
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What goes into a warehouse must eventually come back out, but how that’s accomplished looks different depending on the goods in question. Among your fulfillment options is pick and pack, which actually covers a wide range of systems. 

Key Takeaways:

  • Pick and Pack is a fulfillment strategy that prepares orders by picking items from warehouse storage and packing them immediately for distribution.
  • This process is ideal for businesses handling a high volume of various items or B2B orders with varied products, enhancing speed and accuracy in shipments.
  • To be efficient, a well-organized warehouse and integrated warehouse management system (WMS) should be used.
  • Through faster, more accurate order fulfillment, it boosts efficiency, cuts costs, enhances productivity, and improves customer satisfaction.

We’ll go over the main purpose of pick and pack as well as the benefits to your business along your section of the supply chain.

What is Pick and Pack?

Pick and pack is an order fulfillment strategy used in warehouses that store multiple goods that can be combined in various ways depending on a customer’s order.  

It’s a method common to ecommerce retail businesses and even physical stores that offer home delivery options. When orders are processed, items are ‘picked’ from storage locations in the warehouse and immediately packed for distribution.

Since these processes are done in quick succession, orders can be prepared quickly and are ready for transport faster.

This most often applies to small to medium items that can be shipped together in a single box to the end user. It can also be a valid strategy for warehouses focused on B2B shipping that keep numerous types of products on hand and whose orders are diverse. The packing part will just look a little bigger.

Understanding the Warehouse Pick and Pack Process

For this fulfillment strategy to be effective, warehouses must be organized in a way that allows each step of the process to take place with limited interference. Additionally, a pick and pack warehouse should have a fully integrated warehouse management system (WMS) capable of transferring information accurately between different systems. 

This technology should be capable of 

  • Live tracking inventory numbers
  • Processing all incoming orders in real-time
  • Producing picking lists to help workers find items
  • Making order labels

While manual systems are still used, particularly by smaller businesses, they are more prone to errors when information is transferred over from the ordering system to the warehouse system. 

The pick and pack process is meant to be quick and utilized by businesses with high frequency orders. The following four steps should be completed in quick succession. 

Series of icons indicate each step of the pick and pack process. From left to right the images are: an open laptop with the words 'new order' on the screen representing the order receipt. Next is a worker scanning and grabbing boxes, to represent picking. Next it an open box with items inside to represent packing. The final image is of a delivery truck in motion to represent shipping.

Order Receipt

Once a customer completes a transaction, the confirmation and order details are received by the fulfillment center. In a fully automated system, every form of sales channel is accounted for. 

Whether purchases were made directly from your online store or through a social media platform such as Instagram, orders should all end up in the same place. 

This makes it easier to confirm the right quantities are available. Warehouse employees designated as pickers are assigned orders as they come in. At this time, they may also pre-label shipments as being ‘urgent’ or needing ‘express’ shipping. 

Picking

Once quantities and other shipping preferences have been confirmed, the picking practice begins. The goal is to accurately gather all the items together in the most efficient way possible. 

The most common tool in use is a scanner that provides the list, item locations, and can update quantities remaining as items are selected. Two factors will most impact picking efficiency:

  • Employee training: Well-trained employees work more effectively and safely, which reduces mistakes
  • Warehouse organization: Organized spaces make it easier for those employees to do their jobs in a timely manner. 

There are multiple ways to organize a warehouse for picking. There may be some trial and error involved to find which one works best for your needs if you’re working to set up your own pick and pack system. 

Related: 7 Warehouse Order Picking Methods for Accuracy and Efficiency

Packing

The next stage is to combine all the picked items into one order for shipping. This can mean placing all the items into boxes or loading multiple large boxes onto a single pallet

Packers ensure that any needed packing material is correctly in place to avoid damage and that boxes (or pallets) are properly labeled for the next phase: shipping.  

Shipping

Whether the warehouse runs its own transportation services or relies on scheduled carriers, all outbound items need to be organized ahead of time for loading. Pallets of shipments usually travel by dry van, while large delivery vans handle smaller parcels. 

A checkout system should be in place that can send updates to let clients know shipments have been sent out and their estimated time of arrival.  

Once orders leave the warehouse, they become the driver’s responsibility. Warehouses running their own transport will usually have the driver looped into the same WMS, making it easier for track and trace programs to work. 

