Pick to tote

What is Pick to Tote?

Pick to tote is the fastest way to fulfill many orders at once in SKUSavvy. You load a pick cart with totes, and SKUSavvy gives each shipment in the batch its own tote. You walk the warehouse once, pick everything together, and drop each unit into its tote. When picking is done you pack one tote at a time. The rule that makes it all work: one tote holds one shipment. Most orders ship as a single shipment, so in practice one tote is one order, and a split order simply uses one tote per shipment.

1. One tote, one order: when you build the batch you tell SKUSavvy how many totes your cart holds, and it fills that many orders into the batch, one order per tote.

2. Pick the whole cart in one pass: SKUSavvy routes you through the warehouse and shows the total quantity to pick at each bin, then which tote each unit belongs to.

3. Scan or tap to sort: scan the product then scan the tote to drop a unit in, or tap the tote on screen. SKUSavvy tracks how many go in each tote.

4. Pack tote by tote: after picking, scan a tote to open that order, pack it, and print the label. SKUSavvy moves you to the next tote on its own.

5. Set up once: print the tote labels a single time and stick them on the cart. The same labels work on every future batch.

Pick to tote pays off most in high-volume operations. You cut walking time because you pick many orders in a single trip, and accuracy stays high because every unit has a designated tote to go in. For carts full of small, similar orders it is the most efficient way to pick in SKUSavvy.

Initiate a Pick to Tote Batch

To start, go to your warehouse fulfillments, scroll to the batch creator, and click 'Batch Shipments', the same place you create any batch. You need more than one open shipment for tote picking to be worthwhile, since each tote holds one order.

In the batch creator, turn on the 'Pick to Tote' toggle. When you do, the 'Shipment limit' field is relabeled '# of Totes'. Set it to how many totes your cart holds (up to 100). SKUSavvy fills that many orders into each batch, one order per tote, and creates additional batches to cover any orders left over.

1. Turn on 'Pick to Tote'

2. Set '# of Totes' to your cart capacity (one order per tote, up to 100)

3. Leave 'Item limit' high so '# of Totes' is the constraint that shapes the batch

4. Click 'Batch', and SKUSavvy auto-selects the orders and builds the cart

Cart & Tote Barcode Setup

Pick to tote uses two kinds of barcodes, and you print both from inside a batch. The batch barcode (also called the cart barcode for a tote batch) is unique to that one batch, so scanning it opens that exact batch on your device. The tote barcodes are generic position labels, Tote 1, Tote 2, Tote 3, and so on, and each one holds only its tote number. You print one set of tote labels, stick them to the totes on your pick cart, and reuse the same labels on every batch.

Totes are not bins or locations. Do not create bins for your totes in the warehouse layout, and there is no naming convention to set up. Every tote and batch barcode is printed from inside the batch, and the system maps each tote number to a shipment (usually one order) when the batch opens.

Click into a Pick to Tote Fulfillment Batch

A tote batch looks almost identical to the normal pick screen. Start picking as usual, and after each pick SKUSavvy tells you which tote to drop the units in. If your batch settings require a bin or item scan to confirm a pick, those still apply here.

Print Tote Batch (Cart) Barcode

1. Print your tote barcodes once and attach one to each tote on the cart, top to bottom, matching Tote 1, Tote 2, Tote 3 to your cart rows. They are reused on every batch after this.

2. Tote barcodes are QR codes. The cart barcode uses whatever format you set in your account barcode settings.

3. Optionally create a cart barcode for this batch so you can reopen it with a scan. A tote batch does not generate one automatically: use 'Generate' to make one, or 'Assign Label' to scan a label you already printed.

4. Reuse a single printed cart barcode across batches by scanning it in the batch barcode setting while the cart is empty.

One printed cart barcode can be reused across batches. Each batch generates its own unique barcode, but rather than print a new one every time you can reassign a barcode you already printed to the current batch. Open the batch barcode setting (3-dot menu) and scan the printed barcode, it reassigns to the batch you are on without even tapping 'Assign Label'.

Print Tote Barcodes

Inside a tote batch you can print all the tote barcodes at once. Tote barcodes are reusable: once they are printed and stuck to your totes, SKUSavvy detects each scan and maps it to the right tote automatically. You only reprint when you add totes to a cart or set up a new cart.

1. Shows you are in a tote batch

2. Print a single tote barcode if one is missing

Pull up the 'Tote Contents' to print your generated tote labels

1. Tote number, tap it to jump into that tote's order, or scan the tote with a hardware scanner

2. An empty tote, items appear here once you start picking into it

3. Print all tote barcodes for the batch, once they are stuck on your totes they work for every future tote batch

At this stage nothing has been picked yet, so every tote shows empty

Open the 3-dot batch menu and set 'Tote Columns' to match how many totes sit across your cart, so the on-screen grid lines up with the real cart. This changes the layout only, not how many totes exist. Batch settings like this are saved per browser and per device.

