How To Fulfill Orders on Shopify

Congratulations, you made a sale on Shopify! Now, it’s time to fulfill the order and ship the goods to your new customerI

Nothing beats the buzz of making a Shopify sale, particularly when you’re just starting out online. However – the work has just started when an order comes in.

Knowing how to fulfill orders on Shopify is often a convoluted process for merchants, but an essential part of building an omni-channel fraud prevention strategy. For new store owners in particular, the task of delivery and shipping can feel daunting. From choosing a fulfillment method, to figuring out whether an order is actually genuine – there’s a lot to consider.

To help you complete your orders efficiently and minimize your risk, use the Shopify order fulfillment guides listed below for step-by-step order processing instructions.

• Method #1: Fulfill your own orders
  • Automatic fulfillment
  • Manual fulfillment
• Method #2: Fulfill your orders with a third party
  • New fulfillment workflows
• Method #3: Mixed or partial orders

Method #1: Fulfill Your Own Orders 

Shopify allows you to manage all your order fulfillment on your own.

Many store owners personally execute fulfillment because it cuts costs, gives greater control over store assets, and allows for easier inventory monitoring.

There are two different ways to fulfill your own orders: automatic fulfillment or manual fulfillment.

Automatic Fulfillment

Shopify can automatically fulfill every order you receive the moment it is placed, without you needing to take any additional steps. If you do not have in-house shipping, packaging, and inventory storage solutions, personal automatic fulfillment is only available (and of use) for electronic products such as digital media, gift cards, or web data.

Shopify will email your customers a link and mark the order complete upon download.

How To Fulfill Orders on Shopify Automatically;

1. Enter the Admin section of your store
2. Click on Settings
3. Click on the Checkout Settings tab
4. Scroll to the Order Processing Section
5. Find the After An Order Has Been Paid title card
6. Select Automatically Fulfill All The Order’s Line Items

When completed, save your settings.

Automatic fulfillment is a simple, set-it-and-forget-it method. Once toggled on, no additional labor is required. However, there are risks. Automatic fulfillment eliminates your ability to review orders for fraud before they ship, increasing your risk of chargebacks. It’s true that Shopify does offer risk analysis. However, its performance is far below what is possible with a dedicated solution, all but guaranteeing a large number of bad orders will slip through the cracks.

Manual Fulfillment

Manual fulfillment is the most flexible yet time-consuming method of order processing, because it requires you to individually address each order received in your orders section.

How to Fulfill Orders on Shopify Manually: 

1. Enter the Admin section of your store
2. Go to Orders
3. View and sort your unfulfilled orders by toggling the Fulfill By data. The fulfill-by date is the latest you can complete a purchase order
4. Click on the unfulfilled order and enter the Fulfillment Card
5. Set your location. Many store owners fulfill orders from different storage facilitates, helping lower shipping times, track inventory, and manage taxes. Select the optimal location in the Change Locations tab
6. Create your shipping label. Use the information listed on the fulfillment card to print a shipping label. If you use Shopify Shipping to create shipping labels for you, make sure you click the Create Shipping Label tab
7. Input your tracking numbers and shipping info. In many cases, Shopify will recognize the tracking number and select your shipping carrier. You will have to click the tab Mark As Fulfilled if you use a shipping service other than Shopify Shipping
8. If you want to notify your customer of the pending order fulfillment, checkmark the Send Shipment Details To Your Customer Now tab
9. Click Fulfill Items to complete the order and leave the fulfillment tab. For owners who use Shopify shipping, complete your order by clicking the Buy Shipping Label button

Many store owners prefer to fulfill orders on Shopify manually because you can control the order flow and with an automated solution like Spotrisk, detect fraud before you ship your goods.

Method #2: Fulfill Your Orders With a Third Party

You can choose to leverage a third party to support and simplify your entire Shopify order fulfillment process. While it does come at an additional cost, many owners use the service because it allows them to focus on business growth, rather than spend time packaging and shipping orders.

Legacy Order Fulfillment

To outsource your order fulfillment, you first have to integrate your chosen service into Shopify for automatic order processing, otherwise known as legacy fulfillment.

How To Fulfill Orders on Shopify with a Third Party Service: 

1. Enter the Admin section of your store
2. Click on Settings
3. Click on Shipping and Delivery
4. In the Custom Order Fulfillment section, click Add Fulfillment Service.
5. In the new form, enter all the required details about your fulfillment and shipping service.
6. Click Save to complete the setup

Once completed, return to your unfilled orders to start requesting order fulfillment from your service.

Executing Third Party Service Order Fulfillment Requests: 

1. Enter the Admin section of your store
2. Click on Orders
3. View and sort your unfulfilled orders by toggling the Fulfill By data
4. Click on an unfulfilled order and enter the Fulfillment Card
5. Click Request Fulfillment
6. Send customer details. Click Notify Customer Of Shipment to alert your buyer of all order processing
7. Click Fulfill Items

Many store owners use automatic order fulfillment with a third-party service for rapid processing, but you can also create custom order flows based on preference. Make product-specific adjustments in your Inventory tab.

New Order Fulfillment Workflows

Shopify also allows you to use fulfillment workflows to edit, adjust, or communicate with your third-party fulfillment provider.

To do this:

1. Go to the fulfillment tab
2. Request to cancel an order,

AND/OR

Leave notes to your third-party carrier

AND/OR

Manage the order timeline

Automating Shopify order fulfillment with a third-party service presents the same risks as Shopify’s native automatic fulfillment service. Instant fulfillment removes control, and makes it impossible for you to properly assess orders for fraud before they are shipped out.

Method #3: Mixed or Partial Order Fulfillment

Shopify also lets you choose a combination of manual, automatic, and third-party order fulfillment processing.

Manual fulfillment is ideal for store owners who closely track inventory stock, use pre-ordered products, review orders for fraud, and need greater delivery flexibility.

Third-Party Services are ideal for owners with large catalogs who want immediate and simple order processing. Both offer benefits that you can leverage through mixed or partial orders.

• Partial Order Fulfillment: Customers often request multiple items in a single order. If you only have a few products in stock, partially fulfilling the order manually is an ideal way to maintain high customer satisfaction. Or, if you have access to products before restocking inventory held by your third-party supplier, manually completing order sections is far faster. Simply select each individual item you will ship within the order fulfillment tab. Note: the order will not mark complete until all items are delivered.

• Multiple or bulk orders: If you have a preset shipping carrier or third-party service, you can select multiple orders in the Orders admin page and create bulk shipment fulfillments.

• Mixed Shipment Locations: If you have multiple preset shipment locations, different items from an order that reside in the same storage facility are combined. You can always manually fulfill out-of-stock items as a partial order if a second location has the needed part.
• Local Deliveries: For owners with a Shopify Plus plan, you can set up local shipping by clicking into the Local Delivery tab (found within the Shipping and Delivery Settings). Fulfill orders all on your own within your neighborhood.

To learn how to significantly reduce the risk of fraud and chargebacks when you fulfill orders on Shopify, visit the SpotriskHQ blog.