Fulfillment Priority Lists in Luminous define the preferred sequence of warehouse groups used to fulfill orders based on stock availability. They enable optimized inventory allocation, automated decision-making, and efficient order fulfillment.
What is a Fulfillment Priority List?
A Fulfillment Priority List is an ordered list of warehouse groups that Luminous references when determining from which warehouse to fulfill products. The system automatically selects the best warehouse based on priority and inventory availability.
Purpose of Fulfillment Priority Lists
Fulfillment Priority Lists help businesses:
Ensure consistent fulfillment strategy: Standardize warehouse fulfillment order across products.
Optimize inventory usage: Efficiently route orders to the most suitable warehouse locations.
Reduce fulfillment complexity: Automate warehouse selection, decreasing manual intervention.
Improve order accuracy: Clearly defined rules reduce shipping errors.
How Fulfillment Priority Lists Work
When an order is processed, Luminous follows these steps:
Retrieve Priority List: For each product in the order, Luminous identifies the assigned Fulfillment Priority List.
If no specific list is assigned, the system uses a default priority list.
Check Warehouse Stock: Luminous checks inventory availability in warehouse groups, following the defined priority order (e.g., Warehouse Group A → Warehouse Group B → Warehouse Group C).
Select Optimal Warehouse: The first warehouse group with sufficient stock fulfills the order or product.
Create Fulfillment Order: Products fulfilled from the same warehouse group are grouped into a single Fulfillment Order. If multiple warehouse groups are required, multiple Fulfillment Orders are created.
Setting Up Fulfillment Priority Lists
To set up a Fulfillment Priority List:
Navigate to Shipping → Shipping Admin → Fulfillment Priority Lists.
Create a new list, providing a unique name and optional description.
Add and arrange warehouse groups by dragging and dropping them into your desired priority order.
Save the list.
Assign Fulfillment Priority Lists to products either individually or through the product import process.
Example Scenarios
Scenario 1: Basic Fulfillment
Priority List: Warehouse Group A → Warehouse Group B → Warehouse Group C
Outcome: Orders will first try to fulfill from Group A. If stock is insufficient, fulfillment moves sequentially through Groups B and C.
Scenario 2: Regional Optimization
East Coast Priority List: East Coast Warehouse → Central Warehouse → West Coast Warehouse
West Coast Priority List: West Coast Warehouse → Central Warehouse → East Coast Warehouse
Outcome: Customers receive products from the closest warehouse with available stock, reducing shipping times and costs.
Scenario 3: Product-specific Lists
Fragile Items Priority List: Specialized Warehouse → General Warehouse
General Items Priority List: General Warehouse → Overflow Warehouse
Outcome: Fragile items are always fulfilled from a specialized warehouse designed to handle delicate products.
Best Practices
Regularly review and update lists to reflect inventory changes, business growth, and warehouse additions.
Use clearly named lists (e.g., by product type or region) for easy assignment and management.
Leverage the default priority list feature to maintain consistent fulfillment processes when a specific list is not assigned.
Fulfillment Priority Lists streamline fulfillment operations, making warehouse inventory allocation smarter, faster, and more reliable.