Order picking is the collection of the items belonging to an order from warehouse stock, from the pick task in the WMS through removal at the storage location to handover at the packing station. It is the most labour-intensive step in fulfillment and drives speed, error rate and cost per parcel. In Germany it is called Kommissionierung.
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What is order picking?
Order picking is the act of assembling goods from a full assortment on the basis of an order. In e-commerce that order is the customer purchase: out of 5,000 SKUs in the warehouse, exactly the two items a shopper ordered at 11:42 have to be removed in the correct quantity. The German word for this is Kommissionierung. It is worth knowing, because it appears in German contracts, price lists and service descriptions even when the rest of the conversation is in English.
Picking starts when an order is released in the warehouse management system (WMS) and ends when the picked items reach the packing station. Everything before that is goods receipt and put-away; everything after it is packing and labelling. When fulfillment providers talk about pick and pack, they mean both steps together.
How order picking works in practice
- Order intake: The order arrives from your shop or ERP in the WMS through an integration. The system reserves stock and checks that every line can be delivered.
- Release and pick list: The WMS creates a pick list, today almost always digital on a handheld scanner rather than on paper.
- Route optimisation: Lines are sorted by storage location so that the picker walks the shortest path through the aisles. Fast movers are stored close to the packing stations.
- Removal with verification: At the location the picker scans the bin and the item. Only when barcode and quantity match the order is the line completed.
- Handover: The pick trolley or tote goes to the packing station, where the order is checked again, packed and labelled.
There are two basic principles. Person-to-goods, where the picker walks to the shelf, is the normal case in an e-commerce fulfillment center. Goods-to-person, where an automated store or shuttle system brings the tote to a workstation, only pays off at very high volumes.
Picking strategies at a glance
| Strategy | Principle | Suited to | Strength | Weakness |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single-order picking | one order per walk | few orders with many lines, B2B | simple, low risk of mix-ups | long walking distance per parcel |
| Batch picking | 10 to 30 orders in one walk, sorted on the trolley or at a sorting station | online shops with many one- or two-line orders | up to 60 to 70 % less walking | sorting step required, scanning mandatory |
| Wave picking | orders are released in time-based waves, e.g. by carrier collection or priority | warehouses with fixed cut-offs and several carriers | predictable workload, express first | waiting time until the next wave |
| Zone picking | each picker stays in one zone, the order travels through the zones | large warehouses, many lines per order | short distances, specialisation | consolidating partial orders |
In practice the strategies are combined. A wave at 1 pm contains all orders for the DHL collection, and the WMS distributes them to pickers in batches of 20 single-line orders.
Your order structure decides the strategy. Check how many of your orders contain only one line. If the share is above 60 %, batch picking with a sorting trolley is almost always the most efficient method, and that is exactly what you should ask a prospective provider about.
Why order picking matters for online sellers
Picking is the most expensive single step in the warehouse. Depending on the assortment, 50 to 60 % of a fulfillment center's labour cost goes into picking, most of it into walking. German providers typically charge €0.90 to €2.20 for the first pick of an order and €0.15 to €0.40 per additional line in 2026; how this fits into the overall bill is explained under fulfillment costs.
The error rate is at least as important. Without scan verification, mis-picks in manual warehouses run at 1 to 3 % of lines. With consistent scanning, pick accuracy above 99.9 % is achievable. The difference is substantial: a wrong shipment typically costs €10 to €25 once you add the return, the reshipment and customer support, and it often costs you the customer too. For sellers based outside Germany the bill is higher still, because you cannot simply fix the mistake from your own stockroom.
Finally, picking speed decides whether the cut-off time for same-day shipping holds. A warehouse that has to pick 500 orders between noon and 2 pm needs waves, batches and short routes, otherwise the order leaves a day later.
Poor master data undermines every picking strategy. If the EAN is missing on the product, or several variants share one SKU, the scanner cannot verify that the picker has taken the right item. The error rate then rises regardless of how well the warehouse is organised.
How LogYou handles it
LogYou picks exclusively scan-based on its own platform LogShip, which combines WMS, order processing and a client portal. The result is a pick accuracy of 99.92 % and same-day dispatch for all orders received by 2 pm. More than 35,000 SKUs are held in stock in Butzbach, central Germany. The page on e-commerce fulfillment shows the process from order intake to carrier handover, and warehousing covers storage.
Frequently asked questions about Order Picking
What does order picking mean in simple terms?
Which picking method is best for online shops?
What does order picking cost at a German fulfillment provider?
Questions about Order Picking for your shop?
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