What is an Order Item?
Order item is a shipping term used to refer to the product quantity per the sales order. In this context, it refers to only one of the products in a shipment and is recognized with their respective SKUs.
Significance of an Order Item in an E-commerce Shipping and Delivery
Order items allow one to identify the quantity of a particular product. Therefore, it helps in quick product verification. An order item is often accompanied by texts highlighting the requirement for additional services.
- Protects sensitive products: Texts are usually seen in an order item. It is used to underline specific requirements for product handling and storage. Some products, like glassware, require extra handling care. All these instructions are highlighted on an order item, allowing minimal damage to the product.
- Low turnaround time: Warehouse and other intermediate stakeholders can quickly verify an inbound product with the order item details resulting in faster verification and lower turnaround time.
Prerequisites of Order Item and How It Works
The seller must update and create an order item snippet and paste it on the package before delivery. The merchant can also add instructions on the order item snippet for products that require specialized handling.
- Verification: Once a product is received, the order item snippet is checked to verify the product. Furthermore, if there are specific handling requirements, they are noted down.
- Streamlining: The product is moved forward down the shipping stages after verification.
Use Case with Order Item
A Phuket-based buyer ordered glassware and a set of cutlery from a seller in Bangkok. The merchant set up and pasted two order item snippets, pasted separately on the glassware package and the cutlery package. Now, the number of products and special handling instructions were mentioned on both orders, which allowed the shipping company to deliver the products without damaging them.