When You Can't Ship Everything
Sometimes you won't be able to ship the full quantity of every item on a purchase order. Maybe you're waiting on inventory from your manufacturer, a product is temporarily out of stock, or you need to ship from multiple warehouse locations. This is called a partial shipment, and it's a normal part of the supply chain — as long as you handle it correctly.
Common Reasons for Partial Shipments
- Backorders — You don't have enough inventory to fill the complete order right now, but you will soon. You ship what you have and send the rest later.
- Split warehouses — Your inventory is spread across multiple locations. Items from each warehouse ship separately.
- Quantity adjustments — During quality control, you discovered some units didn't pass inspection. You ship the good units and reduce the quantity.
- Production delays — Part of the order is ready to go, and the rest is still being produced. Rather than hold everything, you ship what's available to meet the delivery deadline.
How Partial Shipments Work in RetailReady
Creating a partial shipment is almost identical to creating a full shipment. The only difference is that you select fewer items or reduce quantities when choosing what to include:
- Open the order and click "Create Shipment."
- Instead of selecting all items, check only the items you're shipping now. For items where you're shipping less than the full quantity, enter the actual quantity you're including.
- Fill in the carrier, tracking, and package details as usual.
- Submit the shipment.
When you submit a partial shipment, the order status changes to "Partially Shipped" instead of "Shipped." This tells you (and RetailReady) that there are still items remaining to be fulfilled.
Shipping the Remaining Items
When you're ready to ship the rest of the order, go back to the same order and click "Create Shipment" again. RetailReady will show the remaining unshipped items and quantities. Select what you're shipping, enter the new carrier and tracking information (since this is a separate shipment), and submit.
You can create as many shipments as needed for a single order. Each shipment generates its own ASN (856) with the specific items and quantities included. Once all items have been shipped, the order status automatically moves to "Shipped."
Important Warnings
Check your retailer's partial shipment policy. Not all retailers accept partial shipments. Some require the complete order to ship at once, and shipping less than the full quantity will result in a chargeback. Check your trading partner's routing guide or vendor manual before planning a partial shipment.
- Communicate proactively. If you know you can't fill the complete order, let your buyer know as early as possible. Use the acknowledgment (855) to indicate reduced quantities.
- Watch the delivery window. Each partial shipment still needs to arrive by the Must Arrive By Date. A partial shipment that arrives late is worse than no shipment at all — you'll get hit with both a short-ship chargeback and a late-delivery chargeback.
- Invoice correctly. Only invoice for what you actually shipped. If you shipped 300 of 500 units, your invoice should reflect 300 units. Over-invoicing is a serious compliance issue. Note that RetailReady automatically creates a draft invoice for each shipment, so each partial shipment gets its own invoice with the correct quantities.