If goods are being transferred to a large private carrier, these may have their own tracking systems in place that you’ll then need to pass on to the client. 

Signs You Need Pick and Pack Warehousing

Not every business needs pick and pack warehouse services, even if they are retail based. Those that do tend to share a few qualities that go above and beyond having multiple items to offer. 

Such companies tend to seek out third party logistics (3PL) operations that can provide these services on their behalf instead of trying to come up with their own.

  • A Need for Business Scaling: When your product volume is growing rapidly, or has a tendency to change quickly, established 3PLs can more easily scale services up or down. Businesses that offer seasonal products or fast fashion can experience extreme peaks of low and high demand. 
  • Network Stability: Issues with a current fulfillment process, perhaps because of a growing business, can drive companies to seek out 3PL pick and pack services that service a wider area, have better product tracking, and provide better client communication options.
  • Product Variety: When companies go from offering one or two items to dozens, a more streamlined fulfillment service is needed. This is especially true if your average customer tends to order multiple items at the same time. 

If any of these describe your business, this is your sign to reach out to Fulfillment and Distribution to see how we can help you keep growing. 

Related: 3PL Solutions for Retailers: Optimize Shipping and Delivery

Looking for a solution to store and ship your products seamlessly? Let R+L Global Logistics be your fulfillment and distribution partner.

4 Benefits of Pick and Pack

For those of you still on the fence about using such a service, we get it. Outsourcing pick and pack services, on both a large and small scale, can be expensive. It’s not something every warehouse wants to do, and options may seem limited. 

Maybe you’re even thinking that you can still pull off a do-it-yourself approach because after all, you’ve managed to grow your business this far, right? 

Let’s consider four specific benefits that working with an established pick and pack warehouse is likely to provide you. 

Efficiency

When traveling somewhere new, many of us would choose to rely on a GPS system that contains the latest road updates and provides directions in real time until arrival. 

Can the same be achieved with a paper map? Sure, but you better have someone who still knows how to read one and hope that roadways haven’t changed since being published, among other things. 

Working with a 3PL versus running your own pick and pack is the same. It’s a process that they’ve automated to the point where you just need to keep the business going in the right direction. They’ve already found the best order picking system and organized themselves to be as efficient as possible, a benefit they pass on to you and your customers

Productivity

With efficiency comes productivity. The more efficient a system is, the more productive it is. This matters if your business has to process customer orders from multiple sales channels or must manage peak season highs. 

Good productivity allows each customer to receive the same level of service while keeping operating costs steady and mistakes minimal. This is me to the next point. 

Cost Savings

Contracting pick and pack services can actually save you money in the long term. Yes, warehouses that offer such services don’t come cheap, but consider that it’s a very specialized service. 

When you need to process dozens or even hundreds of orders a day, picking mistakes, long picking times, and poor packing practices add up quickly. 

  • Mistakes in packing result in increasing return fees
  • Long picking times impact the speed of order fulfillment
  • Poor packing results in more damaged merchandise

Each of these errors cost money and fixing them requires your business to invest time and resources in correcting them while also trying to improve the system that caused it. 

At the end, you’ll find yourself spending more time managing the logistics side of your company rather than actually growing your brand. 

Outsourcing to an experienced provider will pay for itself with time while allowing you to focus on running your business. 

Customer Satisfaction

All of these benefits end up resulting in more happy customers. Happy customers are more likely to be repeat customers, which offer the greatest financial security for your business

These are also customers who will leave good reviews not just about the product, but about the level of service they experienced. In a rather cutthroat ecommerce world, one filled with similar products, fulfillment services worth raving about can influence buyers. 

Professional Services Offered by Fulfillment and Distribution Services

Businesses looking to streamline their fulfillment through pick and pack warehouse services can reach out to the professionals at Fulfillment and Distribution. Our warehouses are secure facilities staffed by trained personnel and managed by professionals willing to work with you. 

Our services are expansive and include:

  • Cross docking services
  • B2B fulfillment
  • On-demand warehousing

If we can’t provide you with help at one of our warehouses, we’ll find one that can through our network of partner facilities located all around the country and located at major industry hubs. Call is today at (866) 989-3082 or complete an online service request form today. 

One comment on “Pick and Pack Warehousing: Definitions and Benefits”

  1. I’m currently looking for work in the warehouse sector I have experience in the field for about six years with the British heart foundation and amazon

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