As you use Pipe17, you may notice some terminology being used that you are not familiar with, or is used a bit differently between platforms. To ensure that we're communicating effectively, here is a summary table of key terms you may see in Pipe17, and what we mean when we are using them to describe our systems:
| Integration | Integrations in this case refer to all services Pipe17 offers, such as Shopify, Amazon, NetSuite - essentially any channel that you can connect with our systems. The integration itself is the system used to connect your store. |
| Selling Channel | Your selling channel is where your orders come from. Examples include selling platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce, Walmart, and so on. But it could also be something else—for example, if your orders are flowing through an ERP software like NetSuite, that ERP could function as a selling channel in Pipe17. |
| Fulfilment Channel | Your fulfillment channel is where your orders are sent for fulfillment and shipping. Examples include 3PLs and 4PLs like Ware2Go, Stord or Amazon MCF. |
| Location | A single fulfillment channel can contain multiple locations. A location is a distinct pool of stock—usually, different locations correspond to different warehouses, like a West Coast and an East Coast warehouse. Sometimes, locations represent pools of stock that must be treated separately for another reason. For example, stock fulfillable in a “blank/unbranded box” might be tracked in your “Blank Box Location”. Regardless, Pipe17 must know which distinct stock locations exist for your fulfilment channel(s), so that we can send the order to the right location, accurately track your inventory, and map inventory and fulfilment activities at a warehouse to a named location in an ERP or selling channel. |
| Routing | Once Pipe17 receives orders from your selling/sales channel, we need to determine which location the order should be sent to for fulfillment. We call this process “order routing”. |
| Shipping Request |
A shipping request is exactly like what it sounds: a request to ship one or more products from a particular location. Pipe17 receives orders from your selling channel, and once items from that order are routed to a location, a shipping request is generated and sent to your fulfilment channel. Fulfillment channels may also refer to this as an “order”, however we use the term shipping request, since a single order can have multiple shipping requests, for example if the order is split fulfilled at different locations or times. |
| Fulfillment | A fulfillment is the piece of data received from your fulfillment channel when the order is shipped. This usually contains a carrier and tracking number, and indicates to Pipe17 that the shipping request (or part of it) has been fulfilled. In most cases, the information is then sent back to your selling channel to inform your buyer that the order has been shipped. |
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