How to Fulfill Orders on Shopify

If you don’t know how to fulfil orders on Shopify, finalizing sales can be tricky. Although listing products on the e-commerce platform can be easy, fulfilling orders is another part that you must approach with care. It’s usually the final part of closing a sale on Shopify.

As a seller, you must know how to fulfil orders on Shopify. That’s because most buyers expect you to deliver their orders promptly after paying for them. If the fulfillment part is a struggle for your online business, then you are in the right place.

Order fulfillment might seem a complex procedure, but it’s not when you know what to do. This guide explores the different ways to fulfil orders on Shopify. After reading this post, fulfilling orders on your Shopify store will never be a daunting task.

That said, let’s get started!

What “Order Fulfillment on Shopify” Means

Order fulfillment in Shopify is the process of shipping your products to customers who have paid for them. You’ll have to review all the orders and check the products as you pull them from inventory. When you pack the item for shipping, it’s considered fulfilled.

Studies reveal that 44 percent of online shoppers expect sellers to deliver their goods in two days. Unfortunately, new Shopify sellers struggle to deliver sold products to clients. They face competition from established companies that can deliver within two days.

How to Fulfill Orders on Shopify in Three Ways

As a new Shopify seller, you don’t need to worry about the order fulfillment process. There are many ways to fulfil an order on Shopify, including:

• Manual order fulfillment
• Automatic order fulfillment 
• Partial order fulfillment

Depending on your needs and the customers’ preference, you can use any of the three order fulfillment strategies mentioned above. There’s no doubt that most Shopify sellers prefer fulfilling orders manually to other methods. We are about to find out why.

Now, let’s dive deeper into the three order fulfillment strategies to see how each works.

Manual Order Fulfillment on Shopify

With manual order fulfillment, Shopify sellers decide when to send out orders and keep inventories under tight control. In other words, they can effectively control and monitor inventory levels. The sellers get involved in every stage of ordering and shipping items.

So, in what circumstances will you choose manual order fulfillment over other methods?

• When you sell products for pre-order
• When your Shopify store occasionally runs out of stock
• When you plan to offer partial order fulfillment to your shoppers

Now that you know what manual order fulfillment is, let’s see how it works.

Here are the steps to follow to fulfil an order manually.

1. Log in to your Shopify store and click the admin dashboard
2. Go to the Orders tab on the left-hand side of the admin panel
3. Click the unfulfilled order that you plan to fulfill
4. Scroll down through the page and click the “Start Flulfilling” button
5. Insert the tracking number and choose a shipping carrier from the drop-down menu. Select others if you don’t see your preferred shipping carrier on the list.
6. Click the customer notification checkbox to notify the customer about the shipping details. They can use the information to track their goods.
7. Once you’ve filled out everything, click the Fulfil Item tab. A “Fulfilled” tag will appear on top of the page.
8. To print a packing slip for the order, click the “More Actions” button and select the Print Packing Slips option from the drop-down menu.

Pro Tip: Before fulfilling an order on Shopify, ensure that shipment details for the product are correct. Verify the product’s size, model, and quantity.

Automatic Order Fulfillment on Shopify

The system automatically marks an order as fulfilled when the customer pays for a product in automatic order fulfillment. This order fulfillment method is ideal for people who sell digital products, such as gift cards and downloads.

If you sell digital products on Shopify, customers will automatically receive an email or download link to the product immediately after payment. That is when the order is considered fulfilled. This payment method is streamlined but not ideal for all products.

The good thing about automatic order fulfillment is that it’s easy to set up. Besides, fulfilling the order is a straightforward process that you can quickly set up on the Shopify admin panel. You won’t have to sit in front of a computer whenever you get an order.

In summary, automatic order fulfillment can be convenient to your business if:

• You lack products meant for pre-order
• You use third-party fulfillment services
• Your products don’t need packaging and shipping

Here are the steps you need to follow to set up automatic order fulfillment on your Shopify store:

1. Log in to your Shopify store and go to the admin panel
2. Click the “Settings” tab, then the “Checkout” button
3. Click the “Orders Processing” tab below the “Checkout Settings.”
4. Look for the tab “After an Order Has Been Paid” and choose the “Automatically Fulfil All of the Order’s Line Items.”
5. Click the checkbox for notifying customers about their shipment through email
6. Click the “Save” button to finish the setup. You won’t worry about future orders

Partial Order Fulfillment on Shopify

Partial order fulfillment is ideal for sellers that use manual order fulfillment. It allows you to fulfil Shopify orders partially. This type of order can be helpful when some of your products are out of stock and you don’t want a customer to wait for the entire order.

For example, when a customer purchases several items, some of them are out of stock, it will be more convenient to fulfil part of the order. Later on, you can send the rest of the products. With this fulfillment method, clients can claim for Shopify partial refund.

You can also use partial order fulfillment when your inventory is available in several locations, and only a part of the order can get fulfilled from one area.

Now, let’s look at how partial order fulfillment works.

1. Log in to your Shopify account and click the Order section in the Admin panel
2. Choose an order whose Fulfilment Status is “Unfulfilled” or “Partial”
3. Click the “Start Fulfilling” button to mark the order to be partially fulfilled
4. Change the number of products you plan to fulfil for every line item
5. Update the customer on changes on refunds and out-of-stock items on email
6. Next, click the “Fulfil Items” tab to mark the orders complete
7. Fulfilled items show up with green check marks to know if fulfillment is successful
8. Look for details in the “Payment Accepted” and “All Items Were Shipped” tabs

Final Words

If you were wondering, “how do I fulfill an order on Shopify,” this guide has addressed all your concerns. You won’t have difficulty fulfilling an order on Shopify.

Depending on your Shopify needs, you can do it manually, automatically, or partially. The good news is that we’ve shown you how to fulfill an order on Shopify using the three methods.