5 Mistakes Merchants Make When Picking & Packing (and How to Fix Them)

If your team is constantly hunting for items or reprinting labels, it’s usually not a people problem—it’s a process problem. Here are five common mistakes that slow down Shopify fulfillment and simple fixes you can ship today.

1) Selecting orders from the Orders page (50 at a time)

The problem: You’re limited to small batches and constant context switching.
The fix: Use a flow that fetches hundreds of orders in one pull—then pick once, pack once, and move on.

2) Mixing locations in the same pick

The problem: Items vanish because they’re in a different warehouse or bin set.
The fix: Always filter by Location first, then by Date/Time Window. Run separate batches per location.

3) No grouping by product/variant

The problem: Your picker is effectively “shopping” order by order (slow and error‑prone).
The fix: Group by variant/SKU so the picker pulls a consolidated quantity for each product.

4) Unclear or cluttered pick sheets

The problem: Tiny fonts, irrelevant columns, and mixed sort order cause mistakes.
The fix: Keep sheets clean: large font, SKU, variant, quantity, optional image. Sort by how your shelves are laid out (SKU or location path).

5) Skipping the quick QA step

The problem: A single mispick can ripple into multiple returns and refunds.
The fix: Spot‑check a couple of high‑volume items from each batch before sealing boxes.