Every second counts in eCommerce fulfillment. When a customer clicks “Buy Now,” the race is on—pick, pack, and ship, all while keeping overhead low and accuracy high. But as your order volume grows, your old picking process starts to feel slow, scattered, and inefficient.
And that’s when you face a critical question: Should we switch to batch picking? Or wave picking? Or both?
At first glance, they sound like jargon buried in warehouse manuals. But choosing the right picking strategy has a massive impact on your bottom line. It affects labor efficiency, order accuracy, speed to customer, and your ability to scale without burnout or bloat. And here’s the catch—what works for one warehouse or sales channel might not work for another.
In this post, we’ll break down what batch and wave picking actually are, explore their differences, and walk you through how to decide which fits your eCommerce operation best. We’ll also show how SKU.io helps you adapt and automate whichever method fits—so your picking process works with your business, not against it.
Let’s dive in.
Understanding the Fulfillment Grind
You don’t have to be Amazon to feel the pressure of fulfillment. Whether you’re shipping 50 orders a day or 5,000, the cost and time it takes to walk warehouse aisles and manually pick products adds up fast.
Inefficient picking creates ripple effects: delayed shipments, higher labor costs, increased mis-picks, customer complaints, and drained profit margins. That’s why optimizing your pick strategy is critical—it’s one of the highest-ROI process improvements you can make.
And when you’re ready to upgrade, two approaches typically rise to the top: batch picking and wave picking.
Batch Picking: The Basics
Batch picking is straightforward. Instead of picking one order at a time, your team picks multiple orders in a single run—collecting the same SKU for all of them before moving on to the next.
Think of it like this: rather than walking the warehouse 30 times to pick 30 orders, your picker grabs all 30 units of SKU A in one trip, then SKU B, and so on. You then sort the items into individual orders at a packing station.
Batch picking is great when you have many orders with overlapping SKUs. It reduces walking time, minimizes travel across the warehouse, and speeds up picking significantly.
However, it works best when your operation has strong sorting processes at the pack stage—since items for different customers get picked together, they have to be separated correctly after.
Wave Picking: The Basics
Wave picking organizes your picking runs based on time windows, shipping methods, or delivery priorities. Instead of grouping by SKU, it groups orders into “waves” that are picked and shipped together, often based on a schedule or cutoff time.
For example, you might create a wave for all same-day shipping orders that must leave by 2 PM. Or build waves around carrier pick-up times, order value, or product category.
Wave picking is ideal for time-sensitive fulfillment, larger operations with multiple pickers, and teams looking to balance order volume throughout the day.
It adds a layer of strategy to picking—prioritizing not just speed but flow and timing.
So Which One Is Better? (Spoiler: It Depends)
The truth is, neither batch nor wave picking is better universally—it depends on your business model, order volume, product mix, and warehouse layout.
Batch picking is usually best for:
- High volume of small, similar orders
- SKUs that appear frequently across many orders
- Teams focused on reducing picker travel time
Wave picking works well when:
- Orders vary greatly by size or urgency
- You have time-based fulfillment needs (like same-day delivery)
- You need to manage large picker teams in shifts or waves
And sometimes, the best solution is a hybrid—batching inside a wave, or using different strategies for different product categories.
SKU.io supports both methods and allows you to customize the logic per warehouse, shift, or sales channel. That flexibility means you’re not locked into one method—you can test, adapt, and improve without overhauling your system.
How Your ERP Affects Picking Efficiency
Here’s where things get sticky: many legacy ERPs or inventory systems weren’t built for modern eCommerce fulfillment. They treat picking like a static process—one size fits all.
That’s a problem.
If your system can’t dynamically assign pick lists, group orders by SKU or shipping method, or update routes in real time, you’re stuck. Your warehouse team will default to what’s easy—not what’s efficient. And over time, that kills scalability.
SKU.io is built for this reality. It automates pick list generation based on your picking strategy of choice, syncs across your inventory and shipping channels in real time, and adapts as order patterns shift. That means fewer delays, fewer errors, and faster fulfillment—no matter which method you use.
Beyond Speed: What Accurate Picking Means for ROI
Sure, faster picking helps. But accuracy is just as critical.
Mis-picks cost you money—returns, replacements, customer service hours, negative reviews. A system that supports structured, guided picking (batch or wave) dramatically reduces human error.
With SKU.io, pickers receive smart lists optimized by route, SKU proximity, and urgency. Items are scanned to verify accuracy before leaving the shelf. And if stock is unexpectedly missing, the system instantly reroutes the pick—or alerts your team.
This level of control turns your warehouse into a performance engine—not a cost center.
Making the Right Choice for Your Store
Still unsure which strategy fits best? Start by asking a few questions:
- How similar are your orders from day to day?
- Are certain SKUs more common across orders?
- Do you have strict carrier pickup windows?
- Are your pickers spending more time walking than working?
- Is your team overwhelmed at specific times of day?
If your answers point to repetitive picking tasks and common SKUs, start with batch picking. If they point to time-sensitive shipping and fluctuating order volumes, wave picking may be better.
Most importantly: measure and iterate. SKU.io gives you performance data on picking efficiency by method, time, and team—so you’re not guessing which strategy works best. You’re proving it.
Final Thoughts: The Right Pick Strategy Picks Up Your Profit
Picking isn’t just a warehouse task—it’s a competitive advantage. It touches cost, speed, accuracy, and customer satisfaction.
Whether you lean toward batch, wave, or a mix of both, the key is having the systems and flexibility to execute well—and adjust fast.Curious how SKU.io can help you implement a smarter picking strategy without disrupting your current ops? Book a 15-minute demo and see what optimized fulfillment really looks like.