Making Sure You Check Every Box
Common Scenarios & Considerations
In regards to multi-warehouse, the most common scenario is for vendors to have different warehouses, and most often buying groups place orders for different vendors. For example, Company A sells a specific item that is part of a particular category, such as a pool heater. You can then have another vendor selling pool cleaner, then another selling pool filter replacements. These last two will likely be ordered in bulk, meaning they will need to go to a third vendor with yet another warehouse location.
Whenever you are presenting the inventory data to the buyer this is important to keep in mind. They need to have accurate information in order to fully understand the status of their order. When you present lead time for shipments, they will need to know that some items may take longer based on where exactly they have to be shipped from.
Each location should present accurate and up-to-date inventory data to the buying group in order to achieve high customer satisfaction. This is especially true as a buyer may have different shipping locations as well. If they need a specific item to arrive somewhere by a certain date, having accurate information is critical. They may even need it overnight. Some orders might need to be ground shipments, or maybe some orders are so large that they need to be sent via LTL or truckload.
Being able to coordinate all different matters of an order automatically is very important in running a smooth operation in a streamline fashion. The more accurate the information you present per location, the more confident a buyer can be in their purchasing decisions. The happier the customer, the more likely they are to buy more off your marketplace.
You want your buyers to trust the integrity of your site, meaning you need to ensure that vendors collaborate with you in gathering accurate data. They also need to comply with a set process for either drop shipment or fulfillment.