Pick to a Tote

Now you pick. Open the pick screen for your tote batch and pick the way you normally would, by tapping or by scanning. After each pick SKUSavvy shows the totes and how many units belong in each one.

1. Pick or scan a product from the pick list as usual

2. Drop it in a tote by tapping the tote, or with a hardware scanner scan the product then scan the tote

3. Each tote shows its progress, for example 2 / 5, and fills as you add units

4. If you scan a tote that does not need the item, SKUSavvy warns you (for example 'Not expected in tote 3'), so you cannot mis-sort a unit

The tote screen is a side view of your pick cart, with each tote on its own row. Set 'Tote Columns' to 1 in batch settings for this single-column side view, or higher to match a wider cart.

1. A tote that already holds some of this item, placed by tap or scan

2. A different order's tote, tap or scan it to split the picked quantity across more than one tote

3. 'Commit' places what you have staged into the totes and returns you to the pick screen, leaving any remaining quantity for later

4. 'Pack All', shown when a tote needs more than 9 of the item, drops the full remaining amount into that tote in one tap

With a hardware scanner you can keep the whole flow hands-free: scan the item, then scan the tote to allocate, and repeat down the pick list.

View Pick Tote Contents

Once you have started picking, you can review what is in each tote. Tap 'Tote Contents' on the pick screen to open a grid of every tote and the items placed in it so far.

Each card is one tote, which is one order, and lists the items placed in it so far. Over-picked lines are flagged so you can catch a mistake before packing.

1. Tote number, tap it to open that tote's order

2. Print that tote's barcode

3. Items in the tote, shown as picked / expected

Unpick Tote Contents

Need to take something back out of a tote? Unpicking works like normal unpicking, except you also choose which tote the units come out of. Tap 'Unpick' on any item you have already picked into a tote to open the 'Remove From Batch' screen.

SKUSavvy highlights every tote that holds the item. Choose the tote and the quantity to pull back out, then the bin to return it to.

1. Select or scan the bin to return the units to, the bin you originally picked from is selected by default

2. Set the quantity to remove

3. Pick the tote to remove from, only totes holding this item are shown

4. Tap 'Remove' to move the units back to the bin

Fulfill From a Tote

With everything picked, you fulfill the orders one tote at a time. Scan a tote's barcode to jump straight to that order's pack screen, or tap a tote in the batch. SKUSavvy knows which order sits in each tote, so there is no searching for the next order.

Packing a tote is exactly the same as normal packing, you just start from the tote.

1. The tote, and therefore the order, you are packing now, tap another tote to switch

2. Scan or tap each item in the tote to pack it

3. Get rates, buy the label, and the order is fulfilled

Move From Tote to Tote Automatically

After you buy a shipping label, SKUSavvy prints it and moves you to the next tote on its own, so you can pack straight down the cart without returning to a list. Two batch settings drive this, both on by default:

• 'Print label automatically when purchased' (Ship settings) prints the label the moment you buy it

• 'Auto-navigate to next shipment after fulfillment' (Pack settings) advances you to the next tote once the order is fulfilled

You do not re-scan a tote to advance. Scanning a tote is only for jumping to a specific order out of sequence. These settings are saved per browser and per device, so set them on each packing station.

This guide will help you understand how to batch your orders up based on your criteria

Here you can go through the picking and packing process outside of pick to tote functionality

How to connect your carrier accounts to pull rates during fulfillment

See the suggested hardware to use with SKUSavvy

People Also Ask

A multi-order picking method where each tote on the cart holds one shipment, which for most orders means one order per tote. It cuts travel and boosts accuracy.

Create a batch from Order Fulfillments, toggle Pick to Tote, and choose the number of totes to include in each batch created (one order per tote).

There are two barcode types. The batch barcode (the cart barcode for a tote batch) is unique to each batch and opens that batch when scanned. The tote barcodes are generic Tote 1, Tote 2, Tote 3 labels that carry only a position number.

Pick or scan the item, then allocate it to the right tote by tap or scan.

Yes. Scan the product, then scan the tote to allocate the quantity.

By itself Shopify does not support pick to tote, however with SKUSavvy you can utilize pick to tote batching to efficiently pick and ship a high volume of orders. 

Open Tote Contents to see items currently allocated per tote/order.

Yes, use Unpick to remove items from a tote and put them back into a bin.

Scan a tote to open that order's pack screen, or tap it in the batch.

High-volume environments where you want minimal back-and-forth and fewer errors.

Yes, use the routing tools to set a start point, refine route settings, and show the pick path for a visual guide.

No. Totes are not bins or locations, and there is no naming convention to create.

It happens on its own. After you buy the label, SKUSavvy advances to the next tote so you can pack down the cart without stopping.