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Deliver With Speed Using Shopify’s Smart Order Routing

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Headshot of Emma Ryan
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Updated on July 18, 2023
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Shopify's shipping settings in the backend
Shopify’s smart order routing feature is available for stores with two or more locations.
  • Shopify’s smart order routing automatically finds the best fulfillment location to complete a customer’s order
  • Available for Shopify stores with two or more active locations

Shopify – one of the best website builders for online stores – first announced its smart order routing feature in its Winter ‘23 Edition when outlining new and upcoming features.

The flexible shipping tool works by automatically routing orders from the best fulfillment location, determined by a set of rules that the business owner creates. For example, this could be to shipping products from the inventory location closest to the customer or prioritizing location over another.

Simply put, once an order has been placed, Shopify will apply this smart process and find the most suitable location to fulfill the order.

How Smart Order Routing Supports Your Business

Smart order routing increases customer satisfaction due to shorter delivery times, and it’s also a great feature for businesses looking to grow online. Order fulfillment can get very complex as your business expands, especially if you have inventory spread across multiple locations, so determining the best course of action would be a hassle without Shopify’s automatic feature.

There are a ton of benefits to smart order routing, including:

  • Minimizing shipping fees: Shipping an order from a location close to the customer will keep shipping costs to a minimum
  • Reducing delays: Customers can expect faster delivery times
  • Improving customer relationships: With speedy delivery and reduced shipping fees, customers are more likely to be satisfied with your business
  • Delivery to suit your business needs: Smart order routing might be automatic, but you set the rules, which means you maintain control over your fulfillment operations

Setting Up Smart Order Routing

So how can you set up smart order routing for your Shopify store?

Smart order routing is automatically handled by Shopify, but there’s one condition. You must have at least two locations connected to your online store – these can easily be set up in Shopify’s settings under the “Locations” category.

Order routing is mentioned within the “Shipping and delivery” section, and it’s here that you can add new rules or tweak existing ones. You can choose one of the following priorities:

  • Minimize split fulfillments
  • Stay within the destination market
  • Ship from the closest location
  • Use ranked locations

Simply save your work and you’re all set! For alternative shipping options, you can check out our guide on the best shipping for small businesses, or read more about Shopify in our Shopify review.

More Information

Written by:
Headshot of Emma Ryan
Emma is Lead Writer at Website Builder Expert, having first joined the team in 2022. She manages the website's topical content strategy to help website owners navigate the highs and lows of being online. Emma also specializes in following the development of leading website builders Wix, Squarespace, and Shopify, through hands-on testing and research. Her work and expertise have been featured in Startups.co.uk, Digiday, TechRound, Industry Today, and Digital Information World.

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