Multi-Warehouse Routing & Split Shipments
Intelligent order routing across warehouses with split shipment optimization to reduce shipping costs and delivery times.
The problem
You have warehouses in three locations, but orders are not routing intelligently. A California customer gets their order shipped from New York because that warehouse happened to process it first. Split shipments happen randomly, costing you extra in shipping fees. You are manually reviewing large orders to decide if splitting makes sense. Your 3PL charges per-shipment fees, so every unnecessary split hurts margins. Meanwhile, customers do not understand why one order arrives in three boxes over five days.
Why it happens
Multi-location fulfillment requires orchestration logic that Shopify does not provide natively. The platform tracks inventory by location but does not automatically decide which warehouse should fulfill which order. Split shipment logic needs business rules: minimize shipping cost? Minimize delivery time? Minimize splits? What if one item is backordered at the nearest warehouse? These decisions require an intelligent routing layer that considers inventory availability, shipping zones, carrier rates, item dimensions, and business priorities. Without it, you either use first-come-first-served routing (inefficient) or manual review (does not scale).
Your options
We believe in honest recommendations. If native Shopify or an app will work, we'll tell you. Custom builds are for when they won't.
Shopify Locations
Manual assignment of inventory to locations. Fulfillment requests must be manually routed or handled by your 3PL.
When to use
Two warehouses with clear geographic splits (East Coast vs West Coast) and simple product catalog. Low order volume.
Fulfillment Apps
Apps like Extensiv or Cahoot that provide basic routing rules and split shipment logic.
When to use
Standard routing rules (nearest warehouse, minimize splits) and moderate complexity. Good for 2-4 warehouses.
Intelligent Routing Engine
Machine learning-powered routing that considers shipping cost, delivery time, inventory availability, and business rules. Optimizes for your specific priorities.
When to use
Complex multi-warehouse setup (5+ locations), high order volume, or margin-sensitive operations where shipping cost optimization is critical.
Our recommended architecture
A routing engine that receives order webhooks, evaluates fulfillment options across warehouses, calculates costs and delivery times, and assigns inventory according to business rules. Handles split decisions intelligently.
Order webhook triggers routing evaluation
Query inventory availability across all warehouses
Calculate shipping cost and estimated delivery time for each warehouse combination
Apply business rules: minimize cost, minimize delivery time, or balanced approach
Decide split shipment strategy: avoid unless cost savings exceed threshold
Create fulfillment requests and notify warehouses
Track performance: cost per order, average delivery time, split rate
Example outcomes
23% reduction in average shipping cost per order through intelligent routing
1.2 days faster average delivery time by routing to nearest warehouse
41% decrease in split shipments, reducing per-order 3PL fees
$127K annual savings in shipping costs for a 50K order/year operation
Related Services
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