What is Order Routing, and how does it work?

Written by

Sabrina Barnes

Our automatic Order Routing feature helps you save time and avoid losing sales due to out-of-stock issues. If the original Print Provider can’t fulfill an order or a part of the order, it will be automatically routed to the most suitable alternative Print Provider for fulfillment. Order Routing can additionally help you decrease production and shipping costs, as orders with multiple Print Providers will be routed to a single Print Provider whenever possible.

We’ll even route the order to a different Print Provider in the same country or region as your customer, which can help save on shipping costs, customs duties, and fulfillment times.

Note

If the total costs of the routed order (production costs + shipping costs) will be higher than the costs of the order with the original Print Provider, the order won’t be routed to a local Print Provider.

Order Routing offers a seamless redirection of the order to another Print Provider. If enabled, this process would take place in the following cases:

The ordered product or one of the products within the order is out of stock.
The ordered product has been discontinued by the chosen Print Provider.
The chosen Print Provider has been temporarily closed.
The chosen Print Provider is located in a different geographic region than your customer.
The chosen Print Provider’s production time is estimated to be significantly longer than with Order Routing.

Whenever possible, orders with multiple products will be routed to a single Print Provider to help save on shipping costs. This will occur in the following cases:

If an order could be fulfilled by a single Print Provider instead of multiple.
If an item is out of stock or the chosen Print Provider’s daily capacity is reached, the order will not be split but will be routed to one Print Provider when possible.

The process is automatic once you’ve enabled the feature in your settings and will align with your previously selected order approval settings.

Note

Once an order is routed to a different Print Provider, the SKU number for the routed product will change. However, the SKU change won’t affect the items that have been ordered or your created products on Printify.

Are intercontinental orders compatible with Order Routing?

In case of intercontinental deliveries, only those orders containing a single product will be routed.

Is design scaling taken into account when an order is routed?

Yes, the maximum possible design scaling difference is set at 7%. This means that if the design were to be scaled down by more than 7%, the order wouldn’t be routed to another Print Provider.

To enable Order Routing for your store, follow the steps in this article.