Does any of this describe your operation?
- Your team picks each order separately using a paper pick sheet
- Pick errors increase during busy periods or when temporary staff are working
- Peak periods require adding packing stations but throughput still does not keep up
- The warehouse team’s output depends on individual knowledge of locations and product codes
- Despatch confirmation happens after the physical shipment — someone updates the system separately
- Customer service receives more “where is my order?” contacts during peak periods than at other times
- Moving from a paper-based warehouse process to a digital one has been identified as a priority but has not yet happened
If any of these are true of your business, the warehouse process has a volume ceiling determined by team attention and experience rather than by operational capacity. Stok.ly removes that ceiling.
“We sometimes require an additional 2 to 4 packing stations during peak periods but our pick and pack process was not efficient enough to cope with the volume – we tried to brute force fulfilment, but when the core is inefficient it simply doesn’t scale.”
Operations manager, growing B2B fulfilment business
Root cause: A warehouse process built on memory, location knowledge and manual checking scales with people — more experienced staff produce better results. It does not scale with volume — at higher order rates, the same process produces more errors because human attention and knowledge are finite.
A system-guided process removes this dependency.
The warehouse app provides consistent direction regardless of volume or staff experience.
Accuracy does not decline as volume increases.
Stok.ly builds warehouse operations from an Android handheld app that guides every pick by scan confirmation, verifies every pack against the order before sealing and closes every despatch with the carrier label generated and the tracking number linked to the order record.
Every warehouse action updates inventory and the operational record immediately.
Trust your stock. Transfer with confidence. Control orders. Fulfill every day like clockwork.
System-guided picking — the same accuracy at 1000 orders as at 100
Guided picking directs the warehouse team to the correct location, displays the correct SKU and quantity, and requires a barcode scan confirmation before the pick is recorded.
If the wrong item is scanned, the the user receives a red error message and the handheld issues an error sound – a sharp buzz.
The picker cannot accidentally record a wrong SKU.
The correct item must be scanned before the process can proceed. Â
Stok.ly generates the pick path for each wave, sequencing locations to minimise travel distance.
Pickers follow the path on the device.
New staff and temporary staff follow the same guided workflow as experienced staff — the app provides the direction that experience would otherwise need to supply. Pick error rates fall below 1%.
Pack confirmation — errors caught before the carton is sealed
A picking error caught before packing costs the warehouse team thirty seconds to correct.
A packing error discovered by the customer at delivery costs the business a return, a replacement, a customer service contact and a damaged relationship.
The difference between the two is whether pack contents are verified before the carton is sealed. Â
Stok.ly requires every item to be scanned against the order manifest before the carton can be confirmed as sealed.
If a wrong item is scanned or an item is missed, the packing step flags immediately.
The error is caught in the warehouse, not by the customer.
See also: Picking, Packing and Despatch Shouldn’t Need Constant Manual Fixes.
“I like that the program is very fast. When we sell something on eBay or Amazon, the stock updates everywhere straight away. The stock app is easy to use in the warehouse, and it makes our pick and pack much quicker. It helps us to be very accurate”
Verified G2 review, 5 stars
Despatch management — carrier, label and tracking from the warehouse app
Stok.ly connects to 150+ couriers and freight partners. Carrier selection and label generation happen from the warehouse despatch app at the point of physical shipment. The tracking number is created and linked to the order record immediately. Shipping notifications reach the customer without a separate manual step. Customer service can access tracking information from the order management system — they do not need to check a separate carrier portal.
See also: Courier, Despatch and Tracking Updates Keep Creating Customer Service Issues.
Goods-in — the warehouse workflow starts at the inbound dock
Stok.ly’s warehouse workflow includes goods-in as a guided scan process. The receiving team opens the purchase order on the handheld device and scans each unit received. Each scan confirms against the open PO. Discrepancies flag immediately. The PO closes at the confirmed received count. Goods-in, pick, pack and despatch all run from the same device and all update the same operational record. The warehouse is managed end-to-end from a single guided system.
How Stok.ly scales warehouse execution
| Capability | What it controls | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Guided picking by scan | Location, SKU and quantity confirmed by barcode scan; optimised pick path per wave | Pick error rate below 1%; new and temporary staff achieve the same accuracy as experienced staff |
| Pack confirmation | Every item scanned against the order manifest before carton is confirmed sealed | Packing errors caught in the warehouse before despatch; wrong-item and missing-item errors eliminated at point of pack |
| Despatch management | Carrier assignment, label generation and tracking number creation from the warehouse app | Despatch confirmed at point of physical shipment; tracking linked to order record immediately; no manual step |
| Barcode goods-in | Receipt confirmed by scan against open PO; discrepancies flagged at point of receipt | Inbound stock record accurate from first scan; inventory increments at confirmed count, not assumed PO quantity |
| Immediate operational update | Every pick, pack, goods-in and despatch updates inventory and order record immediately | Stock counts and order status always reflect what is physically happening in the warehouse |
| Peak period scalability | Guided process works at the same accuracy regardless of order volume or staff experience level | Volume ceiling is warehouse capacity, not team knowledge; temporary staff work to the same standard as experienced staff |
Current approach versus Stok.ly
| Current approach | What tends to break | Stok.ly |
|---|---|---|
| Picking by printed list and location memory | Pick errors increase with volume and with unfamiliar staff during peak periods | Guided pick by barcode scan; same accuracy at 100 or 1000 orders regardless of staff experience |
| Pack correctness depends on packer’s attention | Wrong items in cartons during peak periods; customer service contacts and returns follow | Pack confirmation by scan before seal; incorrect items flagged before the carton closes |
| Despatch confirmed manually after the physical shipment | Confirmation lag; tracking updates arrive late; customer service contacts increase | Despatch confirmed from warehouse app at point of shipment; tracking linked to order record immediately |
| Goods-in by matching delivery note to PO expected quantity | Short deliveries absorbed into inventory as full receipts; errors discovered at stock count | Goods-in by barcode scan; discrepancies flagged immediately; PO closes at confirmed received count |
| Temporary staff require experienced supervision to maintain accuracy | Peak periods produce higher error rates; supervision cannot scale with headcount | Scan-guided process means any staff member follows the same guided workflow; experience level is irrelevant to accuracy |
| Warehouse throughput limited by team knowledge and manual checking | Volume ceiling based on team expertise, not warehouse capacity | Throughput scales with volume; the system provides direction that was previously provided by experience |
“We have gone from a pen and paper warehouse to a completely digital system that has streamlined our business immensely.”
