Webshipper

From shop to shipment – How does it work?

Picture of Barbara Karen

Barbara Karen

Are you contemplating on optimizing your warehouse? If you’re brand new to e-commerce and online shop building you might wonder how it all works. Well, let’s take you behind the curtains of a shipping engine from order placement all the way to shipment booking. First, if you want an automated shipping solution for your online shop you’ll need a WMS and a TMS. 

What is a WMS?

WMS is short for warehouse management system, and is a software application designed specifically, as the name might suggest, for managing your inventory and daily operations at the warehouse. A WMS should be able to provide you with an easier way to track product items and resources, while also potentially providing and integrating with other integrated systems such as a TMS (Transport Management System), ERP and/or CRM.  A WMS should also offer devices such as handheld scanners for an easy packing process. 

What is a WMS not?
While a warehouse management system offers a lot of relief to your pains when it comes to your inventory and labor in the warehouse, a WMS is not the definite answer to your prayers. You will still need to integrate to other systems for optimal logistics and shipping overview. A WMS does not handle the business aspects as an ERP, PMS, CRM or TMS might will.

How does a TMS cooperate with a WMS? 

Now to the fun part – well, we are kind of nerdy here at Webshipper. We’ve made an infographic for you to easier understand the order process with systems integrated to your online shop. Let’s guide you through it.

When a customer is at the cart of your online shop ready to make a purchase, an integrated TMS, such as Webshipper, will (1) display all available shipping options based on your customers input data. 

Your online shop will (2) send your customers order info and the chosen shipping option back into our shipping engine.

How a TMS and a WMS works with your online shop

Next, at the speed of light the shipping engine will (3) connect to the webhook, which requests information from your warehouse management system. Your WMS will then (4) through an API send the feedback from your warehouse back to the shipping engine.  

This will (5) automatically create a printed label for the parcel and simultaneously book a shipment at the chosen courier. 

Lastly, the shipping engine will also (6) automatically send an order fulfillment confirmation to your online shop displaying that the order has been received, to the customer’s e-mail and also to your order system.

So what should your game plan be now?

You’ve might come to realize that you need to make your warehouse/logistics more efficient. If this is the case you should start researching on systems that fit your business and request quotes from our very capable WMS-partners.

You are also more than welcome to contact us to assess your business needs and thereby optimizing your logistics – helping you save time, money and create more happy customers. 

If you want to know more about 3PL and warehouse management you can read the guide “Warehouse management and optimization for e-commerce“.