The click is the start. Delivery is the promise.
By navichain team
The customer has chosen the goods and seen a delivery date. Now your team must make that promise happen. Follow an example in which navichain supports the work from incoming sales order to delivery and resolution of a damaged item.
Summary
E-commerce fulfilment needs more than a positive stock balance. The right goods must be available, warehouse work must finish in time and distribution must support the delivery date communicated to the customer. Orders from the e-commerce platform enter navichain as incoming sales orders through a connection adapted to your systems. WMS supports the movement of goods, external purchasing supplies the warehouse and TMS supports transport booking, planning and execution. Service management structures additional work and corrective action. The foundations are the same as in wholesale, but smaller orders, different delivery choices and prompt customer updates make each handover important. Clear information, recorded events and responsibility for the next action help the team work efficiently and provide dependable answers. That is what peace of mind means in daily operations.
One order, several dependencies
In this example, a customer orders two irrigation kits and a filter. Thursday delivery depends on Tuesday’s departure. The kits are in stock, but the filter is due from a supplier. The order coordinator must therefore follow both the purchase and the collection deadline.
The example is hypothetical, not a customer case or a measured result. Imagine a garden-products retailer in Sweden’s Mälardalen region. Collection is at 16:00 on Tuesday. Payment approval alone cannot make this order ready: receiving, checking, picking and packing must all fit before departure. Customer service needs to understand these dependencies when explaining the delivery position.
The web order becomes a sales order
A connection adapted to your online shop brings the order into navichain as an incoming sales order. The order reference, items, quantities, address and delivery choice follow the agreed mapping. The warehouse receives a common working basis, and customer service can start with the customer’s order number.
Decide which orders may be released and include variants, contact details and the confirmed delivery commitment where needed. Define how changes and cancellations work before and after picking or dispatch. Test repeated messages so a retransmission does not create another physical order. These are acceptance criteria for the customer-specific connection, not assumptions about a standard connector. 4
The same foundation as wholesale
As in wholesale perspective NP-0087, sales, purchasing, warehousing and distribution need to stay connected. In e-commerce, many small orders make handovers particularly important. The team uses the sales order to decide what can be delivered and what first needs resolving.
A wholesaler may deliver many units to one business, while an online shop serves many addresses and delivery options. Both channels may draw on the same warehouse. Agree how availability and allocation are shared between systems and what the checkout may promise when updates are delayed. A correct balance in one application is not enough if the shop displays an older position.
Are the goods available for this order?
Amir checks the warehouse position with support from the WMS process. The kits can be prepared, but the filter has not arrived. Sara distinguishes an expected receipt from goods ready to pick. The promise must allow time for receiving, checking and packing as well as transport.
Define how allocated stock, damaged products and expected receipts affect usable availability. Record the actual warehouse events so the next decision reflects reality. The coordinator decides whether an order can proceed, needs purchasing or requires customer contact. Automatically promising a date at checkout also requires suitable rules and information exchange with the e-commerce platform.
Purchasing must meet the customer’s timetable
Buyer Elin follows the external supplier order for filters in the purchasing process. She checks the expected arrival against warehouse needs. When the supplier announces a delay, she passes the information on so Sara can assess its effect before the day’s collection.
The purchase needs clear items, quantities, supplier details and expected arrival. Elin decides whether the supplier’s commitment meets waiting customer needs or whether another solution is necessary. Ten ordered products are not ten received products. Differences in quantity or condition must influence what the warehouse can release and what the customer is told.
Update the customer while choices remain
Sara sees that the complete order may miss Tuesday’s transport. She contacts the customer and explains the options. The customer wants everything together and accepts Friday. The revised commitment is recorded in the agreed order process; the original promise remains available for performance review.
Possible decisions include waiting, splitting the delivery or arranging another suitable option. The person responsible balances service, extra handling and distribution cost. The system supports the information and operational work; the customer’s acceptance and the business decision are human actions. An amended date must not erase a failure against the original commitment.
Count what actually arrives
When the supplier arrives, Amir records receipt in the WMS process and checks the goods. The usable quantity determines what the warehouse can release. The filter for this order is now available, so complete picking and packing can go ahead.
