Warehouse Placement: Assign a shelf location to your items

The "Warehouse Location " field indicates where the item is physically located: a rack, a shelf, a box, or an area. It’s free-form text—you decide the format—and this single change yields the greatest benefit during packing. The picking list and both of its printouts sort by location, so you can follow a single route through the warehouse instead of searching around.

Where do you find it?

Open the product and expand the Inventory Management section. The field is called “Warehouse Location” and is in the same row as the stock keeping unit (SKU). The GTIN is in the row directly below. Enter, for example, A-02-1 or Shelving Unit 3, Shelf 2.

If the product has variants, each variant gets its own location in the “Location” column of the variant table further down in the same section. This is often what you need: size S and size XL are rarely stored in the same place.

Choose a format and stick to it

The field is free-text, so you can enter anything. This also means you’ll need to stay organized yourself. A system that works well in practice has three components:

• Aisle or area · e.g., A, B, C
• Shelf unit · e.g., 02, 03, 12
• Shelf · e.g., 1, 2, 3, from the bottom up

This results in A-02-1, and a packer can read it without having been in the warehouse before. Write the rack number with two digits. The sorting system handles it well enough—2 comes before 10—but it’s easier to scan a list where all locations are the same length.

Here’s how to do it for many items at once

You don’t need to open 800 products one by one. There are three faster ways:

• Table editing in the product overview · enable the “Warehouse Location” column and enter values directly into the cells, just like in a spreadsheet. Confusingly, the column is labeled “Warehouse Location,” but this field refers to product locations, not warehouse locations
• Bulk editing · Select the products stored in the same location and set the location for all of them at once. See Bulk editing of products
• CSV import · In the export file, the column is named “location,” and during import, both this column and “warehouse location” are recognized. Export your products, fill in the column in a spreadsheet, and import them again. See Import Products via CSV

The most practical method is to walk through the warehouse with a tablet, shelf by shelf, and enter the location for the products on each shelf. You’ll be done in a couple of hours, and you don’t have to do all the products at once: start with the ones you ship the most.

How does this benefit you?

• The picking list · Items are sorted by location, and this is highlighted on each item line
• The picking slip and the combined picking list · Items are sorted by location, so you follow a single route
• Product Overview · You can search by location and display all items on a shelf, e.g., when the shelf needs to be cleared
• Inventory Overview · the location is displayed in the “Location” column

Frequently Asked Questions

Can the customer see the location?

No. The warehouse location is an internal field. It appears in the admin panel, on the picking list, and on the picking slip, which is your own working document. It does not appear in the online store, in the order confirmation, or on the invoice in Shoporama’s default themes. A custom-built theme may be able to access this field, so ask your theme developer if you’re unsure.

What if an item is listed in two places?

The field holds a single text entry, so you can enter both locations in it, e.g., A-02-1 (also B-07). Please note that the sorting will then follow what you enter first. If the inventory is actually split between two warehouses, you should use warehouse locations instead.

Should I use numbers or words?

Whatever you can read aloud to a new employee. “Rack 3, shelf 2” works fine in a small store, while a short “A-02-1” is quicker to scan when there are 40 lines on a picking list. Most importantly, all items should use the same format.

What happens to items without a location?

They’re included as usual, but they appear at the bottom of the sort order—both on the screen and on the printout—instead of being placed in a specific spot on the route. This is actually a useful tool in itself: if there are many items at the bottom of your pick lists, you know where to start.

Can I move all items from one shelf to another?

Yes. Search for the old location in the product list, select all the results, and set the new location using bulk editing. It takes less than a minute, and it’s worth doing right away on the day the warehouse is reorganized.