How CartonCloud’s WMS Automates Wave Picking for Scaling 3PLs

Growth is the goal for every 3PL — but with each new customer you need the ability to process more orders, hit tighter deadlines, and keep everything moving efficiently. 

One thing CartonCloud founders learned from running their own 3PL — the success of your 3PL fulfillment doesn’t just depend on having enough manpower in the warehouse — it hinges on having the right tools to help you do more, with less. Having the right picking workflows in your warehouse management system streamlines your order picking for speed and accuracy. Get it right, and those high-volume orders suddenly feel doable, even on the busiest days of the year.

TL;DR: Find out how to choose the right warehouse picking method for your 3PL operations using the best WMS software for American warehouses, and set your team up to ship thousands of orders daily, with efficiency and confidence.

Q: What warehouse picking methods do USA 3PLs use for high-volume order fulfillment?

A: To keep up with surging demand — the top workflows USA 3PLs rely on to optimize picking workflows in CartonCloud’s WMS are:

• Wave Picking; where pickers grab multiple orders at once all in one go to reduce unnecessary travel time.
• Pick to Tote; allowing pickers to group different items from the same order in its own designated tote, streamlining picking and packing for high-volume multi-SKU orders.
• Zone Picking; where each picker is assigned a specific warehouse zone to help divide and conquer lengthy pick lists.
• Batch Picking; where pickers grab multiple items of one SKU, all in bulk. 
• Split Pick and Pack; allowing you to assign picking and packing tasks separately within your team for greater transparency and smoother operations. 

CartonCloud’s WMS gives you the flexibility to customize the right workflow based on your order types, warehouse layout, and customer needs.

Q: How do I choose the right picking method for my warehouse?

A: There are several key factors to keep in mind when choosing the right picking method for your operations:

• Order volume - Are you managing large bulk shipments, or a constant flow of smaller, frequent e-commerce orders?
• SKU diversity - Do your orders contain mostly single-SKU items, or are they made up of mixed SKUs, bundles, or subscription kits?
• Warehouse size and layout - Does your 3PL warehouse have a smaller square footage or is it equipped with different multi-zone facilities?
• Customer expectations – Do your clients need same-day turnaround or specialized handling?

Below, we’ll break down the top picking workflows and what operations they’re best suited for. If you’re unsure which method fits your operations, our friendly team is here to help. Reach out to our CartonCloud’s experts anytime to find the right approach for your business.

Using Wave Picking to Keep Orders Timely

One thing that’s important to keep in mind when it comes to rapid order fulfillment in the U.S. is your customers and keeping them satisfied; they want their orders, and fast! We’re talking next-day delivery, or even on the same day — which means that you need to align your picking schedule with carrier pickup times to ensure parcels get shipped off right on time.

Most U.S. carriers like UPS, FedEx, and USPS don’t offer much wiggle room when it comes to their pick-up cut-off times, so it’s essential to use a warehouse order picking method that’s fast, efficient and can group multiple orders in one run.

CartonCloud’s Wave Picking workflows make it simple for pickers to retrieve items for multiple orders simultaneously within a scheduled time frame. By grouping orders into “waves”, your team can fly through picks, keep packing benches clear, and have everything ready when the trucks roll in.

Q: What is wave picking?

A: Wave picking is when orders are grouped into waves based on criteria like shipping schedules or carrier pickups. Using CartonCloud’s mobile app, your team can easily see exactly which orders belong to each wave and pick them all in one go — keeping the process fast, accurate, and easy to manage. You can use wave picking in a range of workflows to pick multiple items and orders at once; grouping by customer, by item, by zone, or picking multiple orders at once with Pick to Tote. 

Q: Why should I use wave picking?

A: By grouping your orders into waves, you can:

• Plan labor more effectively — managers know the size and timing of each wave, making it easier to schedule staff around peak periods and assign the right number of pickers.
• Cut down on wasted movement — pickers move through the warehouse in one efficient run instead of doubling back for scattered orders.
• Keep packing benches organized — orders flow in structured batches rather than all at once, preventing congestion and delays.
• Maintain steady workflows — waves create a predictable rhythm for picking, packing, and dispatch, reducing last-minute pressure on staff.

Q: What types of warehouses is wave picking best for?

A: Wave picking is especially effective in high-volume warehouses where coordination between picking, packing, and dispatch is critical. It’s often used in larger 3PL warehouses with multiple teams working across shifts, where breaking the workload into waves ensures consistency and synchronization between picking and shipping operations.

“If you’re looking at e-commerce, you want to be efficient so that you’re capturing your revenue [efficiently]. The order volumes are going to go up, so instead of doing a truck load, now you’re looking at hundreds to thousands of SKUs as well.

Because there is so much volume and there’s so much complexity going into it, [it’s important] to automate everything inside the warehouse.”  — Javier Hernandez, Implementation Consultant, CartonCloud

For this Boise, Idaho 3PL, wave picking was key in helping their small team of 2 to get orders out the door fast.

“[Wave picking] allows one person to pick all of the items for a group of orders, and then another person to use all of those picked items to pack the actual packages. 

It really makes picking and packing so seamless. We can see each item that needs to go in each order, and then as we’re picking them, it all gets divided out perfectly.” — Cass Strunk, Founder of Core Logistic Services

Zone Picking: Organizing Teams for Efficiency

Large U.S. 3PL warehouses often manage thousands of SKUs across various aisles — from apparel and electronics to products requiring specialized storage, such as cold or ambient zones. In these cases, picking speed also relies on accuracy and control.

Q: What is zone picking?

A: Zone picking is a warehouse workflow where the facility is divided into sections, or “zones,” and each picker is assigned to a specific area. Instead of walking the entire warehouse, pickers only work within their designated zone, gathering items for orders that are later consolidated at packing.

