Pick lists: the simplest way to pack orders faster

Most small sellers pack the way they started: take the first label, find that product, pack it, take the next label, find that product. At ten orders a day it works. At fifty it means walking to the same shelf again and again, and at a hundred it means mistakes, because a tired person reaching for the fifth similar product of the evening picks the wrong one.

A pick list fixes the walking and most of the mistakes. It is one of the cheapest changes a seller can make.

What a pick list is

A pick list is a summary of everything the day's orders need, grouped by product rather than by order. Instead of fifty labels, you get something like:

• TEE-BLK-M, black t-shirt, M: 12
• TEE-BLK-L, black t-shirt, L: 8
• MUG-WHT-01, white mug: 5

You walk the shelves once with it, collect every item, and bring them all to the packing table. Then you pack against the labels.

What a good pick list shows

• The SKU you actually use on your shelves. If your shelf tags say TEE-BLK-M but the marketplace calls it something long and unreadable, the list should show yours.
• A short product name, so a helper who does not know the codes can still find it.
• The total quantity per SKU, across every order.
• Sorted the way your shelves are laid out, usually by SKU, so the walk goes in one direction.

Anything more, such as buyer names or addresses, belongs on the labels, not the pick list.

How to use it

1. Print the pick list with the day's labels, from the same set of orders. A pick list from a different moment than the labels will not match.
2. Pick everything first. Tick each line as you take it from the shelf. If a line cannot be filled, you know before you have packed half the orders.
3. Bring the items to the packing table and keep them grouped by SKU.
4. Pack against the labels. For each label, take the item it names from the group, check the SKU once more, pack and label it.
5. Check the groups are empty at the end. An item left over means a label was missed; a group that ran out early means an item was put in the wrong box.

Step 5 is the one most people skip, and it is the one that catches mistakes before the courier does.

Why it reduces returns

A wrong item is one of the most avoidable reasons for a return. A pick list helps in two ways: the picker works from one clear list instead of reading tiny product names off labels, and the end-of-batch count shows a mistake while you can still fix it.

It works even better when the label itself carries your own SKU, the same code as the shelf and the pick list. Then the check at the packing table is a straight match, code against code.

One list for several stores

Sellers with more than one account on a marketplace, or on several marketplaces, can save even more by picking for all of them in one walk. Print one combined list for the day and pick once, then pack each account's labels from the same pile.

Making the pick list without the spreadsheet

Building a pick list by hand from a download takes time every day. The Sellerio Seller Toolkit, a free Chrome extension for Amazon, Flipkart and Meesho, makes one pick list for each run, or one combined pick list when you run all your accounts, with your own SKUs on it. Your labels can carry the same SKUs¹.

Add to Chrome — freeSend the link to my computer

Amazon, Flipkart & Meesho · Free for everyone · No API key or password

It runs in Chrome on a computer. On a phone, send yourself the link.

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