In this article
Talk to our experts- Wave picking
- Wave picking is a warehouse picking method that groups order lines into a wave, creates the picking work for the whole wave, and releases it to the warehouse floor at once, instead of sending each order out as it arrives. NetSuite WMS, for example, can release waves on a schedule.
How it works
Wave picking groups released order lines into a wave, generates the pick work for every line in that wave, and releases it to the warehouse together, so pickers work a planned block of orders rather than a stream of single orders.
Microsoft's Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management documents the steps for its own warehouse management:
How a shipping wave runs in Dynamics 365
A wave is created manually or automatically from a wave template for the warehouse and order type.
Lines from orders released to the warehouse are added to the wave.
Processing the wave creates the picking work, and the wave status changes to Held.
Releasing the wave makes the picking work available in the warehouse to start picking and packing.
In Dynamics 365, shipping waves hold lines from sales, transfer and outbound shipment orders, production waves hold bill of materials (BOM) lines for a product, and kanban waves hold picking list lines from kanban orders. For sales orders and kanban orders, inventory must be reserved before the order is released to the warehouse.
Scheduling waves
Oracle NetSuite WMS lets a warehouse release waves on a schedule. A wave release schedule sets the days of the week, a run time period and a release frequency, with optional limits on the number of waves and orders or order lines in each release. In NetSuite's example, sales orders from Warehouse A are released every hour between 10:30 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.
Wave picking vs. batch picking
- Wave picking decides which orders go to the floor together and when.
- Batch picking decides how a picker collects items across several orders in one pass.
The two work together. In NetSuite WMS, each wave has a picking type: single order creates a pick task for each line item of an order, while bulk picking or multiple order creates one pick task for similar items across all orders in the wave. With bulk picking, the picker picks the whole quantity at once and the app distributes it across the orders.
Example
A wave holds three orders for the same bolt: 2, 4 and 6 boxes.
- Single order picking: 3 pick tasks, one per order line.
- Bulk picking: 1 pick task for 2 + 4 + 6 = 12 boxes, which the app then distributes as 2, 4 and 6 across the three orders.
On Shopify
- Fulfillment method: by default you fulfill orders yourself and mark them as fulfilled manually; you can also use a fulfillment service, dropship, or combine methods.
- Pick lists: as of October 28, 2026, Shopify's Order Printer app prints pick lists for up to 50 selected orders at a time, organized by orders or by products, and can generate them for one location.
How Uncap helps
Uncap's guide to multi-warehouse inventory visibility is clear about where warehouse data lives: the ERP or warehouse system stays the source of truth. Uncap Connect syncs inventory, pricing, and order data between the ERP and the storefront in real time, so multi-location stock is something the buyer actually sees, not something the warehouse team reconciles after the fact.
Sources
Frequently asked questions
What is order picking in warehousing and what steps does it involve?
Order picking is collecting the items on customer orders from their storage locations so they can be packed and shipped. In Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, for example, Microsoft documents the wave steps as: create the wave, add released order lines, process it to create picking work, then release it to the warehouse to start picking and packing.
What does a wave planner do?
Wave planning is deciding which order lines go into each wave and when each wave is released to the warehouse floor. In NetSuite WMS that work includes setting a wave release schedule, with release days, a run time period, a frequency and limits on orders per wave.
What is the difference between wave picking and batch picking?
Wave picking groups orders and releases their picking work to the warehouse together at a planned time. Batch picking is how a picker collects one item across several orders in a single pass. A NetSuite WMS wave, for example, can use single order picking or bulk picking, which picks one item's total quantity across all orders in the wave.
