Pick, Pack, Ship, Repeat
A practical guide to shipping and fulfillment in NetSuite, then a faster one-tab way with ShipCommand
High-volume fulfillment in NetSuite works when the fundamentals are tight. Get the right features on, standardize your documents, and connect carriers in a way your floor team can trust. Do that, and the work moves. Do it in one tab and the work flies.
1) NetSuite setup that prevents firefighting
Turn on the right features
- Pick, Pack, and Ship for staged or combined flows
- Locations and Bins for accuracy, plus Lot or Serial where required
- Multiple Ship Methods that mirror your carrier contracts
- Accounting preferences that post shipping costs to the correct accounts
Clean item data
- Weight and dimensions on every shippable item
- Default package types when applicable
- Hazmat and special handling flags where needed
- Preferred bin or location to cut walking time
Standardize your docs
- Picking ticket that is bin sorted and easy to scan
- Pack slip that is customer friendly
- ZPL label templates for speed and consistency
Find it fast with Global Search Enable Features, Item Fulfillment, Pick Pack Ship, Ship Methods, Shipping Carrier, Locations, Bins, Picking Ticket
2) A daily flow that scales with volume
Release clean waves using saved searches for location, method, promise date, channel, and priority. Pick with intent by zone or carrier. Scan item and bin. Pack once, label once with ZPL and carton level weights and dimensions. Close the loop by posting the Item Fulfillment, booking cost, notifying the customer, and pushing tracking back to commerce and CRM.
3) Third-party tools that play nicely
- Carrier and label APIs. EasyPost or ShipEngine for rates, labels, and ZPL
- Scanning and WMS. NetSuite WMS or RF-Smart for waves, bin moves, cycle counts
- Printers and labels. Zebra for ZPL, BarTender for specialty labels
- Scales and dimensioners that pass data to packing
- Freight and TMS for LTL and TL quotes and BOLs
Keep decisions about what to ship inside NetSuite. Let APIs handle rates and labels.
4) Metrics to watch every single day
- Order cycle time from release to label
- Lines picked per hour and pick accuracy
- Cost to ship per order and relabel rate
- SLA hit rate by carrier and method
- Queue health by hour to prevent late day spikes
5) Common pitfalls and how to avoid them
- Dirty item masters cause audit fees. Schedule a monthly data scrub
- Printer roulette leads to relabels. Lock ZPL templates and print paths
- Too many carrier portals create context switching. Keep teams in NetSuite and call carriers by API
- No clear queue means FIFO when it should not be. Rank by SLA risk, promise date, and ship method
6) Fulfillment readiness checklist
Use this neutral list whether or not you adopt ShipCommand.
- Pick, Pack, and Ship enabled with locations and bins
- Item weights and dimensions complete
- Standard picking ticket and pack slip approved
- ZPL printers tested with correct label sizes
- Saved searches for release queues by SLA and method
- Dashboard tiles for cycle time, throughput, and costs
7) Do it all in one tab with ShipCommand
ShipCommand is a NetSuite-native fulfillment workbench that keeps your team on a single screen and moves the day in the right order.
One-Pass Fulfill and Print Review quantities, tick lines, submit. ShipCommand creates the Item Fulfillment and immediately prints ZPL labels, pack slips, and any configured documents.
Urgent-First ranking Orders float to the top by promise date, SLA risk, ship method, and your rules.
Live Pick, Pack, Ship insights See today’s orders vs fulfilled, cycle time trends, shipping cost curves, and where the queue is swelling.
Inline rate shopping inside NetSuite Wave and batch actions by location, channel, or method Multi-location aware and respectful of your forms and approvals
Result Fewer clicks and reprints. More boxes out the door.
8) ShipCommand quick start plan
- Assessment. Confirm features, forms, printers, carriers, and label paths
- Rules. Set urgent-first logic and batching filters
- Templates. Map ZPL labels and pack slips
- Pilot. Go live in one location or shift, then expand
Time to first value is measured in hours, not weeks