Q: Why should I use zone picking?

A: Zone picking is designed to make large-scale fulfillment more efficient. By assigning pickers to a set area, you:

• Minimize unnecessary movement by keeping staff focused in one section at a time.
• Reduce congestion in busy aisles, as workers aren’t overlapping in the same areas.
• Allow for specialization (team members can become familiar with the SKUs in their zone, leading to faster and more accurate picks).

Q: What types of warehouses is zone picking best for?

A: Zone picking is especially valuable in large U.S. 3PL warehouses managing diverse inventories and multiple pickers at once. It’s also highly effective for operations handling specialized goods that need to stay in temperature-controlled environments, where accuracy and compliance are essential.

Take Core Logistic Services as an example. For their supplement stock, they use CartonCloud’s WMS mobile app to guide their team directly to the correct zone — whether it's ambient or temperature-controlled. This ensures stock is picked accurately from the right environment.

“We have many different areas in our warehouse that have ambient temperature but also temperature controlled. [CartonCloud] allows us to see what type of space we have available for that customer and directs us exactly where to place [the stock] in the warehouse.” - Cass Strunk, Founder, Core Logistic Services

CartonCloud also makes it easy to set up zone-based pricing (so if your warehouse handles a variety of products, you can apply different rates per zone). This ensures accurate cost tracking and correct charges for every item stored or picked.

Batch Picking: Maximizing Efficiency for Repetitive Orders

There are scenarios where 3PLs often see a flood of identical orders — think thousands of customers all buying the same product during a promotion. In these situations, efficiency comes down to reducing unnecessary warehouse travel and handling repetitive orders in bulk.

Q: What is batch picking?

A: Batch picking (also referred to as zone picking), is when you collect items for multiple orders in one trip. Instead of picking each order one by one, orders that share the same SKU are grouped together so the picker can fulfill them in bulk. For example, if 50 customers all ordered the same product, the picker can go to the bin location once, grab 50 units, and then allocate them across the individual orders at packing.

Q: Why should I use batch picking?

A: By grouping orders with overlapping products, you can reduce the number of trips through the warehouse, increase picking speed, and minimize repetitive work. It’s especially useful during high-demand events — like flash sales — when hundreds or thousands of customers order the same SKU.

Q: What types of warehouses is batch picking best for?

A: Batch picking is ideal for warehouses that regularly deal with repetitive orders or common SKUs.  

Q: What’s the difference between wave picking vs batch picking?

A: Batch picking groups orders by product overlap. The picker collects multiple units of the same SKU in one trip, then sorts them into individual orders at packing.

Wave picking groups orders by timing, such as carrier cut-off windows or dispatch schedules. Orders are released in “waves” so picking, packing, and shipping all stay aligned with deadlines.

In short: batch picking is product-based, while wave picking is time-based.

Expert’s Tip: Choosing the Right Picking Strategy as You Grow

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to warehouse picking. The right strategy depends on your product mix, customer expectations, and how order volumes change throughout the year. As your 3PL grows, you’ll likely need to adapt your workflows to handle different types of orders — from repetitive single-SKU sales to diverse multi-item e-commerce bundles.

“Sometimes there are just customers that only have a couple SKUs… or you may have a highly anticipated promotion for one product. When they drop, you may see thousands of e-com orders flood into the system all for the same item. This is the best situation for picking if you do have this come in because you can just get these done in mass with the minimal amount of effort from your warehouse users.” — Olivia Trankina, North American Operations Manager, CartonCloud

The key takeaway? Your warehouse doesn’t need to be locked into one picking method. CartonCloud’s WMS gives you the flexibility to switch between wave, zone, and batch workflows as needed — so you can scale efficiently and stay ahead during peak periods.

Want to see how each method works in practice? Watch our on-demand webinar that walks you through the top picking workflows for e-commerce here.

How to Set Up Wave or Zone Picking with CartonCloud’s WMS App

Setting up a wave or zone pick in CartonCloud is quick and flexible — giving you control over how orders are grouped and distributed to your team for picking. Here’s a step-by-step walk through of how to create a wave pick for multiple customers!

• Step 1: Choose your picking template - Start with a Wave Pick Template or create a custom one to suit your workflow. Templates help to save time and ensure your team follows a consistent process every time.
• Step 2: Select your picking type - Select ‘Customer’, then ‘Multiple Customers’ so you can group orders across different clients in one efficient run.

• Step 3: Apply smart filters to customize your pick - Now you can fine-tune how your orders are grouped through various filters. In CartonCloud, there are many filter types you can choose from.
  
  • For orders that require fast processing, you can filter by: Urgent order, Required delivery date… for example. 
  • For orders that require to be picked in certain zones, you can filter by: Product type, Product located in warehouse zones…

• Step 4: Launch your wave or zone pick - Once your filters are set, your team can jump straight into the CartonCloud mobile app to start picking. Orders are released in the right sequence, keeping your warehouse flowing smoothly from pick to pack to ship!

Key Takeaways

• The right picking strategy makes high-volume fulfillment manageable - Whether you’re using wave picking to hit carrier cut-offs, zone picking to organize teams across different warehouse zones, or batch picking to process repetitive orders in bulk, your team can pick for more orders more efficiently.
• CartonCloud’s WMS adapts to your warehouse needs - With the CartonCloud mobile app, you can easily match the right workflow to your order types, warehouse layout, and customer expectations to get more high-volume orders out of the door faster.

Want to know more?

Ready to streamline your warehouse operations? Book a free demo with our friendly team today — and we’ll walk you through how to supercharge high-volume fulfillment step by step.