GS1 describes messages for order changes, confirmations, dispatch, goods receipt, inventory status and transport planning. 1 The practical lesson is to carry meaningful changes through the connected process. Your integration needs the events your team relies on, including a way to notice and resolve information that has not arrived. A supplier’s old confirmation must not overrule the actual receipt.
Make the handover clear
Amir picks two kits and one filter against the sales order, checks the contents and prepares dispatch. The team’s readiness criteria cover packaging and delivery details. The transport coordinator can then see that the order is ready for the next departure.
Agree what “ready” means: correct content, suitable packaging, complete instructions and resolved exceptions. Include any additional packing work in the assignment. Distinguish the customer order from its parcels: an order can produce several parcels or deliveries. GS1 explains how SSCC identifies an individual logistics unit and supports tracking. 2 Choose the identification and labels required by your warehouse and transport partners.
Plan distribution from the actual position
The transport coordinator uses navichain’s booking and planning workflows. For own-fleet deliveries, they plan resources and assignments; for external transport, they use the selected connection. Address, goods and timing must follow the shipment so the prepared order can reach the customer.
navichain supports transport bookings, runs and planning, with HERE-based routing where appropriate. 3 For an external parcel partner, establish the connection needed for booking, labels and event reporting. These are part of implementation for the chosen partner. A prepared shipping document alone does not show that goods have left the warehouse or reached the recipient.
Let the update follow the event
In navichain’s mobile delivery workflow, the driver can record quantities, comments, photos and signatures. External transport uses the partner’s reporting. Customer service bases its answer on the relevant event: a prepared shipping document does not mean the customer has received the goods.
Mobile delivery information provides a basis for follow-up and proof of delivery. 3 Match customer-facing statuses to the available operational events. Received, ready, handed over and delivered describe different stages. Customers seldom need every warehouse movement, but they do need to know what has happened and when the next useful update will come.
Damage gets an owner and an action
One irrigation kit is damaged. Customer service records the issue and the responsible person plans a replacement. Service management supports the corrective work; the warehouse and transport team fulfil the replacement delivery. Your operating design connects the action to the customer’s original order.
Describe the required outcome and any additional work, then assign responsibility and follow through. A replacement is another operational step with its own goods and transport. Refunds or credits remain in the financial system and responsibility model you have chosen. Do not close the customer problem merely because a note has been added to the original delivery.
Peace of mind is knowing the next step
The order was delayed and an item damaged, but the customer received information and help. Each role could continue with a clear responsibility. Measure delivery against the original promise and the time needed to resolve exceptions. Those measures show where the next improvement is needed.
Track complete, on-time orders, missed collections, picking errors, status enquiries and time to a useful first response. Distinguish on-time dispatch from on-time delivery and specify whether a measure counts orders, lines or parcels. Start from your own baseline. For implementation, choose one shop, warehouse and distribution service; test an ordinary order, a purchase dependency, a change and a damaged delivery. Agree ownership of payment, stock, customer messages and financial follow-up. NP-0087, “Ordered is not delivered”, explains the wholesale foundation and will be published separately.
Try it today! Start for free.
Getting started is easy. Create your account and try navichain with your next transport. Bring a web order and the delivery commitment shown to the customer; explore how warehousing, purchasing and distribution can keep that promise together.
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Sources
- GS1 XML EDI — Warehousing, Purchasing, Distribution. Updated: 2024-09-02. Accessed 8 September 2026. https://support.gs1.org/support/solutions/articles/43000734299-what-kind-of-messages-does-gs1-xml-edi-standard-provide-
2. GS1 SSCC — Warehousing, Distribution. Updated: 2024-08-22. Accessed 8 September 2026. https://support.gs1.org/support/solutions/articles/43000734387-why-is-the-serial-shipping-container-code-sscc-important-for-transport-logistics-
3. navichain documentation. Updated: 2026-08-29. Accessed 8 September 2026.
4. navichain product description. Updated: 2026-09-08. Accessed 8 September 2026.