Split shipment

In plain words

A split shipment is an order that leaves in two or more parcels. It happens when items are stocked in different warehouses, when one item is out of stock and follows later, or when an order is too large for one box.

The customer paid once. You pay the per-parcel costs once per parcel: a label and a box each time. A bundle whose whole case rests on sharing one label loses that case the moment it ships in two.

Formula

• Per-parcel costs of an order = (label + packaging) × parcels shipped

Worked example

Three bags in one parcel keep $48.06 of the $102.00 the customer paid. Shipped in two parcels, the engine charges the box and the label twice, $1.00 and $15.00.

The same order now keeps $40.06. Its margin fell from 47.1% to 39.3% without anything about the offer changing.

Computed by the margin engine in Offer Suite's own code, in whole cents, from a $40.00 bag of coffee with a $12.00 unit cost.

A split shipment is not two orders

There is one sale, one payment and one card fee. Only the costs charged per parcel repeat. Counting the second parcel as a second order would double the per-order fees too, and overstate the damage.

Using it

Find out how often your multi-item orders split, and which offers cause it. Gifts stocked in a different warehouse from the product are a common cause. If an offer splits often, price it with two labels, or change what it contains. A forecast that assumes one parcel is only right for orders that ship in one.

In Offer Suite

Offer Suite counts an order's parcels from its fulfilments. Per-parcel cost kinds are charged once per parcel, and once before the order ships, which is also what every forecast assumes.

Source: Offer Suite's margin engine and its cost grains.