Omnichannel fulfilment

Letting stores fulfil online orders, so each parcel ships from the nearest location with stock.

Employer and timeframe: Zigly · 2025, as part of the foundation phase.

Problem: About 20,000 pincodes served from three warehouses; average delivery of 6.5 days and high shipping cost
Role: Product lead; designed the allocation rules and the store rollout in Unicommerce
Key decision: Ship from the nearest location with stock, with a three-hour limit and the Delhi warehouse as the final fallback
Result: Average delivery 6.5 → 2.5 days; nine fulfilment locations instead of three

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Business context

Delivery speed and shipping cost shape whether online customers come back. Zigly already had stores close to customers, holding stock and staff. The question was whether they could serve online orders too.

The problem

With only three warehouses (Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore), most parcels travelled long distances. Cost per shipment was high, and orders were lost when a warehouse lacked stock that a nearby store held.

Who it affected

Pet parents waiting close to a week for routine items like food.
The business, paying more per shipment and losing orders it had the stock to fill.
Store teams, whose stock was invisible to online customers.

Goals and how success was measured

Faster delivery, lower cost per shipment and fewer orders lost to stock gaps, measured through average delivery time, cost per shipment and unfilled orders.

Role and scope

Product lead for store fulfilment: the allocation logic, the hop and fallback rules, and the rollout plan.
Worked with store operations and the warehouse team to onboard stores, and with Unicommerce on configuration.

Discovery and evidence

Operating data made the case: delivery times, cost per shipment, and orders a warehouse couldn't fill even though a nearby store had the stock.

Options considered

OptionWhy it was or wasn't chosen

Open more warehouses Adds fixed cost and takes time. Not chosen.
Ship from existing stores ChosenUses stores, staff and stock that already exist; no new fixed cost.
Leave unaccepted orders waiting Risks orders sitting unallocated. Replaced by a hop rule with a guaranteed fallback.

The solution

Nearest location with stock first (proximity rule).
Protect the delivery promise: if a location doesn't accept the order, it passes to the next nearest, within three hours in total.
Always have a fallback: the Delhi warehouse is the final location, so no order is left unallocated.
One system of record: allocation, invoicing and shipping all run in Unicommerce, which the warehouses already used.

How it was put in place:

The proximity rule in Unicommerce matches the drop pincode to locations with stock and picks the nearest.
Six stores were onboarded as fulfilment locations, alongside the three warehouses.
An order that isn't accepted moves to the next nearest location, with the Delhi warehouse as the final fallback within three hours.
Each store picks, packs, labels and manifests its online orders in Unicommerce.

Technical and operational considerations

Flowchart. An order placed on Shopify with a known pincode is pulled by Unicommerce every 10 minutes. The proximity rule picks the nearest location with stock. If accepted, a shipment is created within 5 minutes, then pick and pack, label and manifest, and courier pickup tracked through ClickPost. If not accepted, the order hops to the next nearest location; if still not accepted, the Delhi warehouse ships it within 3 hours. — Order allocation in Unicommerce: nearest location first, hop, then Delhi warehouse fallback

Unicommerce's order system handles receipt, invoice, label and manifest. Its warehouse system handles the bin check, pick and pack inside each location.
Each allocation attempt is recorded, so locations that often decline orders can be seen and followed up.

Outcomes

MeasureBeforeAfter

Average delivery timeBefore6.5 daysAfter2.5 days (about 60% faster)
Fulfilment locationsBefore3 warehousesAfter9 (6 stores + 3 warehouses)