Order fulfillment for brands selling DTC and B2B
One stock pool, two very different order types. Here is how fulfillment works when your Shopify storefront and your wholesale customers are drawing from the same inventory.
The order fulfillment process, step by step
Order received
A sale comes in - a Shopify checkout, a B2B quote turned into a confirmed order, or a manual entry. The order captures what was sold, to whom, and under what terms.
Stock reserved
The instant an order is confirmed, the specific units it needs are reserved against real stock lots - so the same inventory cannot be promised to a second order.
Picked and packed
Warehouse staff pick against the reservation, following FIFO or FEFO allocation rules automatically, and pack into one or more shipments.
Shipped and synced
The shipment updates order status, decrements stock, and - for Shopify orders - syncs back so the storefront always reflects what is actually available.
Why DTC-plus-B2B fulfillment breaks generic tools
One stock pool, two channels
A website order and a wholesale order can both claim the same physical units. Without a shared reservation system, the answer to "how much is really available" depends on which spreadsheet you check.
B2B customers need their own terms
Wholesale buyers expect negotiated pricing, quotes before commitment, and net payment terms - none of which a standard e-commerce checkout flow was built to handle.
B2B shipping is a different shape
Larger volumes, multi-package shipments, and freight carriers rather than a single parcel label - the fulfillment record needs to hold more than one shipment per order.
Sync has to run both ways
Fulfill a wholesale order and your Shopify stock count needs to drop immediately - not at the end of the day, and not only when someone remembers to update it manually.
Frequently asked questions
What is order fulfillment?
Order fulfillment is the process of receiving a sales order and delivering it: reserving stock, picking and packing the goods, shipping, and updating records so inventory and order status stay accurate. For manufacturers, it also includes any production step needed to make the ordered goods.
What is order management software?
Order management software tracks orders from creation through fulfillment across every sales channel - website, wholesale, marketplaces - reserving stock against each order and keeping quantities in sync so nothing gets sold twice.
What is B2B order fulfillment, and how is it different from B2C?
B2B order fulfillment covers wholesale and business-to-business sales: often larger volumes, negotiated pricing per customer, purchase-order-based buying, and net payment terms rather than instant checkout. B2B orders frequently start as quotes before becoming confirmed orders, unlike typical B2C checkout flows.
What is B2B shipping?
B2B shipping refers to delivering goods between businesses rather than to individual consumers - typically higher volumes per shipment, freight or LTL carriers rather than parcel carriers, and delivery terms negotiated per customer or contract.
Run one order through both channels
Reserve stock for a wholesale order and a Shopify order at the same time, and watch neither one oversell. Free during Early Access.
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