Shopify WMS Selection and Implementation

Ask whether they resell software. Some WMS consultants are partners of a software vendor and earn from the licence. That's fine if they say so upfront. It's a problem if every selection ends the same way, so ask for a written scoring of each option against your requirements.

Expect a floor walk before a recommendation. A good warehouse management consultant watches receiving, putaway, picking and packing, counts the walking and the touches, and maps where mis-picks happen. Advice given from a video call alone misses the layout problems no software fixes.

Test their Shopify sync knowledge. Ask how they'll handle orders that change after reaching the warehouse. Merchants can add or remove items and change quantities on unfulfilled orders, and can put fulfilments on hold, so the WMS has to pick up those changes before anyone picks.

Ask for a dated implementation plan. It should cover bin naming, labelling, data load, testing with real orders, training and a cutover weekend, plus a fallback if picking stalls on day one.

Check who trains your team. Pickers, packers and whoever receives stock each need hands-on time with the scanners, not one demo for the manager. Ask for written procedures the team keeps.

Ask for a reference from a similar warehouse. Parcel picking for a Shopify brand is a different job from pallet distribution. Ask to speak to a client with a similar order profile and SKU count, and ask them what went wrong at go-live.

Deal-breakers. No mention of barcodes. A go-live planned for your peak season. A contract that bundles years of software with the consulting fee.

Shopify covers the stock record for an in-house warehouse. It tracks quantities by location, up to 10 on Basic, Grow and Advanced and 200 on Plus, and handles purchase orders, transfers and counts. For a small stockroom where two people know where everything sits, that's enough.

It covers the floor only lightly. Each variant can have one bin name per location, and pick lists for several orders print in bin order. A WMS adds what a busier floor needs, such as several bins per product, a scan check at each step and pick-rate reporting. Signs you've outgrown Shopify alone:

- Mis-picks and wrong items reaching customers

- Stock Shopify says you have that nobody can find

- Receiving that takes days while sellable stock waits on the dock

- Overtime every peak season just to keep up

- New pickers who need weeks before they're accurate

One sign on its own is often a process problem. Two or three together usually mean the floor has outgrown memory and paper.

What implementation involves. Name every bin in a pattern pickers can follow, such as aisle, bay, shelf and position. Put a barcode on every unit, not just every carton. Decide which system owns available stock, then test the Shopify sync on real orders.

Then the floor. Set up packing stations with scanners and label printers, train pickers on the handhelds, do a full count and cut over on a quiet weekend.

Vendors quote software and implementation separately, and a consultant is a third line. Typical ranges across the market:

From the first floor walk to the cutover weekend: