How to Automate Order Fulfillment on Shopify and Whether You Should Do It?

Time to read: 5 minutes

You can fulfill Shopify orders fully automatically or manually—the difference is just a few clicks away in the settings. But which one should you choose? In this article, we look into automated order fulfillment on Shopify and discuss the two options. Read on to find out more.

How to Automate Order Fulfillment on Shopify?

How do you automate your e-commerce fulfillment on Shopify? It’s quite easy. You just need to update your Shopify settings to tell your store what you want to do. To do so, enter your Shopify Admin and click:

settings >> general >> order processing

When you get there, you are presented with the options outlined below.

This section gives you much more control over your Shopify fulfillment, enabling you to specify the situations in which orders should be fulfilled automatically.

Choosing the Right Fulfillment Method on Shopify

Automated fulfillment is a Shopify functionality. This means that it might have some limitations depending on how you fulfill your orders.

Usually, you cannot decide which orders should be fulfilled automatically and which manually—you either toggle this option on or off. However, with ByteStand MCF Shipping App, you can change that. Our new Flex feature enables you to decide which products in orders should be fulfilled automatically and which shouldn’t, eliminating the traditional limitations of the Shopify platform. 

In practice, this means that you need to put a bit more consideration into selecting between manual and automated fulfillment on bare Shopify or use specialized apps like those offered by us. What if you don’t know whether you should use our app? Here’s an overview of the possible scenarios and the solutions.

Multiple Fulfillment Methods

Let’s start with a situation in which you have multiple fulfillment methods. If you, for instance, fulfill some orders through Amazon and some orders manually, we suggest that you download ByteStand MCF Shipping and use the flex feature. You may also consider turning automatic fulfillment on for all orders (without our app), but this might cause some inconveniences.  

At the same time, remember that Shopify offers you an API for fulfillment orders. This feature enables you to automate order fulfillment even if you’re working with logistics providers different from Amazon FBA. So, sometimes, even if you handle your products with different methods, it might be beneficial to turn on the automated Shopify fulfillment function.

Manual Orders Majority

If most of your orders are manual that you must ship out, we suggest turning off automatic fulfillment. At that time you would have to click ‘Request Fulfillment’ on each FBA order. But, you could accurately mark your manual orders as complete when appropriate.

FBA Orders Majority

If most of your orders are FBA orders, we suggest you keep automatic fulfillment turned on so you only have to check on your few manual orders! Currently, we are not aware of a way to ‘Hold Fulfillment’ of orders.

Other Considerations for Automated Fulfillment on Shopify

There are several other factors that you need to take into account when setting up your Shopify fulfillment. For instance, when setting up your Shopify store for automatic or manual fulfillment, it’s important to consider the associated costs, such as FBA multi-channel fulfillment fees. These fees can impact your overall profitability and should be factored into your fulfillment strategy.

At the same time, remember that automated fulfillment has numerous benefits, one of which is higher productivity. This translates directly into higher profits. Frequently, the potential gains outweigh the costs; this is why it’s crucial that you make accurate, thorough calculations beforehand.

To Automate or Not to Automate?

In our opinion, if you can, then you should utilize Shopify’s automated fulfillment. It’s a feature that brings measurable value to your store. However, you should also remember about the risks, such as:

• order fraud,
• lower control over order processing,
• the need for data integration.

The third point is especially important. Imagine you sell your products on Shopify and Amazon and fulfill orders with the same service. If you don’t integrate your data (namely, stock levels) between these two platforms and automate your fulfillment on Shopify, you may “fulfill” orders when there aren’t enough products in stock. This would typically lead to your canceling orders, which results in lower customer satisfaction. Thus, although automated fulfillment, whether on Shopify or other platforms, has its benefits, you need to approach this topic carefully and with sufficient planning.

The Takeaway

How to automate order fulfillment on Shopify? You need to enter the admin panel, select settings, then general, order processing, and finally check “automatically fulfill the order’s line items.” The process is simple, but you cannot customize it within Shopify. However, you can personalize the settings using external tools, like ByteStand MCF Shipping for Shopify! 

In the end, you should always lean towards automation, as long as you integrate data between your sales channels and aren’t exposed to transactions with a high risk of fraud.

Did you like this article? Then you may also read: The Benefits of Outsourcing Fulfillment Services for Shopify and Amazon Sellers

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