The Pick and Pack Checklist for Shopify Stores
When orders trickle in one at a time, pick and pack is easy: read the order, grab the items, box them up. When they arrive in a rush — a sale, a restock, the holidays — that casual process starts dropping items and shipping wrong sizes. The fix is a repeatable pick and pack checklist: a fixed sequence with a clear "done" condition at each step, so nothing gets skipped when the floor is under pressure.
This guide lays out that checklist for an in-house Shopify operation — a five-stage flow from prep to ship — plus the small-team shortcut that removes most of the busywork from the picking half. New to the terms? Our primer on what pick and pack means covers the basics; this is the workflow you pin to the wall.
Stage 1 — Prep: know what today needs
Most fulfillment errors are made before anyone touches a shelf. Prep is where you turn a pile of orders into a plan.
- Pull the day's open orders. Decide your cutoff (for example, everything unfulfilled as of 10 a.m.) so the batch is fixed and you're not chasing a moving target.
- Build one combined pick list. Instead of a stack of per-order slips, aggregate the batch into a single list with a total quantity per SKU. This is the difference between walking to the same bin ten times and walking to it once.
- Stage your packing materials. Boxes and mailers in the sizes you actually use, void fill, tape, labels, and a printer that's loaded and online.
- Flag the exceptions early. Pre-orders, backordered SKUs, gift notes, and anything out of stock — mark them now so they don't stall the line later.
Done when: you have one merged pick list for a fixed batch, a stocked packing bench, and exceptions set aside.
Stage 2 — Pick: pull every item accurately
Picking is retrieving products from storage. Accuracy here matters most, because a mistake at the shelf becomes a wrong shipment three stages later.
- Follow the list in location order. Work the sheet top to bottom so your path across the floor is one clean sweep, not a zig-zag. A list ordered by bin or vendor cuts walking time dramatically.
- Pick by quantity, not by order. If the sheet says "Ceramic Mug — 14," pull 14 in one trip. You'll sort them into individual orders at packing.
- Check off as you go. Tick each line the moment it's in the cart. An unchecked line is an un-picked line — no relying on memory.
- Confirm the variant. Right product, wrong size or color is the most common miss. Match the SKU, not just the product name.
Done when: every line on the pick list is checked off and the picked quantities match the sheet's totals. If you're fighting recurring mistakes here, our guide to reducing picking errors in a small warehouse goes deeper.
Stage 3 — Pack: box it the right way
Packing turns a cart of loose items into shippable parcels. Now you split the batch back out into individual orders.
- Sort picked items into orders. Lay out the batch and assemble each order's line items at the bench.
- Choose the right box. Snug enough to limit movement, roomy enough for protection — right-sizing also saves on dimensional shipping costs.
- Protect fragile goods. Wrap, cushion, and fill voids so nothing rattles.
- Add the paperwork. Drop in the packing slip, plus any return instructions, inserts, or gift notes the order called for, then tape the seams cleanly.
Done when: each order is boxed, protected, documented, and sealed. (A packing slip is per-order and rides in the box; a pick list is the combined sheet you used to pull stock — see packing slip vs pick list if the two blur together.)
Stage 4 — Verify: catch the mistake before it ships
Verification is the cheapest insurance in the whole workflow. A ten-second check at the bench prevents a return, a reship, and an unhappy customer.
- Match items to the order line by line. Right products, right variants, right quantities.
- Confirm the count. A three-item order should have three items in the box — miscounts slip through easily on multi-line orders.
- Verify the label matches the order. The single worst error is a correct box with someone else's address on it.
Done when: contents and shipping label both match the order, confirmed before the box is closed.
Stage 5 — Ship: label and hand off
The final stage moves the parcel out the door and updates the customer.
- Weigh and generate the label. Buy postage at the correct weight and service level.
- Affix the label squarely over the seam or on the largest flat face, with no old barcodes showing.
- Mark the order fulfilled in Shopify so tracking flows to the customer and the order leaves your open queue.
- Stage parcels by carrier for pickup or drop-off.
Done when: the parcel is labeled, the Shopify order is marked fulfilled, and the package is staged for its carrier.
The small-team shortcut for the picking half
Four of these five stages are physical work no app can do for you. The one stage software genuinely speeds up is prep and pick — and that's where Picksort fits. It reads your open, unfulfilled Shopify orders and merges them into one quantity-per-SKU pick sheet, so Stage 1 becomes a single click instead of a spreadsheet.
- One total per SKU. The quantity-per-SKU pick sheet that lets you pull each product once.
- Group by vendor, bin, or SKU. Order the sheet to match your floor, and quantities re-tally instantly, so Stage 2 is one clean sweep.
- Mobile then print. Pick from a phone in a single column, then print the same sheet for the packing bench.
Picksort is read-only by design — it only reads orders and products, so it can't fulfill, edit, or delete anything. It won't print shipping labels or buy postage; it makes the picking sheet, and you handle pack, verify, and ship — with zero setup.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should a pick and pack checklist include?
A good pick and pack checklist covers five stages: prep (know what today's orders need and stage your materials), pick (pull each item accurately from its location), pack (choose the right box, add protection and paperwork, seal), verify (confirm the right items and quantities before the box closes), and ship (label, weigh, and hand off to the carrier). Each stage should have a clear done condition so nothing is skipped when the floor gets busy.
What is the difference between picking and packing?
Picking is retrieving the products for an order — or a batch of orders — from where they're stored on the shelves. Packing is placing those picked items into a box with protection and documentation, then sealing and labeling it for shipment. Picking is about the shelves; packing is about the box. A pick list guides picking; a packing slip goes in the box.
How do I make pick and pack faster for a small Shopify store?
Batch your orders instead of processing them one at a time. Merge every open order into one list that shows a single total per SKU, so you pull each product once rather than revisiting the same shelf for every order. Group that list by where items live — vendor or bin — so you walk the floor in one pass. Picksort does the merging and grouping automatically from your open Shopify orders.
Does Picksort handle the whole pick and pack process?
Picksort handles the picking sheet, not the entire process. It's read-only: it reads your open, unfulfilled Shopify orders and merges them into one quantity-per-SKU pick sheet you can group and print. It doesn't fulfill orders, print shipping labels, or buy postage — you still pack, verify, and ship as usual, and mark orders fulfilled in Shopify. Its job is to make the picking half fast and accurate.
Want to collapse the prep-and-pick stages into one sheet? Start a free 30-day trial of Picksort — install it, merge today's open orders, and walk the floor once. It's $9/month after the trial, and you can cancel anytime.