To get the most value for Maropost Commerce Cloud Pick’n Pack, we recommend updating your products so that they contain three key pieces of information.
This article will also teach you how to:
Barcodes
Maropost Commerce Pick’n Pack has the ability to scan product barcodes to record each item picked. Pick’n Pack will confirm with a beep for a correct pick, or an alert tone/vibration for an incorrect pick. As a result, staff that pick orders will be more accurate and be able to complete each pick faster.
Even if your products do not have barcodes you can still take advantage of the scanning feature. Maropost Commerce can generate a barcode for you, or even use the SKU as a barcode.
Please Note: Maropost Commerce generated barcodes are not officially registered, and won’t work with any application outside Maropost Commerce such as eBay, Catch or Amazon.
Pick Zones
Pick zones are the different sections of your warehouse where individual products are located. This can be an aisle, section of shelving, a particular shelf, or all three. There’s no restrictions what you name your pick zones either, so they can be customised to suit your existing operations.
Pick zones will appear next to each product line on an order in Pick’n Pack, so your warehouse staff can see at a glance where they need to go. This is especially useful for new or seasonal staff, if products move location, or when new product lines arrive.
We recommend auditing your warehouse layout and planning out your pick zones if you haven’t done so already. This can give you insight as to where certain products should be situated, and planning your workflows.
Dimensions
Adding the dimensions to products is incredibly useful to display on your website, and often mandatory for certain shipping services. They can also be used in conjunction with pick bins to tell you just what size container is needed to pick an order.
Manually Update Products
To manually update the pick zone, barcode, and dimensions of each product one at a time:
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In your Maropost Commerce control panel navigate to Products > Active.
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Select the product you want to update by clicking the SKU.
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Select the Warehouse & Picking tab.
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Enter your pick zone into the Pick Zone field.
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Enter the product barcode into the UPC/EAN field. If your products don’t have a barcode, you can generate one for Maropost Commerce Pick’n Pack using the three dot button on the right hand side of this field.
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Click the Shipping tab.
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Add the dimensions of your product. Width, Length, and Height are all expressed in meters, Weight in kilograms. Once you’ve entered this information, click the Calculate Cubic button.
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Click Save, and repeat this process for any other products you wish to update manually.
Update Products in Bulk
Updating products in bulk uses Maropost Commerce’s export and import wizard. A general guide on it’s use can be found here, but below you’ll find instructions specific to updating the pick zone, barcode, and dimensions.
Export Wizard
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In your Maropost Commerce navigate to Settings & Tools > Export Data.
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Click Perform Complex Export select Start Data Export Wizard.
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Enter a Name for your file, and click Continue to Next Step.
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Click Add New Field to File eight times, and select the fields to match the screenshot below.
Click Continue to Next Step.
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In the Child/Parent Status filter, deselect Has Child Product to remove variation parent products from the list. Click Continue to Next Step.
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Set the Send Export File To drop down to Local URL and click Export Now.
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The next page will have a link to a process ID (to check when the export is complete), and URL to download the file when done.
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Open the file, and add the dimensions, pick zone, and barcode to each product. Note that the dimensions are in meters and kilograms, so 10 cm becomes 0.1 meters, and 100 grams is 0.1 kg.
With your file populated with this information you can now upload it into Maropost Commerce to update your products.
Import Wizard
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In your Maropost Commerce control panel navigate to Settings & Tools > Import Data.
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Click Perform Complex Import select Start Data Import Wizard.
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Click Choose File to upload your file, then click Continue to Next Step.
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As long as you haven’t changed any of the column headers, the Field Mapping should be done for you, and look like the screenshot below.
Click Continue to Next Step.
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Leave the update options as they are, and Continue to Next Step.
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Click Process File Now. Depending on how many products you have, it may take 10 mins to an hour for them all to update.
Once processed all of your products will now have a barcode, pick zone and dimensions, and be ready for Pick’n Pack.
Print Barcode Labels
If you’re using the SKU or a Maropost Commerce generated barcode, we recommend printing your barcodes to speed up the process of picking products. Self adhesive labels placed directly above or below their corresponding product will mean your staff can quickly scan each item as they grab them from the shelf.
To print your barcode labels:
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In your Maropost Commerce control panel navigate to Products > View Products.
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Select the products you want to print using the check boxes on the right hand side.
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At the bottom of the page, click on the With X Selected button and click Print Barcode for Selected.
Modify the Barcode Label
The barcode labels can be customised by modifying the template file. You can find the template in Settings & Tools > All Settings & Tools. Select the Document Templates tab and click in the Product > Barcode folder.
To enquire about having the barcode file customised for you, please contact a design partner.