In a recent Business Bloomer Club Slack thread, a WooCommerce store owner sought a way to streamline their order fulfillment process.
Their challenge involved coordinating two departments—shipping and accounting—to ensure orders were only marked as “Completed” when fully processed and shipped. To track orders awaiting shipment, they wanted a solution that involved minimal setup and avoided external software.
Here’s an overview of the solutions and workflow improvements shared.
Using WooCommerce Filters and Analytics to Track Orders
If you need to export orders for shipping purposes without changing the fulfillment process, you can use the WooCommerce Orders page or WooCommerce Analytics. Filtering by order status—such as “Processing” for unpaid orders or “Completed” for shipped orders—can provide a quick way to generate lists and export them as needed.
Implementing Custom Order Statuses for a Streamlined Workflow
For greater clarity between departments, adding custom order statuses can simplify tracking, ensuring that both shipping and accounting teams know the exact status of each order.
Steps to Add Custom Statuses
- Create Custom Statuses: Consider creating two additional statuses:
- “Shipped, Booking Not Processed” for orders awaiting accounting approval.
- “Booking Processed, Not Shipped” for orders that are approved but pending shipping.
- Manage Status Transitions: Use WooCommerce’s built-in or custom code options, as detailed in this Business Bloomer guide, to set and transition between custom order statuses.
Conclusion
By introducing custom statuses, WooCommerce can handle complex workflows with minimal intervention. This approach allows both accounting and shipping teams to work asynchronously while maintaining clear, accurate order statuses that reflect the progress of each sale.