Verified G2 review, 5 stars — Read on G2
Who this is for
- Warehouse and operations teams whose pick error rate and throughput deteriorate during busy periods
- Growing retail, wholesale and distribution businesses moving from paper-based or spreadsheet-based warehouse management to a guided digital process
- Businesses that rely on experienced warehouse staff for accuracy and are vulnerable when those staff are absent during peak periods
- High-volume D2C businesses operating at significant order volumes without a warehouse management system
- Businesses where customer service contacts about wrong, missing or late items represent a recurring operational cost
Who this is not for
Very low-volume businesses with simple pick, pack and despatch needs where a single picker handles a small number of orders per day and visual verification is sufficient. Stok.ly’s warehouse management adds the most value at the point where order volume, SKU count, staff headcount or peak-period pressure makes manual guided accuracy impractical.
G2 Customer Reviews
What do you like best about Stok.ly – Inventory-Centric Cloud ERP?
“we have been a user for the last 4 years and we cannot think of life without it for our retail business. it makes listing to shopify and other marketplaces easy, keeps inventory accurate online and the POS is easy to use. accurate inventory across all sales channels is the big win for us.”
Order management and inventory ERP software for growing retail, wholesale and distribution businesses.
Frequently asked questions
Why does a warehouse process that works at lower volumes fail at scale?
A warehouse process built on team memory and manual checking scales with people rather than with volume. Experienced staff at manageable volumes produce acceptable accuracy. As volume increases, more orders per hour means less time per order, more reliance on memory and more errors. A scan-guided process breaks this dependency: the system provides consistent direction regardless of volume, and accuracy remains consistent.
What is system-guided picking and how does Stok.ly implement it?
System-guided picking directs the picker to the correct location, displays the correct SKU and quantity, and requires a barcode scan confirmation before the pick is recorded. In Stok.ly, the handheld app generates the pick path, guides the picker to each location in sequence, and requires a scan of the item barcode before confirming the pick. If the wrong item is scanned, the pick is rejected immediately. The picker cannot record a wrong SKU.
How does Stok.ly reduce pick error rates?
Stok.ly reduces pick error rates by requiring barcode scan confirmation at every pick action. The picker cannot complete a pick without scanning the correct barcode. Quantity discrepancies flag immediately on the device. The wrong-SKU error — the most common type — is eliminated because the system rejects any scan that does not match the expected item. Customers using Stok.ly report pick error rates below 1%.
How does Stok.ly maintain warehouse accuracy during peak periods with temporary staff?
The scan-guided process works at the same accuracy level regardless of the staff member executing it. Temporary staff follow the same guided workflow as experienced staff — the app directs them to the location, shows the SKU, requires the scan confirmation. They do not need product knowledge or warehouse familiarity to pick accurately. Peak periods produce the same error rate as off-peak because the guidance is consistent and does not depend on experience.
What is the pick path and how does Stok.ly generate it?
The pick path is the optimised sequence of locations a picker visits to complete a wave with minimum travel distance. Stok.ly generates pick paths from the warehouse location plan and the items required for each wave. Pickers follow the sequence on the handheld app rather than navigating by memory. This reduces the time per wave at any volume and ensures consistent throughput regardless of who is picking.
How does Stok.ly handle goods-in as part of the warehouse workflow?
Stok.ly processes goods-in through the same handheld app as pick, pack and despatch. The receiving team opens the purchase order on the device and scans each unit received against the open PO. Discrepancies flag immediately. The PO closes at the confirmed received count. Inventory increments by the confirmed quantity. Goods-in, pick, pack and despatch all update the same operational record.
How does Stok.ly connect warehouse execution to inventory and order management?
Every warehouse action in Stok.ly updates the operational record immediately. A confirmed pick moves stock from available to committed. A confirmed pack confirms the order is ready for despatch. A confirmed despatch closes the order, updates the tracking record and syncs to the customer order history. Inventory, order management and warehouse execution share the same record with no batch update and no manual reconciliation.
How does Stok.ly compare to Brightpearl or Cin7 for warehouse management?
Brightpearl has reasonable order management and inventory capability but limited WMS depth — its warehouse execution is less developed than its retail ERP features. Cin7 has strong channel connectivity but its native WMS is basic; many Cin7 customers operate a separate WMS alongside it. Stok.ly builds warehouse execution into the same operational layer as order management and inventory — pick, pack, goods-in, despatch and transfers all run from the same handheld app against the same record.
Related pages
Contact Information
All our sales, support and development team are located in Hereford and Cheltenham in the U.K. Please submit the contact form and we will contact you within the same business day.